BOXED
Chances are you don’t know who Chieh Huang is. I didn’t know who he was until January 8, 2017. With the icy streets after our first brush with winter in Atlanta, on January 8th I was sitting home watching Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist as I waited to get church live-streamed through my Macbook.
This particular segment caught my attention as Willie talked about Chieh Huang and his latest entrepreneurial venture. Chieh is one of the founder of BOXED. It is an online retail club like Costco, BJ’s and Sam’s Club. Boxed was born out of Chieh’s childhood experiences. As a child growing up in New Jersey, he found himself tagging along with his parent to what was Price Club. Years later when he moved to Manhattan with his own family, it was near impossible to access a wholesale club anymore. Thus, BOXED was born.
With any device that can access the internet, you can conveniently order non-perishable items from a myriad of categories. The beauty of it is there is NO shipping cost. Now, let’s think about this:
You don’t have to drive to a wholesale club.
Just the time saved from not having to get in traffic or the anguish from other drivers is enough reason to give it a try.There is no standing in line or playing cart roller derby to find the shortest line.
There is no shipping fee with 3 days guaranteed delivery.
My experience with BOXED, I purchased the following items with the corresponding savings:
ITEMBOXEDRETAILSAVINGQuaker Instant Oatmeal
(box of 48 individual packs)$10.61$14.25$3.64Scotch Brite Scrub Sponges
(pack of 18)$11.99$15.98$3.997th Generation Natural Dish Liquid
(pack of 2-25oz bottles)$5.99$6.38$.039Windex Multi-Surface Cleaner
(with Vinegar- 2-23oz bottles)$6.99$8.58$1.59
I ordered at 10:30 a.m. and my delivery was at my doorstep at 4:00 p.m. the next day. As you can see, I saved almost $10 and never left the comfort of my sofa. To top this, there is no membership fee.
The following appeared in the John Hopkins Magazine from an interview with Chieh Huang:
Q: "You offered to send the children of your employees to college. Why?"
A: "When we opened up one of our facilities in a depressed area of Atlanta and I went there, of all the people we hired, only one person could afford private transportation. I thought, 'How in clear conscience can you operate a company where people can’t afford a car, yet the company is in the news for raising all this money?' Then, I thought about how I was blessed to be in the position I’m in today. I looked back, and it really was the focus on education. If you’re an hourly employee, are your kids going to be able to afford a$45,000 college tuition bill even if they’re hardworking and smart enough to go? The answer in America right now is probably no. So how do we help them break out that cycle? If BOXED is a success, I’ll have more stock and more funds than I’ll ever need in my life. If you think about any major retailer in America and your think about the founding CEOs of those companies, if you divided their net worth in half, that could pay for many, many, many tuitions."
What’s not to like about BOXED or it founder? Start shopping, save money and help a student go to college.