Package delivery startup Doorman is shutting down

Doorman, a startup delivering packages when you schedule them will be no more after October 6th, 2017.

The startup sent a letter over the weekend letting customers know it would no longer be in business in two weeks, saying it was “joining forces with a larger team.”

We’re not sure if this joining of forces means Doorman has been acquired or if it’s some other structure. We’ve reached out to Doorman for more details but have so far not heard back.

The startup popped up in 2015 and even enjoyed an appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank” to tout its plan to drop off your online shopping items when you wanted them, not when the delivery person decided to drop them off. It was a model that resonated with those who couldn’t wait around all day for a package delivery, myself included.

But, Doorman admitted nearly one year ago the model was so popular it was losing money and had to change tack.

“We didn’t expect that Doorman would completely change peoples’ shopping behavior,” the company’s founder and CEO, Zander Adell, told TechCrunch at the time. “We now know that Doorman customers shop online twice as much within 6 months of signing up. Unfortunately, that means our original $19 and $29 per month plans stopped making sense, and we’re in effect losing a lot of money on some of our customers.”

The monthly delivery price jumped to a whopping $89 for the premium subscription, with an additional fee per package.

We don’t know if the price jump caused a mass cancellation but anecdotally I’ve heard from a handful of people who stopped using the service after that.

Unfortunately, it seems the price jump also wasn’t enough to save the company. Doorman says it will no longer accept incoming shipments after September 29th and that those who use their Doorman address for online shipments should update their information.

“We deeply apologize for all the inconvenience this causes you,” the letter says. “It has been an honor to work with you in helping us build and improve the Doorman experience and it has been a privilege to serve you.”