DynoSafe: the unattended residential delivery solution {interview}

Personally, I do not want to go to Walmart or Walgreens to pick up my on-line purchase as I need those items delivered to my house. It is clear to me that the solution is a personal, residential-lock box (safe) that can accept and secure, home-delivered parcels.  One such product is DynoSafe.

I have a lot of questions about DynoSafe and the CEO/Founder of DynoSafe, Rebecca Romanucci, has agreed to answer those questions.

Dean: Rebecca, in less than 100 words, tell me what DynoSafe is and how it works?

Rebecca: DynoSafe is an IoT, smart home, temperature-controlled lock-box safe that secures to your home, protecting your deliveries from theft and the elements and from exposure to organisms that can cause illness, such as the virus that causes COVID-19.

Dean: You are saying that DynoSafe is also a temperature controlled personal storage system, correct?

Rebecca: That’s right Dean. With DynoSafe, when you place an order, you assign a desired temperature for the order and when the delivery is made, it quickly adjusts to that preassigned setting.

Dean: So then, is DynoSafe a technology or personal storage solution, or both?

Rebecca: It’s both! DynoSafe is a smart-home IoT device, that is intended to interact with other smart devices like smart phones, Alexa and all smart devices. It also can interact with delivery robots, electric AI vehicles and drones. The locking mechanism, temperature control components, and more are controlled through the app. A person can easily use DynoSafe for personal storage and access control for outgoing and incoming items. Codes can be provided to whomever wishes to make a delivery, or pick up an item to be sent out.

Dean: How might your average porch pirate feel about DynoSafe?

Rebecca: Great question! I originally came up with the idea for DynoSafe in my prior business, when I mailed $500 of product to a customer. She said she never received it, so of course, I pulled another $500 of product off my shelf and mailed that to her, this time with her signature required at delivery. A week later, one of my nurses received a call from the porch pirate who stole the items off of her porch. I was out over $1,000! Porch Pirates go for the easy take, the unattended box exposed on the porch. With DynoSafe, they don’t know if there is something inside or not. DynoSafe also secures to the porch, has a built-in alarm, similar to a car alarm, that will sound if the container is lifted or if the lock is jimmied, and an alert will be sent to the owner’s smart device, warning them. It will not be easy to lift a DynoSafe and toss it into your car. Porch Pirates will most likely go for the easy, exposed packages on your neighbors’ porch, and not your DynoSafe. 

Dean: Have the large integrated carriers agreed to integrate your access technology into their delivery platforms and can smaller, last mile delivery companies easily integrate with DynoSafe?

Rebecca: At face level, technical integration is not a barrier for utilizing DynoSafe. DynoSafe can be functionally utilized by all major logistics/fulfillment companies without need to directly integrate. In fact, our testing in Seattle and Scottsdale has revealed 100% success of deliveries by all major carriers, including FedEx, UPS, grocery deliveries, third party logistics companies, restaurant food deliveries, and more. We have never needed to instruct on how to use DynoSafe. In fact, we have never even used a sign. 

However, due to the functionality of our smart device we will offer the ability to integrate to our device to allow even more functionality and convenience for both the provider and customer. Abilities like access to delivery and recovery times, temperature logs, and the ability to pre-cool the device before delivery will all be functions that will available to providers who partner with us. 

Our issued utility patent protects the ability for the delivery company or retailers who contracts with us, to have the ease of one click unlock and temperature adjustment. For example, a grocer or pharmaceutical retailer who contracts with us will not only have the ability to ‘one click’ unlock the container, they can also adjust the temperature, while the delivery is being loaded on the delivery truck, so that the container is at the desired temperature, when the delivery is made.

Dean: Are you still in the developmental stages of the solution or are you and operating in any countries/markets?

Rebecca: We are in final steps of software completion and are in discussion with manufacturers and distributors regarding licensing opportunities. We have been approached by non-US countries and recognize the opportunities that DynoSafe will not be limited to one market, but will solve the unattended delivery problems in multiple markets such as grocery, pharmacy, restaurant food deliveries, and all ecommerce retail delivery and returns. 

Dean: Is it the consumer that purchases the DynoSafe solution or do the parcel carriers/e-commerce merchants offer the service?

Rebecca: Our research and relationships with retailers has demonstrated that the grocery industry is currently the market that is most negatively affected by ‘attended delivery’. Grocery delivery logistics are inefficient, forced to accommodate ‘customer-driven’ delivery windows which have excessive fuel, labor and truck consumption during high-peak traffic time periods. We are rolling DynoSafe out as a B to B model, licensing with manufacturers who will sell white-box DynoSafe to (grocery and other) parcel carriers and e-commerce merchants.

Dean: So, then DynoSafe is a licensing play for e-commerce specific service providers and you do not directly offer the service to consumers, correct? 

Rebecca: Initially, DynoSafe will roll out as e-retail, white-box, subscription model this will provide the most benefit to retail, who is most concerned with decreasing delivery logistics costs, enabling the delivery of items on off-peak traffic time periods, on direct routes, utilizing fewer trucks, using less fuel, less packaging materials and decreasing CO2 emissions. It will also significantly decrease the loss due to claims of lost/stolen/damaged by the elements and will protect delivery people and their customers by providing CONCTACTLESS delivery. DynoSafe may be a direct to consumer product in the future. 

Dean:  What might a consumer expect to pay for DynoSafe and what if they do not have an electrical outlet close to where they want to place the storage unit?

Rebecca: We are in discussion with manufacturers at this time. The cost per unit will be dependent on final design and features that the manufacturer chooses to include. The base unit is affordable both to the retailer and the consumer. Most homes constructed after 1960 include an outlet on the porch and installing an outlet is approximately $100-$120.

Dean:  Consumer purchasing behavior has changed dramatically because of COVID-19.  What will the impact be on DynoSafe and will consumers be less inclined to retrieve their e-commerce shipments at a retail access point?

Rebecca: The coronavirus pandemic has catapulted e-commerce, years ahead of what was predicted. To decrease the spread, CoVid-19 has forced us to socially distance ourselves. Some components of these forced social changes will remain. There will be an increase in people who choose to work remotely, choose not to go into grocery stores or pharmacies, restaurants, shake hands or hug, as much as before the pandemic. Terms like ‘contactless delivery’ and ‘no contact’ transactions will remain a part of our new reality. Driving to a store to pick up your online order will not be as convenient or as protected from contact, as delivery to your home, into a container for the customer to retrieve at their convenience. 

Dean: Given the temperature control capabilities of DynoSafe, the perishable products market must be a huge opportunity for DynoSafe?

Rebecca: You’re right Dean. Perishable items have always been more expensive to ship and deliver to customers. Grocers are eager to roll out DynoSafe to have an unattended delivery solution. Currently, grocery deliveries are completed at the grocers inconvenience,  during high traffic time periods using inefficient logistics, and by placing the bags directly onto the porch, which is far from hygienic, and at the inconvenience of the customer, as they must be home to retrieve it immediately, and they place these bags directly onto their kitchen countertops. Unattended delivery into a DynoSafe can be delivered at the grocer’s convenience, directly inside a sanitary container, protected at the right temperature to be retrieved at the customers convenience. 

Dean: Rebecca, I appreciate your candid responses.  Any last words?

Rebecca: Dean, I am grateful for your time and continued interest and support in DynoSafe.