# Idea? Aqua Express...



## Durogity (Jun 10, 2013)

Gonna start off by saying i dont drive, so this idea...not for me, but would partake as a buyer if someone did want to do it. So i was doing a mind numbing task at work today, dreaming of all the fish I want to buy now that I'm back in fish keeping again, and began thinking about how much I hate it that all these cool fish deals happen on this site that are too far away for me to just pick and go get. Which led me down the path of thinking, if only I had a friend there that could get it for me... Then it occurred to me, what if we all had a friend "there" to get it for us. Which made me have this idea. 

What if there was a member/memebers of the forum that could pick up and deliver all the fish,plants, small equipment that we all want to us, for a small fee on a specific day of the week.

For example. This would probably only work in the lower mainland.

If you charged $5 a pickup, for each buyer and you did a whole bunch on say, a Saturday you (the aqua express delivery guy/gal) could make a serious chunk of change if you planned it right. But that's for each stop per buyer, for example... Lets say 3 people want something from MyKiss... That would be $15 to the driver for one stop, plus that encourages the sellers to have more things available to get more buyers. It also encourages the buyers who only want one small thing from you to not dismiss it because the inconvenience out ways the need.


So lets just say for the sake of argument that this is what the sales arrangements look like

Buyer #1 wants something from Seller #1, Seller #2 and Seller #3
Buyer #2 wants something from Seller #3 and Seller #4
Buyer #3 wants something from Seller #5
Buyer #4 wants something from seller #1 Seller #3 and Seller #6
Buyer #5 wants something from Seller #7 and Seller #8
Buyer #6 wants something from Seller #3 
Buyer #7 wants something from Seller #2 Seller #5 and Seller #6

So with this example, the driver would make $75 for 8 pickups and 7 deliveries. 

Now keep in mind this is just a small example, it could be more per stop if you had someone selling a lot of items or a lot of one thing to many people. Like marko with the shrimp, say he was selling 40 shrimp and people only wanted five and he sold them all on one pickup, that's eight pickups at $5 each buyer... $40 for one stop, granted now you have eight drop offs, but it all hinges on planning to optimize the value to the driver. If you plan pickups and deliveries in proximity to each other you could being doing a great service to the community members that either don't have transportation or the time to drive all over the valley, also benefiting the members that have items that people want but aren't "travel worthy" lol, and you also get some extra spending money, and not to mention, while you're out at everyone's fish rooms, you may as well look into some buys for yourself lol.

It also helps take the work week out of the equation, if its done very Saturday, all during the weeks buyers can make arrangements for sellers to ship on Saturday via the Aqua Express. That way it'll cut down on the the, I might be able to get out here tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest'

If one overly eager member wanted to do this it would be great, but if more could split the valley up it would probably get easier or more cost effective, especially if they were to rendezvous and redistributed product amongst themselves based on where they were going next.

Granted if someone or a group wanted to try this it would be up to them to decide who it works, just throwing out the idea as I think it could work for everyone if done right. Would be even better if local stores would also use the aqua express for local deliveries to cut down on the shipping costs to us and the fish alike, I mean who would you want delivering your fish, FedEx tomorrow for $30 , or an aquarium enthusiast today for $5? Just saying.

The only thing I'm a little stuck on is other than paypal, how to transfer money from the buyer to the seller when they never interact? I thought maybe the drivers could sorta pseudo invest their own money to buy the fish from the seller and resell the fish to the buyer, but you would have to have some serious cash on hand for the amount of orders it would take to make it economically viable. Unless there happened to be a lot of "free" items. This could work if you always planned for the Saturday after pay days as the drivers with be flush with cash with little worry about as they are getting all that money back later today. Just brainstorming out loud lol.

The whole idea is just that, an idea... I don't know if it has legs, but I thought of it, so I figured I'd type it out and put it out to the masses. Who knows, maybe it becomes a real thing that one day everyone that uses it says, I wonder where this idea came from, lol.

Good night, and thanks for reading my verbal explosion


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Wow. That was well thought out. You even had examples. 

You can email money to people it's super easy the money goes through rather quickly too. Usually within a half hour. That helps your money situation.


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## Durogity (Jun 10, 2013)

jbyoung00008 said:


> Wow. That was well thought out. You even had examples.
> 
> You can email money to people it's super easy the money goes through rather quickly too. Usually within a half hour. That helps your money situation.


That's true, my wife does tht all the time, only problem with that is, most people don't know how to deposit it to their bank. But if you had people that could d o that, it would be easy


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## Livyding (Feb 6, 2013)

What about Paypal? Even *I* know how to use that, and I'm severely technologically challenged.


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Good idea and it could help many other hobbyists. I think that even besides the money issue, there would be more difficulty in arranging a complete day to make it worth while for someone to drive it with time and expenses.


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## 77_Bus_Girl (Dec 30, 2012)

I think the concept is a good idea, but in practice it may not be worth someone's while.
What if there were a thread called "pickups and deliveries"? If you knew you were going to IKEA on Saturday and were willing to do so for some extra cash you would post something like "GOING east van to Coquitlam IKEA Saturday June 22" or if you needed a delivery replace GOING with NEEDING. Then you could arrange payment with the person (I'd say delivery price should be negotiated. $5 to deliver a full system with fish and all seems cheap. )
Just a thought. 
Maybe if you posted a needing post you should include how much you'd be willing to pay...


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## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

Would be ideal for a retired person or someone with a lot of free time. I don't think people would mind paying a 5 dollar delivery fee. If you could line up 5 or 6 deliveries you could make 30 dollars, meet some cool people and possibly even see some cool setups 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## davej (Apr 28, 2010)

Just saying, between gas, wear and tear on your vehicle at $5 a delivery, not to mention a couple of hours of my time would be nowhere near worth it. Just think how much area you would have to cover to meet up with those people to make the deliveries. What do you do when they step out or forget you are coming?
Not a realistic idea.


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

For my deliveries I always based the $ amount on distance driven between the fish and the drop off. If its in my immediate area $10. Maple Ridge to Burnaby $20. Maple Ridge to Surrey $30. Maple Ridge to Richmond $40. But thats just my rates, I also factor in time of day (i.e. rush hour) for time actually spent driving.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

As others have said by the time you do the math, it probably isn't a viable idea anymore despite it being a good idea. 

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


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## 77_Bus_Girl (Dec 30, 2012)

Yes, but if you happen to be going that way anyhow...


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

77_Bus_Girl said:


> Yes, but if you happen to be going that way anyhow...


Honestly if I was going that way and had the time I would and I believe most members would be happy to do it for free.

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


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## Durogity (Jun 10, 2013)

I was thinking that if it was a special day, that all the big sellers on the forum would gear up their sales for that day to maximize interest, you know, if everyone knew that say Wednesday night all the big sales were going to be up on the forum, there could be a buying frenzy if you knew that you didn't have to go get it, you know. Especially if the sponser stores get involved in the process. Like let's just say for example the guys at Canadian Aquatics put up all kinds of good deals on the Wednesday and like a dozen of us wanted things from them.... at five bucks a head that's $60 for one stop. Multiply that by a few other big sellers, and couple orher stores? Plus, to cut down on the travel for drop offs, you could have say buyers from Burnaby meet at one location for their pickups, and all the langley pickups in another at a specific time, just have a drop point for all the major centres of that specific week. Plus if you had the sale day be Wednesday, it would give the "driver" a few days to collect all the pick up and drop of points to map out their trip.

I just think it'd work if the right person/persons that were good planners took a hold of it. Also, I think it'd stand a hell of lot better of chance of working if the stores were involved like I examplified previously, more pickups per stop equals more money for driver equals happy happy driver lol...happy driver, happy recipients


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Isnt this just what a organized group buy is. Its always been done from now and then when there's enough interest. 

Some good theoretical examples however may not be applicable.

Sent from my mobile phone


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

I think it's a cool idea, even with the kinks. I don't know if a "delivery service" as outlined would be viable, but I do like the idea of a "pickup and delivery" thread where people can arrange pickups or delivery meetups if they are going to a certain location.

This is different from a group buy to me because it involves different items and prices.

We do a similar type of thread on the horse forum I hang out on...if somebody has a trailer going from X to Y, or needs a ride from X to Y, they'll post a "looking for haul" or "haul available" request.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Patrick "mykiss" is doing that already as well. He is going to Edmonton next week and he already outlined his route in case people want to get anything from us. He is also doing that to Vancouver Island the week after Edmonton.

To make it simple for him, he is not doing door to door. He is meeting up at the highway exist so people from the same city or around the city can all drive a few minutes to meet him there all at once.


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## Durogity (Jun 10, 2013)

Just for the sake of argument, how many people would use the service if it did exist tomorrow?


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