The importance of your KN#

You wouldn’t mail a letter without writing the recipient’s name on the envelope. You want to be sure that your letter reaches the right person and including the name helps accomplish that. A KN# is just like a name on an envelope: it identifies a package as being yours.

Once your parcel arrives at a depot, the KN# is entered into the system. Once it is entered, you’ll receive an email letting you know that your package is ready to be picked up.

If you forget to include the KN# when filling out a retailer’s shipping form, the system can’t identify you and your package may be left in limbo.

Always remember to put your KN# followed by the name of the depot you are shipping to in the second address line of a retailer’s shipping form (see the image above for an example).

Big News

A new version of KinekPoint is coming soon. The new version will include several ways to save the addresses of your favourite depots along with your KN#. Check back for updates.

KinekPoint heads to Silicon Valley

KinekPoint is pleased to announce that it has been selected as one of six companies to participate in a business expansion program run by the Canadian Consulate. As part of the program, KinekPoint will take up residence in the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, California. From this incubation center, KinekPoint will coordinate the launch of its service in Silicon Valley.

The launch of the program was recently covered by the San Jose Business Journal. The article can be viewed here.

Combine your orders to shop a little greener and save on shipping

If you are a veteran online shopper, you’re probably familiar with free shipping. Spend a certain amount of money, and the retailer will ship your items for free. It may take a few days longer to get your order, but your pocket book will thank you.

There’s another good reason to combine your orders: it makes your shopping a little greener. Say you’re ordering three DVDs from Amazon.com – those would easily fit in one box. Shipping them separately means more packaging, more waste, and more energy spent.












Want to be greener still? Ship them to a KinekPoint Depot! Chances are the courier delivering your package already has to stop by a KinekPoint location and, if the courier tries you at home and misses, you’ll likely have to drive out to their depot to retrieve your package – using more fuel in the retrieval of your shopping.

Let KinekPoint be your buddy this Valentine's Day

You’ve finally found the perfect gift online. There’s just one problem: How do you keep your partner from getting to the door first when it arrives?

Instead of shipping to your home, why not ship to a KinekPoint? We’ll notify you as soon as your parcel arrives and you can pick it up when it’s convenient for you.

Remember, sneaking the perfect gift into the house is always easier when it doesn’t ring the doorbell.

Not sure what to get them this holiday season? Did you check their wish list?

Wish Lists are becoming a common sight on some of our favourite online stores and people are using them in increasing numbers.

Think no one you know has one? You might be surprised. We randomly typed in the names of our friends and family as a test. The result? More people than we thought were using wish lists at sites like amazon.com and chapters.indigo.ca (great guys, but next time maybe you could tell us – it would take some of the guesswork out of shopping).

Most sites with wish lists allow you to search by name or email address. If you’re searching by an email address, there’s a good chance that any result that comes back will be the right one. If, however, you’re searching by name (especially a common name like John Smith), check the items on the list and ask yourself if they match up with what you’d expect that person to like – if they don’t, you may have the wrong list.

Happy shopping and don’t forget to use KinekPoint – it’ll help you keep whatever gift you find a surprise.

Dropping hints on social networks

Not sure what to get them this Christmas? Have you checked their blog?
Think I’m joking? Not quite. Though it may sound brazen, more and more people are becoming comfortable with openly talking about their wish lists online. At first, I thought it was a bit obnoxious when I saw friends blogging about what they wanted under the tree or including their “must haves” in their Facebook status updates. The more I think about it, though, the more it makes sense.
People are increasingly spread out from friends and family and have less time to sit down and have real conversations – that’s the reason sites like Facebook, FriendFeed, and Twitter are so popular; they provide easy ways for you to stay in touch.

Application developers are even getting into the act. A quick search of “wish list” on Facebook brings up pages of applications. Our advice? Check the profile pages of your friends and keep an eye on their tweets and status updates – just make sure you have a pen handy.

How much is your time worth?

No matter what you do with your days, your time is valuable. If you work, you may think of your time in terms of an hourly wage or yearly salary. If you’re a stay at home partner or parent, you may think of your time in terms of how much you can get done in an hour. No matter how you value it, time is something you can always use more of.

Missed deliveries can take up a lot of your time. I’ll give you an example:
A friend of mine once had a missed delivery go to a depot 20 minutes from where he worked which closed at 4:30 PM and wasn’t open on Saturdays. Of course, he only found that out after he had driven there and was faced with a locked door. He ended up having to leave early from work the next day to make a second trip. He lost a half an hour of time at work and spent an hour and twenty minutes in the car. No wonder he was excited when I told him about KinekPoint.

With KinekPoint, he could have sent the package to a Depot near his office, picked it up on his lunch break, and paid just a couple of dollars. Any way you slice it, that’s a bargain.

Think NB

The dust has finally settled and it’s time to sit back, relax (not for long), and talk about Think NB. For those that don’t know, Think NB is a great New Brunswick trade show that showcases the best emerging technologies and companies in the province.

For a company like ours, it was a great chance to put on some name tags, shake some hands, and get the word out about KinekPoint.

We knew people would be interested in the service but, to be honest, even we were surprised by how excited people were when they found out what KinekPoint was all about. When we asked people if they had ever had a problem missing a delivery for something they had bought online, almost EVERYONE had a story to tell (the only exception was one lone woman who worked from home and didn’t leave the house between nine and five). One poor guy had to drive 35 minutes to a courier depot every time he missed a delivery (we started working out the mileage and cost in gas but were worried about depressing him).

The most common question of the day was “how soon will this be in my area?”, which put a huge smile on our faces. We urged everyone to use the suggest a depot feature on the site and assured them that we’d contact the businesses they suggested.

Global Television and News 88.9 stopped by the booth for interviews which was quite exciting (and would have been even more exciting had just one of us gotten home in time to tape).

All in all, the trade show was a great success. Big thanks to the sponsors and the Board of Trade. We hope to see you all again next year!

Welcome to the KinekPoint Blog!

Hello and welcome to the KinekPoint Blog! There are hundreds of product and service blogs out there, but we’re aiming for something a little different. We’ll keep you updated on the latest news about our company and service, but we also want to help you by providing you with information that you can use to make online shopping a little easier. We’ll post articles, tips, and links to help you get the most out of shopping online.

From info that can help you make smarter shopping decisions to news on the latest shopping trends and websites, you’ll find it all at the KinekPoint blog.

Right now, you’re probably wondering just what KinekPoint is.

KinekPoint (the basics)

Ever get a note on your door saying that UPS or the postal service tried to leave you a package and missed you? That’s a missed delivery. It’s your time and energy spent trying to track down a package that you weren’t there to sign for. It’s not your fault; no one has time to sit at home waiting for boxes to show up.

KinekPoint is teaming up with local businesses to keep those delivery notices off of your front door.

Retail stores, pharmacies, video and convenience stores are all joining the network. All you have to do is sign up for a free account at kinekpoint.com and send your package to a location that works for you. We’ll send you an email notification when your package arrives and you can pick it up when you have time.

My KinekPoint is just around the corner from where I work – close enough that I can pick up packages on my lunch break.

Can’t find a KinekPoint Depot near you? We’re still growing. See that banner on the right? The one that asks if you know a location that would make a great KinekPoint Depot? It’s not an idle question. We really do want to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and check back often!