A DASHBOARD FOR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS

The Power Of Now

As a kid i was obsessed with toy stores. Even today i love spending time in them. They are the perfect example of how products on display can create desire. Toys especially, understand how to attract their users. Many are fairly complex others are very simple, yet the greatest toys make us understand what we can do with them in seconds. As a result, we fall in love with them and we want them, right now.

Drama was often a part of visiting toy stores when i grew up. It’s not always easy to understand that one can’t have an item just because it is right there. But it is also true that one of the beautiful things about stores and merchants is that you can walk in, purchase an item and leave with it a few minutes later. Apple retail stores anyone?

When we’re young, it is important to learn, that we can’t have everything we want, when we want it. And while it is a very humbling experience to wait until we’re able to own that magical thing we so desperately wanted to have, there are many products in todays world where it makes little sense to wait for them. 

Amazon’s shipping is fast but it still makes you wait a day or two. 

As much as i’m in love with toy stores, i’m fascinated with the idea of having faster access to physical goods. Take a city like San Francisco for example and let’s assume that you need to buy a specific product. Chances are, the product you are looking for is available in at least one of the local stores, yet it may as well be out of stock. Most of us won’t call every single retail store in order to find the item we’re looking for. Instead, we’re turning online and have the item delivered a few days later.

But what if we could easily find the item we’re looking for in our city? What if local inventories would be completely unlocked, and easily searchable? What if your favorite toy store would offer a one hour delivery service? Well, then there would be very little incentive to order form a place like Amazon and wait for the delivery to arrive.

That is what we call the power of now and that is what we’re working on at Postmates.