I thought this was a joke when I first heard it that someone is making money with nothing more than a Pilot G2 Gel Pen and some Potatoes. Actually, I’m still not convinced that it isn’t a big hoax.
But it was on TV, so it has to be true, right?
A man in Texas – it would have to be Texas, wouldn’t it – has created a business out of writing on potatoes with a Pilot G2 and sending them to people.
Alex Craig calls it “Potato Parcel” and he told a local news crew that his potato message business started out as a challenge from his girlfriend.
“She said, ‘You will not sell a single potato. This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard,'” Craig said. “On our second day that we were live, and we started promoting it on Reddit, and we got $2,000 in orders, and I just knew this was it.”
The way it works is that someone goes to his Potato Parcel website, orders a potato (medium or large), provides the recipient’s address and adds the message they want to be written on the potato.
He writes the message in straight, neat print with a Pilot G2, which he says is the best pen for writing on potatoes “hands down.” Then he puts it in an envelope and ships it. If you are not familiar with the Pilot G2 then you can check out our full Pilot G2 07 review here spoiler alert we didn’t test it on potatoes.
And guess what? He even offers the service in the UK. A medium potato is £8 and a large is £9.
Craig says he’s making US$10,000 a month sending potato missives.
Now here’s the downer: His idea is not completely original.
Craig’s website was registered in May 2015. But a website called MailASpud was started six months earlier.
MailASpud does just what it says – sends a Russett potato through the mail to anyone you specify. The one difference with Craig’s service is that there is no message written on the potato.
Even though Potato Parcel wasn’t the first, I’m gonna have to go with them. Adding the handwritten message is the touch that puts it over the top.
If this has inspired you why not go out a grab some G2’s and see if you can make some money yourself? If you do drop us a line we would love to hear from you.
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But who knows, this whole potato in the mail thing could just be one great big joke on all of us.
Earlier this year, news about a website that allowed you to “ship your enemies glitter” went viral. The 22-year-old entrepreneur behind that later admitted it was all a hoax to drive up the price of his website, which he sold for US$85,000.
Given all the tweets from people who’ve received potatoes in the mail, this could just be the real thing, though. I’m sure hoping it is.
Something that cool should be true.
Besides, a guy getting rich from his handwriting? Brilliant!
