It’s time for a small container standard, one about the size of a car trunk. It needn’t fit in a trunk but median contents should. Should fit on a regular pickup. A whole world of logistics would be opened up.
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The U-haul lay-flat wardrobe box (36-1/4” x 21” x 10-1/2”) is a decent form factor. I’d use that but double the height and maybe round up to a decent metric size. I’ve used a couple of these in all recent moves. uhaul.com/MovingSupplies
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In honor of both the internet and ikea, I propose calling it the smöl standard.
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Basically an update to the old-fashioned trunk.
I don’t mean modern trunks like this, which musicians or burners seem to use. Something more basic but versatile. Stack ‘em 10 high with corner bolts. Lock ‘em to a porch for mail delivery. Etc.
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Old-fashioned trunks are fascinating. We had two steel trunks growing up, one my dad’s from when he moved to his jobfrom his hometown in 1959 I think, and another my mom’s which I think she brought with her when they got married.
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There was a time when people lived out of trunks. I remember only 1 train trip when I was very young when we traveled with a steel trunk. After that hard and soft p,attic/fabric luggage replaced it.
The new case for...err... new cases is different. I’d put rfid+gps on them.
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I’d make them larger and more...autonomous. Old fashioned trunks were meant to be just a bit too big/awkward for average humans, but still within the handling ability of a single human with say a dolly. I’d like one a bit larger but lighter. Steel corner posts, metal/plastic skin
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Something that could travel in a packet-switched cargo network. RFID and GPS means you can track them directly almost all the time, and *reroute* anytime or pause-and-store at any time. Just log-on to fedex and say, “hold it before the next hop, and reroute to new address”
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Startups like frogbox tried to do this as a service. Think pods (which are basically 16/20 foot containers) but moving-box size. But their unit economics are bad (very costly) and I suspect they are not as green as you might think.
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Another approach, by clutter, tries to turn small-scale storage into a sort of github for boxes. Check in/check-out. Except it’s really breakbulk storage as a service. No real containerization. clutter.com
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But mainly I don’t like the idea of a small box standard controlled by a single logistics company business model. I want a standard small box that’s multi-modal.
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Like I can tell ups to drop it off at a friend, give friend code to open and take something out, then have fedex pick it up and check it in to an airport storage locker.
Then I can tell amazon to deliver something into that box that I pick up when I pass through that airport.
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Obviously I’m assuming digital locking with remotely changeable lock codes.
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Base model under $30 maybe?
Add WiFi/5g and smart contract capability and maybe even a public-key type design (like a mailbox) where it’s easier to put stuff in than take stuff out. That would be the advanced $100 unit. Kinda like Rincewind’s magic trunk. wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/The_
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Such a container could pay its own way around, and even respond to simple commands like “come to me”
You could distribute your stuff from say a 2 br apartment around the country in 100 boxes as you nomadically bum around, and then one-click have it all converge to you 😎
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Maybe a $200 *really* smart version with inner/outer camera, motorized wheels, and self-charging cord. That could physically move itself small distance across intermodal shipping leg gaps. Meet you in the parking lot for eg.
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This is an apocalypse-proof way of owning stuff. You travel light, with just a couple of beige henleys and spare jeans and laptop in your backpack, plus zombie machete, but still have a mansion’s worth of stuff that’s resistant to all being looted at once by local Mad-Max gang.
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You could shard your material life across say a 100 boxes in a way that any subset of 15 boxes can sustain a basic life, and any subset of 35-50 is 80% capability. No need for billionaire bunker-mansion with landing strip in Wyoming or New Zealand.
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Containerization has basically resisted last-mile and democratization. We used a 16-foot container in one move (1-800 pack rats) and it was okay but a low-agency experience. I know people who relocate to other continents sometimes rent entire containers or share with others.
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But the typical 40 foot container is just too big (=3br house). Though containers are measured in 20-foot equivalents (TEUs), actual 20-footers are now rare... and still too big a unit for consumer-scale life.
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The original container totally revolutionized civilization and sparked globalization. But only at enterprise scale. Like mainframes in computing. We need a PC/mobile revolution for containerization.
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As Feynman noted, there’s a lot of room at the bottom. Micro-containerization is the answer to all our problems. Just like homeownership was the answer to everything in 1945 or whenever.
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You could open a whole world of sharing too. Like my gym or workshop or telescope might each be a box. I might presently be somewhere I can’t use any of them. Make them rentable. Airbnb for stuff. In a box.
Don’t even need to own or assemble myself. REIT the stuff.
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I think has been thinking about a version of this stuff for the storage piece.
Basically... unbundle and rebundle “home” as a set of functional boxes.
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These thoughts inspired by an annoyingly stupid family logistics situation we’re dealing with, involving sorting/moving/trashing stuff via remote control 2000 miles away, and dealing with idiotic issues of mailing keys around, figuring out who can be trusted to do what, etc.
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As with intranet opsec, we need to move from a perimeter based security/permissions model to an asset-based one. Stuff like Amazon Key is transitional tech at best. You don’t want smart homes. You want dumb stuff in smart boxes in dumb homes. amazon.com/gp/help/custom
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The home is now like an ownership middle-mile dumb pipe between ownership and lifestyle.
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You could even design a home around this concept. It would be like a mini-containerport.
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This is really me trying to disrupt the idea of sedenterized civilization and reimagine nomadism Asia a way of life that’s NOT materially minimalist. Why *should* human mobility require material life to be crammed into a mongol yurt/caravan/RV?
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Why can’t stuff — even mansion-scale stuff — move at the rare of humans? Why must humans slow themselves to the match the mobility of their stuff? Blitzlebensstil. Lightning lifestyle.
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Blitzkrieg revolutionized war by moving humans at the speed of machines rather than slowing machines down to human marching pace. This could revolutionize peace by moving stuff at the speed of mobile citizens.
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