Published on: May 11, 2015
by Kevin CoupeAs I write this, I'm eyeing the suitcase at my feet that I've packed for the week-long trip on which I am about to embark. Of course, it wasn't just a matter of packing it. I had to drop off and pick up my shirts from the laundry. Wash my jeans and assorted other objects. Pick out a blazer and a couple of sweaters, since it is supposed to be chilly where I'm going. And make sure I have enough for six days.
And I have it easy ... since I pretty much wear the same thing every day when I'm on the road - jeans, dress shirt, blazer. It doesn't matter what I'm doing ... the uniform is the same, and the colors don't vary wildly. Mostly, that's because I'm all about low maintenance when it comes to this kind of stuff.
Well, now there's an app that apparently will let me reduce even the modest amount of work that I do when packing for trips. And let other people, for whom packing is much more complicated, avoid a lot of the anxiety that goes with it.
Tech Crunch reports that this app, called Dufl, is set up so that the frequent traveler "never has to pack a bag or clean their travel clothes ever again."
Here’s how it works, according to the story:
"An interested user downloads the Dufl app and signs up. Soon after, a Dufl-branded suitcase will appear at that user’s door, ready and waiting to be filled with the clothes that the user most commonly travels in. Dufl then picks up the bag through its partner FedEx, takes inventory of all the clothes in your suitcase and takes professional photographs, and repacks the bag with the precision of a Four Seasons housekeeper.
"Now that the virtual closet is set up, users have the option to book a trip. They simply tell Dufl where they’re going, which hotel they’re staying at, and virtually pack through the app, choosing the clothes they’d like to have with them on this trip. Dufl ensures that the user’s suitcase beats him or her to the hotel, and when the trip is over, Dufl has FedEx pick up the used luggage and take it back to Dufl’s central storage location.
"Dufl washes or dry cleans the clothes, puts them back in your virtual closet, and you arrive home with no laundry to do or even a bag to drag along behind you. Storage in the virtual closet costs users $10/month, and each trip costs a flat fee of $100, which includes shipping to and from your destination, as well as cleaning and folding the clothes."
Now, one would have to have a lot of faith and/or confidence in Dufl in order to take that first trip without a bag ... since it would be a little tough to show up at that first hotel and find out that you don't have any clean underwear. But I think this is an interesting idea ... though I must confess that it is hard to imagine the company making enough money at it to make the business model sustainable.
That said, I've signed up, and await the email giving me more information about testing a system that is designed to help me solve a problem that I didn't really know I had.
I'm skeptical ... but I'd love to have my Eyes Opened.
- KC's View: