Potato Parcel facts for kids
Potato Parcel is a fun American company that sends potatoes to people! What makes it special is that you can write a personal message or even put a picture on the potato before it's sent. It's a unique way to surprise someone!
How Potato Parcel Started
In May 2015, a 24-year-old mobile app developer named Alex Craig started Potato Parcel. He was a student from the University of North Texas. Alex shared his idea on a popular website called Reddit, and it quickly became well-known.
At first, Potato Parcel was based in Dallas, Texas. Alex would buy the potatoes from his local Walmart store. The company became very popular, especially on social media like Twitter. Alex once said he wanted to create a new way to send messages without using apps or technology. He wanted people to be able to send a secret message to someone, all on a potato!
Growing the Business
In October 2015, Alex Craig sold Potato Parcel to another business person, Riad Bekhit, for $40,000. The company then moved to San Bruno, California. Riad uses special pens to write the messages on the potatoes.
Since Riad took over, Potato Parcel has added many new and fun products:
- Lump of Coal Potato: This is a potato that's spray-painted black.
- Potato Pal: A potato with a picture of someone's face on it.
- Potato Postcard: A real postcard glued onto a potato.
- Spooky Tater: A potato painted to look like a pumpkin, perfect for Halloween!
You can even choose to have your potato shipped in a special burlap sack. Potato Parcel has grown a lot and now ships potatoes to places like Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom.
Other Creative Deliveries
Potato Parcel also inspired many other companies to start sending unusual items with messages!
- Another company in Australia, also called Potato Parcel, sends messages on potatoes for about $10 Australian dollars.
- Brick or Potato lets you choose between sending a brick or a potato with your message.
- Potato Messenger was started by two art students. They sent 1,000 potatoes, painted like a rainbow flag, to Parliament House, Canberra in Australia. This was a creative way to support marriage equality.
- Bananas Gone Wild and Nannergram both deliver bananas with personalized messages.
- There's even Eggplant Mail, which sends eggplants!
See also
- List of Internet phenomena
