Start-ups are fragile and in the case of this dutch bicycle company so are their bikes. At $3,000 a bike, the VanMoof firm was losing a substantial amount of money on damaged deliveries – so they decided to change their packaging strategy. The first thing that probably comes to your mind as a solution to this problem is sturdier boxes or thicker insulation, but VanMoof came up with an even more elegant – and cheaper – idea.

h/t: twisted sifter

“We asked ourselves, what do Americans really love? What would prompt couriers to be delicate with a parcel?” Taco Carlier, VanMoof’s co-founder, told CNNMoney. “That’s when we thought of a flat screen TV, because our box is the same size and shape as that of a really huge TV.”

Well, sometimes the most unconventional ideas reap the biggest rewards. Since the new packaging launch last year the VanMoof company saw an 80% drop in damages on their deliveries.

Even with the clever new picture, the company still maintains transparency by declaring the actual contents on each box. Both customers and couriers have reported positive responses to the idea.

While they say all publicity is good publicity, the Co-founder worried about the newfound attention affecting the ploy, “We tried to do that [keep-up the secret] for as long as we could, until a journalist in our store in New York tweeted about it and revealed it to the world,” said Carlier. But despite the reports, he adds there hasn’t been an increase in damages.

It’s clear that the word is out and all Carlier can hope for is that nobody takes his idea: “The more companies do this, the less effective it will be.”

Image credits: jasongay

Image credits: VanMoof

Image credits: Olivier Dobberkau

Not even a scratch!

Image credits: Olivier Dobberkau

Image credits: Olivier Dobberkau

People loved the “of the box” idea

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