There is a machine in the Allgäu that is currently causing a stir throughout Bavaria: you can purchase return packages here for 8.50 euros. The invention has an emotional background.
Niederrieden – In a small town in the tranquil Unterallgäu there is a new trend and word has already gotten around. According to the
BR,
long queues of visitors
have been forming in Niederrieden for weeks , some of whom drive over 100 kilometers to get to the town of 1,500 residents.
The reason for this euphoria is an inconspicuous machine on a battered-looking wooden facade. This is the “Secret Pack Machine” from the Keuters family.
A secret package for 8.50 euros: there is a huge rush for machines
What exactly is that? The Secret Pack machine is a machine that the Keuters fill with return packages, which you can then purchase for little money - without knowing what is inside. The kicker of the whole thing is the surprise. Some shopping fans sometimes go a long way to do this. In an interview with
BR
, Jürgen Keuters did not
reveal where the Keuters get the returns from or how much the pallets that are in the container warehouse cost.
But it should be a mid-five-figure sum. The packages in the machine are available for 8.50 euros - everything from sex toys to USB cables can be included.
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Emotional background: Parents fight for their daughter to have an independent life
Why did the Keuters start this extraordinary project? First and foremost because of a matter of the heart: With the machine, the two of them are pursuing a very personal goal: their daughter Bibiana has motor and language limitations due to a genetic defect and will also have these limitations in her later adult life. Tatjana and Jürgen Keuters want to enable their daughter to lead a self-determined life, as they explain to
BR
. Bibiana should later be able to operate the machine herself - despite her limitations - and thus offer her financial prospects.
The idea was “just given to her,” says mother Tatjana to
BR
. This idea came to her at the end of 2023 and the Keuters have been working on the business idea ever since.
The machine is refilled several times a day
Tatjana and Jürgen Keuters work hard for this. Sometimes they fill the machine with packages several times a day. Because there is so much demand, the Keuters recently decided that they would only fill the machine between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. A piece of news that Jürgen Keuters shares with his fans on TikTok. They do not reveal whether the business is worthwhile despite the high sum that the two pay for the returns.
The dirty side of online business: How many returns there are is unknown
In an interview with
BR
, Marko Sarstedt, Professor of Marketing at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, explains the phenomenon of the “secretion pack machine”. For many people it is a means of “breaking out of the monotonous everyday life”. In addition, it is the surprise effect that appeals to many.
The online business with all its madness has also reached a new peak in Niederrieden: the number of returns of the millions of packages ordered in Germany alone cannot be expressed in numbers. According to the research institute EHI, which has been studying the effects of online trading for years, most returns primarily affect the clothing industry. Around every fourth piece of clothing is returned here.
More machines are to follow
The business could certainly be lucrative: hundreds of retailers offer returned goods online,
usually for just a few hundred euros, according to
BR
research. The only disadvantage: It is often not clear what condition the goods are in. In case of doubt, the risk is borne by the person who buys the goods from the middlemen.
In any case, business is going well for the Keuters family. They have already set up a second machine in Buchenberg in Oberallgäu. A third is to follow soon. They still have to decide where it will end up. They want to save the income they generate from the Secret Pack machine one way or another. In the hope that they will be able to finance a disabled-accessible apartment for their daughter in the future.