Happy Birthday Barcode

It's time we showed the hardest working optical machine-readable representation of data a little love - Happy 57th birthday barcode! The internet is abuzz with interesting tidbits about those black-and-white stripes after Google commemorated the occasion on their main page today. The two birthdays they considered noteworthy last week were those of Confucius and Ghandi, so at the very least, the humble barcode is in very good Google holiday logo company.

Now, some of you might wonder why I'm getting so giddy about a stack of little black lines - question my sincerity even - but barcodes are pretty important here at Collegeboxes. We've developed an awesome system (if I do say so myself) that uses barcodes to track customers' inventory, manage containerized storage, keep up-to-date with on-campus crews' locations during pick-up and delivery windows, and just in general provide the most streamlined, transparent service in the business.

When a student uses Collegeboxes, they log on to their online account management dashboard to create and print labels with barcodes, which are scanned four times - when Collegeboxes picks up their stuff, when (and where!) they are put into storage, when they are loaded for delivery, and when they are delivered - and each scan is visible to the student through their online dashboard.

So celebrate barcodes - and the extra level of security and peace-of-mind they bring to Collegeboxes - by reading about the rise of the barcode, checking out some barcode portraits (and barcoding yourself!), reminiscing about the allure of that twinkly red laser, or creating your own barcode.

Attention time-crunched news junkies

Wishing you could keep current but so busy juggling school, work, and a social life that you can barely spare a minute to sleep? Make quick work of the headlines with Google Fast Flip. Another handy application from Google Labs (we featured the laughable-until-it-saves-you-from-firing-off-a-3am-rant Mail Goggles earlier this year), this clean and simple news aggregate lets you catch up between classes with little more than the click of a mouse.

Skim through screen-grabs of popular articles (and click through to read the full text) sorted as "Recent" or "Most Viewed" or filter by section, topic, or source. A cheat-sheet to what's up in the world (or politics, or sports, or entertainment), Google Fast Flip is a painless way to stay informed.

Politics across the pond

This summer, I am going to London to intern for the British Parliament as part of a study abroad program offered by my university, The Catholic University of America. Obviously I will be using Collegeboxes for both storage and shipping for my things after school ends and I am on a plane to Heathrow. As I will be spending the summer in merry ol' England, I decided it was best to research on the British political system. What surprised me the most is the difference between the political campaign process between theirs and our own American brand. Where our airwaves are blanketed for months with campaign ads and attack spots, the British system forbids any television or radio advertisements by a party's nominee. The process itself only takes place between when the Prime Minister and Queen dissolve Parliament and when it is reinstated, a length of only a few months. When tens of millions of dollars are donated to campaigns by individuals and companies for a hockey season worth of campaigning, how much of that money would find its way into better pockets or to better causes if our own sycophantic electoral process was shortened to a Congressional recess? Of course, they still also have a monarch ruling over decaying empire, so what do they really know anyway? Despite our own faults, we'll always have Yorktown.

- John

Catholic University Campus Manager

Rent your textbooks and save some green

Earlier this semester I was doing my usual routine of reading several blogs and I ran into a story about a website called chegg.com. It was featured on the Cheapskate blog, and I figured anything that can help me save some money on my ridiculously overpriced textbooks had to be a good thing. I checked out the website and Chegg allows you to rent your textbooks instead of buying them and helps you save some serious green - both the environment and some cash. They even plant a tree for every book you rent from them. At the end of the quarter, trimester, semester, or year you just send your textbooks back with prepaid postage and part ways with those textbooks forever!

- Scott
Emory University Campus Manager

What's Happening in DC

Hi Everyone!!! With the new president and all the crazy things happening in the world it seems that DC has become buzzing with activity (even more so than before!). And even though I am somewhat crippled with a broken foot and can't do a lot of the things doesn't mean they aren't still happening! Right now, the best thing is the Cherry Blossom Festival! Flowers are already blooming in DC and once a year the cherry blossoms are so outstanding that people come from all around the world to see them! There is a big parade and a TON of people!!!

Other than that I am glad to be moving into spring and summer! This summer I am (hopefully...foot healing permitting) heading off to Hong Kong to study for five weeks then back to Boston to work. It will be good to get out of that DC humidity!!!

Lia

Give your music some Mojo

We all know iTunes. It kicks some serious tush. Everything from the basic organization abilities to the latest and greatest genius feature makes it easy to see why its so popular.

Unfortunately however, not all of us can afford to purchase all the music that we want off iTunes. This lead us to all of those crazy peer-to-peer sites. Don't get me wrong, they are great, but the viruses and crappy quality that go along with them eventually get old. Torrents are great too, but if you live in a place with a network (HELLO DORM KIDS?!) I am about to change your life. Change it, without stopping the use of iTunes.

Its called Mojo. Once you've loaded it, it comes up on your screen similar to a buddy list. All the people on that list, are people currently online who also have Mojo. When you click on their username, you see their itunes. Best part is, not only can you see it, but you can take it. Yes take it. All of it. There are privacy settings to keep people from taking personal music/videos/etc, so don't worry about keeping your latest recording safe. It also locks music purchased on itunes as well (if they bought it, you have to too), but aside from that its all available.

Spread the word on your campus, dorm, apartment building, wherever. Just get it moving, and once it starts, the gigabytes pile up and you are loving your ipod more than you have in your entire life. Personally, it took about 3 weeks to get popular in my dorm (with almost 600 people living here), and it took one week to add over 4 thousand songs to my own library. Its easy to share with friends too, especially considering you can see individual playlists.

And yes ladies and gents, its free:
Mojo - Deusty Designs

Peace, Love, Rock and Roll
-Kaitlyn Hope Polles
your friendly School of the Art Institute of Chicago's campus manager

Campus Manager of the YEAR….Daytona here I COME!

Yep. It was I. She is me. I am Her. I was this year’s Collegeboxes Campus Manager of the Year. Just FYI, I NEVER win anything (lol). So you can only image my surprise when I received just a great honor (Total Shock!!) With my reward, I when to DAYTONA BEACH!!! Fun times. Four of my friends as well as myself traveled to a place where the sun was warm and the days never ended…..or we never slept….the line between the two got kind of blurry. Any “whoo” it was a much need break from chemistry and biology. I had an AMAZING time and I want to THANK Collegeboxes again for sponsoring my spring break event~! Thanks guys! Well for now ttyl :)

-Chastidy

Back and better than ever

Whether you're just tuning in or have been eagerly anticipating our return, allow me to (re)introduce the new and improved official blog of Collegeboxes "Inside the Box"! We've revamped the look and changed the way we're doing things around here, so check back often for updates from the Collegeboxes marketing team and our Campus Managers from the school we service across the country.

My name is Anna Vaivoda and I'm the Director of Marketing here at Collegeboxes HQ in Woburn, MA (about 15 minutes outside of Boston). Raised in a tiny town called Skaneateles in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, I studied creative writing at Johns Hopkins and will always have a soft spot of Charm City, home of the world's greatest sandwich - the Baltimore Club is a jumbo lump crabcake with bacon on a kaiser roll. I enjoy any sport/activity that gets me outside (climbing trees, pick-up whiffleball games, whatever), live music, long roadtrips, and laughing at my own jokes.

That being said, friends, family, coworkers, and complete strangers often remind me I'm not quite as funny as I think I am. So this spring, we'll be turning over the reins to our charming, clever, ceaselessly talented Campus Managers (no pressure guys)! Hopefully their posts (about stuff other than CB business) will be interesting and entertaining enough to keep you coming back for more - I'll chime in now and then, but I think it will be pretty cool to see what 40+ college kids from Boston to Miami to San Francisco have to bring to the table.

So bookmark this page and then head over to www.collegeboxes.com to find out if we offer any of our awesome services on your campus. Trust me - when it's finals week and your parents don't have to rent a truck, take a day off work, book a hotel and hover over your shoulder nagging you about your sweater-packing technique - you'll thank me.

School of the Month: UMiami

We're starting a new trend here on Inside the Box. Each month I will profile one of the schools we service at Collegeboxes. I will highlight basic information so you can learn more about each school. January's school of the month is The University of Miami.

Founded: 1925
Location: Coral Gables, Florida . . . only 20 minutes from South Beach!
Enrollment: 9,500 undergraduate, 5,000 graduate
Endowment: $741 million
US News & World Report ranking: 51
Athletics: Football team won the BCS championship in 2001.
Notable Alumni: Sylvester Stallone ('99), Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ('95), Suzy Kolber ('86), Gloria Estefan ('78)

Bottom Line: A gorgeous campus decorated with palms trees, just minutes from the beach. Life doesn't get much better than that for a college student.

Customer Survey Grand Prize Winner

We would like to congratulate Camille from NYU (pictured above) for winning the grand prize of $250 for the customer survey drawing. All customers who responded to our delivery survey were automatically entered in the contest. Congrats Camille!

Cost of Living Abroad

So I was surfing the net the other day and came across some interesting things related to living abroad. We all know that student spending must be monitored, especially in this economy. The cost of living in your study abroad location can be an important factor for many students. Every month, the U.S. Department of State publishes per diem allowances for government employees traveling abroad. They post allowed lodging and meal/incidental costs in USD per day for each worker. While the per diem allowances posted are over-priced for a student budget, much can be inferred from the relative price ranking of each city.

Below are the rankings of most expensive and least expensive cities to study abroad in (I only ranked cities that are potential study abroad destinations). Any surprises? I thought London would be top 5! And who thought Oxford was cheap? These rankings were determined based on highest and lowest per diem allowances allowed by the State Department (http://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp):

Most Expensive Cities

1. Tokyo
2. Rome
3. Venice
4. Paris
5. Dublin
6. Amsterdam
7. Geneva
8. Copenhagen
9. Florence
10. London
11. Hong Kong
15. Athens
19. Moscow
20. Tel Aviv
22. Galway, Ireland
24. Sydney

Least Expensive Cities

1. Buenos Aires
2. Lima, Peru
3. Phnom, Penh, Cambodia
4. Budapest
5. Christchurch, New Zealand
6. Cape Town, South Africa
7. Sao Paulo, Brazil
8. San Jose, Costa Rica
9. Oxford
10. Beijing
11. Mexico City
12. Panama City

Anyway, if you need to store your stuff while abroad, it's not too late! Sign up before December 10th and receive 5% off your storage costs. Just go to www.collegeboxes.com and enter promo code: ABROAD5

Top Study Abroad Destinations

Check out where students have been studying recently:
Top 10 Destinations for U.S. Students Studying Abroad
Data source: IIENetwork's OpenDoors 2005: Report on International Educational Exchange.

Country, # of students in 2003/04
1. United Kingdom, 32,237
2. Italy, 21,922
3. Spain, 20,080
4. France, 13,718
5. Australia, 11,418
6. Mexico, 9,293
7. Germany, 5,985
8. Ireland, 5,198
9. China, 4,737
10. Costa Rica, 4,510

Sign up for Study Abroad Shipping and Storage before November 20th and receive 15% off. Use promo code: ABROAD15

Survey Sweepstakes Winners!

Thank you to everyone who completed our annual 'We Are Listening' fall customer survey. It is my pleasure to announce the winners of the prize drawing:

Grand Prize Winner: Camille, NYU

Prize Winners:
Daniela, Georgetown
Lauren, George Washington
Barbara, NYU
Nora, Boston University
Emily, Holy Cross

Congratulations guys!

Twinkie-eating contest

Last week was the first annual Store to Door / Collegeboxes twinkie-eating contest. Contestants ate as many twinkies as possible in 5 minutes. Pat was the winner with 13 twinkies eaten. I came in second with 12 twinkies. My strategy was to dip the twinkies in milk to soften them and consume them as quickly as possible. I held the lead with 2 minutes remaining, but Pat soon overtook me. Try it out with your friends and send me the results. Can you beat 13 twinkies in 5 minutes?



I'm at the front left.

Mail Goggles

The geniuses at google have once again come up with a useful tool that some college students may appreciate. Mail Goggles can prevent you from sending those potentially harmful emails in an inebriated state. When this service is activated, you will be required to answer a few simple math questions to continue sending your emails. Check it out, it may help you prevent some regretful emails.

A few ways to spice up your dorm room . . .

The party button and spontaneous dance party!

Study Abroad season is here!

Yes you heard it here first.  Classes may just be getting underway, but there's a chill in the air and that can only mean one thing . . . Study Abroad season is right around the corner.  If you are considering going abroad in the spring, let me make that decision for you: DO IT!  My time spent living and traveling abroad have been some of the best experiences of my life.   I studied for a semester in Sydney, Australia, lived on the beach, did some surfing, and met some amazing people.  I traveled up and down the east coast of Australia and even made it to Thailand on my spring break.  You may not get an opportunity to live in another country with almost no responsibility (besides a few classes) ever again.  Don't miss out!

Back to Collegeboxes . . . we are finalizing preparation for the study abroad shipping and storage service and will be posting updated information on the website soon.  We'll pick your stuff up at the end of this semester and deliver it back to you when you arrive on campus again next fall. Above the text is a picture from Laos that I took on a recent trip through Southeast Asia.

Inside the Box: Part Deux

Beloved readers,

We have reached the end of an era here at Collegeboxes. It is with great sadness that I announce the departure of blogger and boxer extraordinaire Joshua Kowitt. A former CEO, Josh helped expand the company and gain national recognition. He helped a generation of college students store their boxes effortlessly and efficiently. For that he should be commended. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors. If you're interested in what he's doing now, you can check out his web page here. Moving on . . .

My name is Matt Epstein and I will entertain your blogging needs as we move into the storage season. I was a campus manager at Tufts for the past 3 years and recently graduated in May. I joined the Collegeboxes team full time in August as Campus Marketing Coordinator. Blogging on Inside the Box I will keep our loyal customers updated with important info about the company. As a recent college graduate myself, I will also be blogging about any and all college-related material. Anything is fair game! Feel free to contact me at matte@collegeboxes.com with suggestions. Above the text is a picture of myself during my campus manager days at Tufts.

ACUHO 2008

ACUHO 2008

Collegeboxes at Stanford

We'd like to officially welcome Stanford to our list of schools we service. They are in a beautiful (if not the most beautiful) part of the country. Pat Harrigan, our illustrious manager of all things campus, is out there spreading the Collegeboxes gospel. Pat sent me a picture of his table setup today so that I could post it to the blog. He also sent me another picture this weekend of him dining somewhere in the Big Sur. He didn't think I would post it, BUT, the Big Sur is officially the most beautiful place in America and I had to share it with our CB friends. Box it up --Josh