Potato Parcel (or PotatoParcel.com) is an American company and website for delivering

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

es with personalized messages, which are limited to 140 characters or one picture.

History

In May 2015, Potato Parcel was founded by

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

developer Alex Craig, a 24-year-old

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

alumnus, and was later promoted on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

. Originally, Potato Parcel was based in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Craig said he would buy the potatoes from the local neighborhood

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

. Reportedly, profits per month ranged between $10,000 and $13,000. Potato Parcel proved popular on websites like

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. In an email interview with ''

MarketWatch MarketWatch is a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data. Along with ''The Wall Street Journal'' and '' Barron's'', it is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp. Histo ...

''s Kathleen Burke, Craig said "I wanted to create a brand new way of sending a message outside of apps and technology by allowing anyone to send an anonymous message…on a potato." In October 2015, Potato Parcel was sold to Bay Area entrepreneur Riad Bekhit for $40,000 and moved to

San Bruno, California San Bruno ( Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to S ...

. Bekhit says he uses a Pilot G2

gel A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still di ...

roller Roller may refer to: Birds *Roller, a bird of the family Coraciidae * Roller (pigeon), a domesticated breed or variety of pigeon Devices * Roller (agricultural tool), a non-powered tool for flattening ground * Road roller, a vehicle for compa ...

pens to write messages. Since the move, new products include Lump of Coal Potato (a potato that is spray-painted black), Potato Pal (a potato with a picture of someone's face), Potato Postcard (a postcard pasted onto a potato), and Spooky Tater (a potato painted to look like a pumpkin). A burlap sack is also available for shipping. In April 2016, Bekhit said profits per month ranged between $20,000 and $25,000. Potato Parcel has expanded shipping to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Potato Parcel also inspired a number of other delivery companies. Another company of the same name based in

delivers at the cost of $10 and a message of 15 words or less. Potato Parcel also inspired Brick or Potato, which allows the customer to choose between a brick or potato with a personalized message at the cost of £6.99. Potato Messenger, started by two art students Will Richards and Daniel Butson, mailed 1,000 potatoes to

Parliament House, Canberra Parliament House, also referred to as Capital Hill or simply Parliament, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and the seat of the legislative branch of the Australian Government. Located in Canberra, the Parliament building is ...

painted and arranged as the

rainbow flag A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the spectral colors of the visible light spectrum. The LGBT flag introduced in 1978 is the most recognize ...

to protest for marriage equality in Australia. It also inspired Bananas Gone Wild, founded by electrocardiogram technician Davonte Wilson of

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, and Nannergram, founded by Konnor Willison and based in

Lehi, Utah Lehi ( ) is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is named after Lehi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon. The population was 75,907 at the 2020 census, up from 47,407 in 2010. The rapid growth in Lehi is due, in part, to the rapid develo ...

, which delivers bananas with personalized messages. There is also Eggplant Mail, which delivers

eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mo ...

Reception

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

''s Tess Koman reviewed ''Potato Parcel'' with "It's the new glitter-bombing, but way more depressing." ''Tech Cocktail''s Elliot Volkman said "these are the perfect way to tell people exactly how you feel."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Potato Parcel American companies established in 2015 Internet properties established in 2015 Online retailers of the United States Internet memes introduced in 2015 Potatoes

History

Reception

See also

References

External links