Potato Parcel (or PotatoParcel.com) is an American company that delivers

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es with personalized messages of up 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 smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

developer Alex Craig, a 24-year-old

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

alumnus, and was later promoted on

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

. Originally, Potato Parcel was based in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. 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 in the United States and 23 other ...

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

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. In an email interview with ''

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

''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 () 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, California, South San Francisco and Millbrae, Cali ...

. Bekhit says he uses a

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

G2 gel roller 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 country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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

delivers at the cost of $10 a message of 15 words or fewer. 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 is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the Legislature, legislative body of Politics of Australia, Australia's federal system of government. The building also houses the core of the Executive (government), execut ...

painted and arranged as the rainbow flag to protest for marriage equality in Australia. It also inspired Bananas Gone Wild, founded by electrocardiogram technician Davonte Wilson of

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

, and Nannergram, founded by Konnor Willison and based in

Lehi, Utah Lehi ( ) is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. The population was 75,907 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, up from 47,407 in 2010, and it is the center of population of Utah. The rapid growth in Lehi is due, in part, to t ...

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

eggplant Eggplant (American English, US, Canadian English, CA, Australian English, AU, Philippine English, PH), aubergine (British English, UK, Hiberno English, IE, New Zealand English, NZ), brinjal (Indian English, IN, Singapore English, SG, Malays ...

Reception

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

''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 Potatoes

History

Reception

See also

References

External links