It works with a profile presenting a photo, an address, indications of availability.
But no love story will ever come out of it, with some exceptions: the Pickme application brings together individuals and boxes.
Packages of all kinds, carefully kept at home as a nanny would look after children, one euro per parcel kept.
Born in Val-de-Marne in 2019, before the start of the pandemic, this start-up is on the verge of regaining its parent company.
After a launch in Paris and then in the rest of France, and today with a community of more than 12,000 “keepers”, it will launch in the department of 94, this Monday.
Before then expanding to Hauts-de-Seine and Seine-Saint-Denis.
"The objective is to have
the densest possible
network of
keepers
or neighbor-relays", explains its founder Jessie Toulcanon.
Already 12,000 relay neighbors
This former director in the field of e-commerce left her job in 2019 to found Pickme.
Starting from an annoying observation: "In general, we estimate at 30% the share of package delivery failures at the first presentation", indicates Jessie Toulcanon.
One can have satisfied customers with their purchase until the moment of delivery.
If there is a problem then, people will blame it on the brand and not the carrier.
And it is frustrating.
"
She herself was confronted with the difficulty of picking up a package… like almost everyone who has ever ordered online.
“We may have relays where we can collect them, if we are not at home a lot, it's always quite complicated.
"
The covid-19 crisis and the explosion in deliveries due to containment or curfew have not helped.
Far from there.
Coincidentally, the Pickme app started just before that.
"It was not planned, the crisis came after," says Jessie Toulcanon, who started with two partners, agreed on the fact of installing their head office in Saint-Mandé, halfway through for all three.
They are eight today to run this start-up whose partnership with the transporter GLS was honored in November during the last edition of the E-Commerce Trophies *.
In inner Paris, the current grid of
keepers is
equivalent to a withdrawal point every 200 meters, taking into account all the relay points.
“All the people who came to my house were people from the neighborhood, who live less than ten minutes from my accommodation,” says Charline, member of the Pickme community.
This very active mom has been offering her services through the app for two months.
His first interest: making ends meet.
Pickme pays the keepers in two stages: 50 cents upon receipt, 50 cents upon delivery to the recipient.
“Up to 300 euros per month,” boasts the Pickme site.
Packages collected the same day
There was not a day when Charline, who lives in the 15th arrondissement in Paris, did not deliver a package.
And this despite his busy schedule, between work and children.
“I offer a niche at the end of the day after work, when I have picked up my children from school, and all weekend too.
On the application, she specifies that she can keep up to ten packages at her home.
She had up to four at home at the same time.
And it never lasts very long.
“Usually people come to pick it up the same day,” she explains.
A standard message warns them of the arrival of their package at the keeper who is responsible for scanning it.
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Paola, she did not understand the first time that it was at a private individual that she came to pick up her package, just before Christmas.
"It was the transporter who offered me this option," said this woman who works in Paris as a press officer in the fashion world.
She receives a text from her "keeper".
“I was surprised but I found it great, because it humanizes the delivery.
And we were able to agree on a precise schedule.
“That day, she picked up her parcel near her work, in the 9th arrondissement.
"I went there between noon and two, while picking up a parcel at the Post Office between noon and two… it's very complicated".
She has used the application twice since, seduced by the idea of "going to get it from someone with whom we can talk a little, and that it helps financially".
30% failures on first delivery
Jessie Toulcanon also highlights the social side of connecting the application.
“A lot of people are isolated, looking for contact,” explains the founder, who recalls that a
keeper
, “it can be anyone, students, but also retirees, young mothers, childminders…”
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The application, completely free, hopes to eventually be among the delivery choices for any online purchase.
“In any case, it won't cost more than a home delivery,” says Jessie Toulcanon.
* The event was created in 2006 by the editorial staff of E-commerce magazine with the aim of “highlighting the best initiatives and the most striking protagonists in the sector”.