How to Use an Exchange Zone

Introduction

We’re a remote control using, air-fryer handling, e-scooter riding generation.

We live in a culture of convenience. Convenience is so prominent in our society that we’ve commercialized a subsection of stores devoted to it. You can catch convenience stores in any middle-of-nowhere pocket of the country.

Yet, when it comes to sending an item to a friend, whether across the town or the country, we rely on the same traditional systems. If you want to pick up an item purchased on an online marketplace, you often have to make the decision between meeting a stranger at his or her house or at a neutral location. With our busy calendars, transactions might take days or even weeks to coordinate. For a culture that appreciates convenience so deeply, we neglect convenient interactions within our local communities.

What are Exchange Zones?

Is your greatest enemy the spinning rainbow when your high-speed Internet won’t load? Do you order Uber Eats when you’re too lazy to cook? Do you pay your friends through Venmo rather than cash? If you answered “yes” to any of these, great! You’re a fan of convenience.

Modern communities are full of technology that makes our lives easier. Exchange Zones are another way to enjoy the convenience we not only appreciate but expect. 

Exchange Zones are secure locations that allow people to drop off and pick up items asynchronously. Exchange Zones take up no more than six square feet and consist of 18 secure compartments designed to house items for on-demand item exchanges.

Exchange Zones help build hyperlocal lifestyles. “Hyperlocal” refers to your immediate community. By supporting local businesses, we can reduce transportation emissions by cutting down the number of gas-powered vehicles needed to bring resources to our communities. 

The reduction of transportation emissions can purify the air we breathe, strengthen the ecosystems around us, and make for a clearer, brighter night of stars. 

Why Should I Use Exchange Zones?

Productivity: Have you ever waited days or weeks for a friend to return clothes or books they borrowed because your schedules didn’t align? Many of us live on minute-to-minute schedules, making it inconvenient to find time to coordinate item exchanges during a busy workweek. 

Storing and receiving items asynchronously removes the pressure of coordinating meetup times and locations that work for both parties. This frees time and energy for other parts of your daily endeavors.

You can also promote your own productivity by leveraging the power of Exchange Zones creatively to meet the unique needs of your local business.

Decreased Risk:

We tell our kids to remember “stranger danger.” Yet, here you are in a poorly lit Walmart parking lot picking up a rug purchased on Facebook Marketplace. 

Exchange Zones, placed in well-lit public locations, address safety concerns associated with meeting strangers in unfamiliar places.

Convenience: Exchange Zones come in handy when you’re exploring a new city. You can’t fully explore new areas if you aren’t interacting with them. You’ll find it unnerving to stuff all of your luggage under the restaurant table during lunch after an early AirBnB checkout.

Exchange Zones allow you to make the most of a hands-free urban experience.

Mindfulness: 

The more time we spend worrying, the less time we spend connecting with others. 

Exchange Zones provide the security you need to ease your mind, foster your relationships, and stay present in the world around you. 

When you travel to meet up with your friends, you can enjoy a hug without the burden of your luggage. Three’s a crowd.

Using an Exchange Zone 

Exchange Zones are carefully crafted for simplicity. 

1. Purpose: Are you dropping off or picking up?

2. Download a Relai App: Download SHIFT on any App Store to get started.

3. Decide on an Exchange Zone Location Near You: Review active Exchange Zone locations and decide which one near you works best for your safe pick-up and drop-off. 

4. Navigate to Exchange Zone: Copy and paste the address of the Exchange Zone into the navigation app you prefer.

5. Drop Off, Pick Up: Drop off and pick up your item by following the in-app prompts within the scheduled time slot in your Relai App. If another party is involved, communicate with them.

Improve Your Local Business With Exchange Zones

Remember all of the creativity you had to use to make your local business successful? You can always exercise that same creative muscle to make your business more efficient. Local businesses can leverage Exchange Zones to their unique needs, and hosting an Exchange Zone is free. There are infinite ways local businesses can reimagine ways Exchange Zones can enhance the fluidity of item transactions.

For instance, hair stylists who offer Keratin treatments provide their clients with a special shampoo they must use the night before the treatment. Instead of arranging to meet the client twice (once to drop off the shampoo and once for the treatment), hair stylists can place the shampoo bottles in Exchange Zones for their customers to pick up on their own time.

As another example, fitness centers often have key tags their members use to check in for their workout. Misplacing small key tags is easy and replacements are often in high demand. Fitness center staff members can use Exchange Zones for members to pick up their new key tags, saving both parties time and energy. With simple drop-offs and pickups out of the way, staff members can focus on membership sales or gym maintenance.

Exchange Zones usage is limitless. With Exchange Zones, experience gains by narrowing your attention on the areas of your business that need it most (and make more money by doing so). 

Agreeing to host an Exchange Zone is free and installation takes less than an hour. 

Early Airbnb Check-Out Plan

Have you ever lugged your suitcase around a city because your Airbnb checkout time was in the morning, but you weren’t done exploring? Or have you ever decided against spending more time in a city because you weren’t sure where to put your stuff after you checked out of your hotel?

The burden of our suitcases and backpacks can diminish our appetite for exploration. Will you keep your coffee from spilling when you’re balancing it with the weight of your shopping bags and of your suitcases? Will you stop to appreciate a city’s artwork if you’re fixated on the next place you’ll put your stuff down to give your arms and back a break?

Welcome to the beauty of Exchange Zones!

The answer to the question “are you dropping off or picking up?” can be “both.” If you find yourself craving freedom from your bags to enjoy the city you’re visiting longer than your Airbnb check-out time allows, place your items in the secure hands of an Exchange Zone. 

Think of everything you do with your hands when you’re making your way around a city. Pet passing dogs, take pictures with friends, grab snacks to eat, or hop on a bicycle. 

These are all of the things you can’t do when the handle of your shopping bags and roller suitcase have death grips on your hands. Plus, when you’re carrying heavy weights, you’re so focused on getting where you need to go to set your luggage down that you aren’t able to appreciate the journey. 

If you paid money to travel to a new city, enjoy that city to its greatest potential. 

Toning Down Your Facebook Marketplace Meetup

Cities house dense neighborhoods with assortments of personalities, ranging from sweethearts to psychos. 

Online marketplaces offer people the opportunity to interact and meet up with locals who may identify with either end of the personality spectrum. For safety purposes, it’s more important than ever to seek out the sweethearts among the psychos.

If you look up “Facebook Marketplace Horror Stories” on your search engine, you’ll find YouTube videos with titles like “Creepy but True Facebook Marketplace Horror Stories.” Maybe you’ll catch middle school kids traveling down this rabbit hole at 1 am for fun. The reality, though, is far from entertaining.

One article describes a man’s attempt to sell his MacBook Pro in Seattle through an online marketplace. The story turns sour when the buyer pulls an 8-inch knife on him and steals the computer. Economic losses aside, the true loss this man experienced was that of trust in his community. And this is just one story among many. Breaches in safety should never be overlooked. 

Safety is never an accident.

So what’s the #1 safest way to meet up with a stranger for an online marketplace transaction? The answer is simple:

Don’t.

Whether it’s you, your sibling, or your son or daughter, what matters most is that each of you comes home in one piece to enjoy precious time. With the option to drop off and pick up asynchronously with Exchange Zones, you can ensure that your interactions with others in your community remain amicable and peaceful.

Conclusion

Just like Heath Ledger, who played an American Revolutionary War soldier as well as he played a skateboarder, Exchange Zones can perform as many roles as your imagination allows. 

In a society that relies on mobile devices throughout the day, each Relai App is easy to use and supports your unique needs. Harnessing simplicity, environmental friendliness, community oneness, and hyperlocal efficiency, Exchange Zones are less of a convenience and more of a necessity. 

Download a Relai App to get started.