Handlefy  · real life 'Dropbox'

Handlefy gave physical possessions an inventory: photograph a chair, record its dimensions, see its storage price, and arrange collection. The service also allowed storage owners to offer space through the network. I worked on the React Native app and the browser-based operations interface between 2018 and 2020.

Automatic dimension calculation and object recognition

The app let people photograph an item or choose a familiar format such as a sofa or box. Standard formats were available for standard objects which had fixed prices; But dimensions could always be set manually and estimated using the phone camera. Storage prices became visible when someone selected items for a pickup.

Requesting a pickup

Customers proposed their available pickup dates and time slots. Staff then chose a slot during approval, then recorded a numbered storage unit when the job was complete. The app kept the user updated about the status.

Successes in Noord-Brabant

Handlefy started in the Noord-Brabant province of the Netherlands with some funding from a provincial public fund. It’s a long road to making a platform profitable when you need to build a network of logistics, and the time that this would take, unfortunately made the public fund decide to pull out from further funding rounds, despite the fact that we had an active recurring userbase that was steadily growing.

I was a sad about this because I quite liked this project and the idea. And got a little frustrated with the investment culture in the Netherlands. We had all the right signals to continue pushing this project forward and invest more to make it huge…