PockitShip wants to pick up your next Craigslist purchase

It all started when Garrett O’Shea decided to sell his wife’s underused recumbent bicycle on Craigslist.

“The guy came to my house with his car and it didn’t fit in his car,” O’Shea said. “I helped him take it apart, I lost two bungee cords in the deal, and as he drove away I said, ‘Gosh, I hope that thing doesn’t fall out of the back of his hatchback’ because it just didn’t fit right.”
That’s the moment a lightbulb went off for O’Shea, and he remembered a previous conversation with his friend (now business partner) Steve Senkus.
Over a backyard BBQ at O’Shea’s house, Senkus, who founded a company called NonstopDelivery Inc. that contracts shipping jobs from big-box stores, told O’Shea how there isn’t (or wasn’t) a shipping service to serve the average Craigslist buyer who has a small car (or no car at all) and just needs a couch moved across town.
The second-best methods available aren’t ideal for various reasons: a friend’s pickup truck isn’t always a surefire bet, and renting a moving truck is time-consuming and often overkill for moving just one piece. With the on-demand economy growing everyday — why couldn’t there be a company that will pick up your Craigslist find and bring it home for you?
This is precisely what O’Shea and Senkus have created. On Dec. 1 the duo launched PockitShip with Senkus serving as CEO and O’Shea serving as president and using his marketing background to get the idea off the ground.
The company currently has a website, but the ultimate goal is to develop an app. The company is even named for this goal. “We want people to be able to take their phone out, take a picture and pretty much get a quote right there on site,” O’Shea said. “Then a truck will swing by in an Uber-like fashion and pick your stuff up.”

Don't be let this happen to you, PockitShip has you covered. #movingonup #move #shiphappens #shipitgood #dc #dctech pic.twitter.com/g2x1RBKBsD

— PockitShip (@PockitShip) November 15, 2015

PockitShip is now off to build a network of drivers. Because of Senkus’ background, the company has a good start in this area. “We’re able to approach the same drivers that are in [Senkus’] network and say, ‘Hey would you also like to work for PockitShip?'” O’Shea said. “Because they’re already in his network it makes it a lot easier for us to approach them. But we’re also recruiting additional drivers right now.”
O’Shea says that while PockitShip’s originally imagined market was the Craigslist buyer or seller, or perhaps a college student moving just a couple items. He’s found, however, that the concept also works for delivery for items bought from small mom-and-pop stores that don’t have their own delivery setup.
As for what people are shipping? “It’s a lot of furniture,” O’Shea said. “I’d love to say there’s been some weirdo things,” he added, laughing, “but there really haven’t been yet.”
PockitShip currently operates only in the D.C. area, but the company is hoping to expand after the launch of the app in early 2016, O’Shea said.