In 2007, Shipthrifty co-founders Rob and Michelle decided to leave their successful corporate careers because they both wanted to do more than just make money and climb the corporate ladder. After taking some time off, they created a handful of startups which led them to meet Nate, by coincidence, in 2017. At the time, Nate was the co-owner of a brick-and-mortar shipping store. He saw firsthand the struggles retail and casual shippers face every time they ship and the premium they paid for shipping. That's when the three of them started talking and imagined a better way for everyone to ship. There the journey began. About eight months later, a friend being deployed told them how complicated and stressful military shipping was. He asked if they could do something to make it better for service members and their families. The team dug into all the confusion and learned the ins and outs of military shipping. They created tools built to make the military shipping process simpler. Today, Shipthrifty serves military families, nonprofits, the college community, individuals, and businesses, making it possible for everyone to ship with ease. Our focus is on helping others. The businesses who use Shipthrifty know they have a true business partner with us. We volunteer with nonprofits that do packing events, and we routinely teach large groups of service members and their families at pre-deployment events and through online webinars. We understand the importance of connection and the need to keep costs down for all of our users.
We believe in empowering people through shipping. There's a particular joy that comes from learning something new and then being able to do it all on your own. We are big believers in that feeling. For us, it's about delivering hassle-free, simple shipping tools that help people do what they do best. We eliminate the stressful and time-consuming parts of the process to give people more time and energy for the things they love most. In addition to providing our tools on Shipthrifty.com, we value our opportunities to help people and teach others about shipping. Whether it is in our various online communities, special programs with military groups, or one-on-one with customers, we want everyone to have access to shipping tips and information to make them more successful in their endeavors. Volunteering is a big part of what we do. It is really important to us to support those who serve and the people who support them. We volunteer with many military organizations, care package groups, and student groups to support our military. In addition to volunteering with these groups, we help nonprofits raise funds through our affiliate program. We understand the importance of community and connection and strive to bring people together because that's where positive things happen. We believe shipping is more than just sending a box; it's about the connection. With a package comes a lot of happiness, anticipation, excitement, and joy for both the sender and receiver.
Rob and Michelle spent 20 plus years working with technologies that changed the legal and financial industry forever. Their in-depth knowledge of technology paired with Nate's retail shipping knowledge and Rob's warehousing and logistic experience set them up to build Shipthrifty from scratch. They looked at the whole process with fresh eyes and built tools with their customers in mind. The mission was to provide the best shipping experience and deliver the highest level of customer service possible to allow anyone to ship, skip the lines, and save.
We don’t charge monthly service fees to use our services and with JAG approval we donate a portion of our proceeds to help military families. We attend deployment meetings to educate service members and their families about shipping requirements and ways to save money well as volunteer our time at care package events to support the organizations who ship with us and our troops.