Ok, you know I'm just kidding. Sort of.
The NYT reported some weeks ago an airport innovation: the winter coat-check. Quote:
With passengers stowing all those coats on jam-packed airplanes, it’s more difficult than ever to claim space in the overhead bins for carry-on bags. But one international airport has come up with an idea that in a small way addresses the question of what to do with that bulky coat. Check it, just as in a restaurant.
Meh. We can do better than that, thought the guys who started Singapore-based company Packnada. As they say in this Vulcanpost article:
The idea was born in a long queue at the end of a business trip at the Hong Kong airport. Packing, queues, and laundry were the last thing Jonathan (my co-founder) and I wanted to deal with during a trip that was focused on work. I thought about cloud storage and how we had our files available to us wherever we went, and I imagined how much simpler travel would be if clothes and essentials were always waiting at our destination. We’re both passionate about efficiency and productivity, so Packnada’s goal was really to simplify business travel by taking clothes out of the equation.
Amazingly, astoundingly, that actually makes sense somehow. At least for the lazy+productivity-obsessed among us (UPDATE: I should have added, "i.e., people like me") . How Packnada executes its service is going to be the crux of its success or failure.
Funnily enough, the NYT article about the airport winter coat-check service ends with the words:
Will it spread? “Well, it’s an interesting thought, but a very limited market,” said Michael Sommer, a technology consultant who travels frequently. But like any seasoned traveler, he also saw some potential bumps in the road. “What if you’re leaving from Frankfurt to Miami in February, but you get diverted to Boston?” he asked. “Or Moscow?” Still, he agreed that it showed the value of innovation at airports. And he had an idea, too: “Why can’t they also offer you dry-cleaning service at the coat check?”
Mr. Sommer, you need to sign up to the Packnada beta user program.
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