Two Bradley Students Aim to Keep Your Package Deliveries More Secure

Bradley students Max Ephraim and Erik Ortiz won first place at this year's Social Impact Challenge, a Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation competition that provides students with an opportunity to create innovative ideas for sustainable enterprises to produce a positive social impact on the well-being of communities, families or individuals. Ephraim and Ortiz decided to tackle the topic of safer postal deliveries with their idea "Postal Patrol."

The students explained the need for such an endeavor in their proposal. "With the exponential growth of e-commerce sales, it's estimated that over 90% of all commercial transactions will be conducted online by 2025. With the Postal Patrol’s first product, the Postal Pro, American residences can be ensured that their mail and packages are delivered safely."

Postal Pro is an affordable residential mailbox that would fit 95% of e-commerce/mailboxes while being secured safely with RFID technology. With a simple swipe of a Postal Pro keychain or card, a mailbox door would unlock and then lock back up automatically when closed for personal use.

A competition's screening committee, made up of staff members from Bradley's Turner Center of Entrepreneurship, assessed a total of 13 competitors from all five of the university's colleges and its graduate school. Each team submitted a five-page summary of their concept. The top 6 finalists presented their ideas to a panel of judges, consisting of local profit and non-profit leaders, as well as an audience; the winner was announced shortly afterward.