The last day of my 30 Day Zip was a very special day for me.  It marked my 15th wedding anniversary - the day I made the best decision of my life and married my best friend, Laura.  Since that day, I’ve made thousands of other decisions.  Some good, some bad.  One bad decision I made was to let my weight get out of control.  I estimate that I’ve gained about 1.5 lbs each year we’ve been married.  Of course it has fluctuated a bit.  During each of my wife’s pregnancies, I joined her in the weight gain, though she had a better excuse for gaining weight than I did! 

Over the years I worked to shed a few pounds here and there, only to gain the weight back again.  Through it all, I always failed to focus on the primary issue which was my relationship with food.  I sought out food for comfort, for entertainment, for stress release…but it always failed me, leaving me with discomfort and feeling more stressed than ever.  I’ve often said that I love food much more than it loves me.  I’ve learned a lot about myself and about food.  I’m hopeful we can build a new, more positive relationship with each other going forward. 

During my 30 Day Zip, I’ve lost a total of 14 lbs.  Of course I was hoping to lose 15 lbs by my 15th wedding anniversary, but life seldom works out that perfectly, so I’ll keep pushing ahead with a diet and exercise that will help me shed another 5-10 lbs.

I’ve also learned a lot about Zipments.  Here are a few stats from my 30 Day Zip…

• I posted 46 zipments over 30 days with only 3 not receiving bids, resulting in Zipments working for me 93.5% of the time (I’m very proud of this stat!)

• The 43 zipments that were performed for me were delivered by 17 different couriers.  While couriers like David delivered many meals to me, I still had many couriers to choose from and I really enjoyed getting to meet each and every one of them.

• Each zipment I posted required the courier to purchase food on my behalf (for which they were reimbursed by me through Zipments).  Each job also included a delivery fee to be paid to the courier for their effort.  On average, my food cost $12 for each meal and I posted (on average) $8 for delivery fees…

• …however, since Zipments allows couriers to “bid” on jobs, what I actually paid for each zipment was sometimes different than my posted price.  Of the 43 completed zipments, 71% were paid out at my listed price, 7% were higher than my listed price and 22% were below my listed price.  Overall, I paid less for my deliveries than my average list price of $8.

Zipments is a very new and innovative service.  In designing it, we had to predict various economic, social and psychological factors.  As the service expands to support many new individuals, businesses and communities, I am very pleased to see how well the marketplace performs.  For me personally, it has introduced me to many great people and has helped me re-evaluate something that has been a major issue for me for many years.  I’m committed to staying on the right path with my eating habits.  I’m looking forward to seeing how both Zipments and I continue to evolve in the months ahead!  Thanks for following me on my journey.  I’ll be sure to continue with regular updates to let you know how things are going for me and for the business.