Sendapackage was created by a former inmate, and its story struck me as a great example of a promising niche that is in plain sight, yet only a member of that niche would go through the work to make it a business:
> Though it might surprise many who have no experience with prison, sending packages to loved ones doing time can be, as thousands of local families know, a Kafkaesque process. Beyond the hassle of going to several stores to assemble a package, and then having to take it to the post office or UPS, is navigating a welter of rules governing what is allowable.
> The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision publishes a list, currently more than 20 pages long, of who can send what, and how, and what is permitted and what is not. Food cannot contain poppy seeds; emery boards must be “nonmetallic”; boxer shorts and briefs must be of a solid color only.
> “I thought there had to be a better way,” said Chris Barrett, Sendapackage’s founder, who seems to have discovered that way on the Internet. The items that Mr. Barrett’s service sells online (as well as through its catalog) have all been chosen in advance to adhere to the extensive directives put in place for gifts by the corrections department. His selection is comprehensive and diverse enough that the company bills itself as “New York’s inmate superstore.”
Not taking away from Pigeon.ly's announcement, just happy to see another business in this underserved, neglected niche (not sure how sendapackage.com is doing as I've never yet had the need to use it)...any service that makes it easy to navigate the data of the prison system is an overall net benefit to the public, as it impresses the need upon the system to provide this data.
Given the lede paragraphs of the OP, I thought Pigeon.ly would also deal with the problem of getting released inmates onto their feet and connected to jobs and resources...that seems orthogonal to their current products but seems like it could naturally grow from their network of inmate/relative contacts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/nyregion/sendapackage-bill...
Sendapackage was created by a former inmate, and its story struck me as a great example of a promising niche that is in plain sight, yet only a member of that niche would go through the work to make it a business:
> Though it might surprise many who have no experience with prison, sending packages to loved ones doing time can be, as thousands of local families know, a Kafkaesque process. Beyond the hassle of going to several stores to assemble a package, and then having to take it to the post office or UPS, is navigating a welter of rules governing what is allowable.
> The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision publishes a list, currently more than 20 pages long, of who can send what, and how, and what is permitted and what is not. Food cannot contain poppy seeds; emery boards must be “nonmetallic”; boxer shorts and briefs must be of a solid color only.
> “I thought there had to be a better way,” said Chris Barrett, Sendapackage’s founder, who seems to have discovered that way on the Internet. The items that Mr. Barrett’s service sells online (as well as through its catalog) have all been chosen in advance to adhere to the extensive directives put in place for gifts by the corrections department. His selection is comprehensive and diverse enough that the company bills itself as “New York’s inmate superstore.”
Not taking away from Pigeon.ly's announcement, just happy to see another business in this underserved, neglected niche (not sure how sendapackage.com is doing as I've never yet had the need to use it)...any service that makes it easy to navigate the data of the prison system is an overall net benefit to the public, as it impresses the need upon the system to provide this data.
Edit: to reference another NYT article: "Out of Trouble, but Criminal Records Keep Men Out of Work" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/business/out-of-trouble-bu...
Given the lede paragraphs of the OP, I thought Pigeon.ly would also deal with the problem of getting released inmates onto their feet and connected to jobs and resources...that seems orthogonal to their current products but seems like it could naturally grow from their network of inmate/relative contacts.