How Stork Exchange Is Changing Baby Gear Shopping for Parents

0:04 Welcome back to the Running wind Mom podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Selinsky, aka the Running Wine Mom, and today we're talking about something that honestly blew my mind a little bit because I think most of us assume baby Year only has two paths. You buy it new or you try your luck secondhand. But what if there is a third option. What if that open box stroller someone returned, that over stock bassinet sitting in a warehouse, that premium car seat that never actually left the box. What if those items didn't automatically head toward liquidation or landfill, but instead got inspected, graded, verified, and offered back to families at a fraction of the cost. That's what stock Exchange is doing today. I'm talking with Ben Normant, founder and CEO of stock Exchange, a platform partnering directly with Babyyear brands to recirculate open box and overstock products safely and transparently.

0:55 And he's not just building this company from a boardroom. He's a dad of three under five. He's living the gear chaos in real time. So if you've ever paid full price for something your baby used for three weeks, this episode is for you. So, without further ado, let's welcome Ben. Welcome Ben. Thank you so much for having me Samantha. So excited and what a cool concept to have. I wish that was more of a thing when I mean, I have a five and three and a half year old. But I was talking with Leah Nolan and she was kind of explaining to me what everything was about. And I just can't believe how well the products are resold at the price that they're sold out. So I'm a little jealous that was not the case for me.

1:38 Yeah, I mean, I set out to build this because it wasn't the case for me when we had our first either. It was like, Wow, this is feels like there's got to be a better way to do this. And you know, I can say that I'm since that time, I think I'm still our number one customer of all time. I've come back for all three of our kids. Oh that's awesome. Well, before we get into that, we start each episode with our wine win and one of the Week segment. This is where we share our favorite bottle of wine or drink event about something that's been bothering us, and celebrate our recent victory. So Grabba Blasts take a deep breath and let's get started. So, Ben, what is your drinking wine of the week. Yeah, so, I'm not gonna lie. We are a big fan of the Kirkland wines.

2:18 I think they have some really solid wines from a lot of great regions at really affordable prices. So when you're wanting to open a wine on a Wednesday night or Thursday night after a long day, sometimes it's a great way to have a great class wine without breaking the bank. So that would be one of my favorites. It's so funny that you say that, because I actually, I think for the first time, had Kirkland wine. A couple of weeks ago. I was on my way up to the Poconos with my kids and stopped at another friend's house and she's like to, oh, take this wine up, and it was a Kirkland one, and I was like, gosh, I don't know if that's going to be good or not. And I tried it. I'm like, wait, this is actually really good. I like it. Yeah. Yeah, they have some really great ones from a lot of really cool regions. Like if you like Italian wine, they have a great Barrollo that's well under twenty bucks, which is pretty unheard of for that region.

3:07 So it's like anytime I'm like, this is great works for me. Yeah, no shame, I love it. So what's your complaint? Wine of the week. So we're in the middle of we just kicked off four months sleep aggression with our young guys. So yeah, it's it's been a it's been a tough week overall. It definitely feels like we're well past Wednesday at this point. Yeah, how about your win of the week. Win of the week, that's a good one. I've been so tired. I'm so tired. It's like my brain is fuck. It's it's springing is really kicked off here in North Carolina. It was like seventy five degrees today. Was able to be at the park for like two hours after after preschool ended. It was lovely. So that is a huge win. I am a little morse of you.

3:49 So we are still in the rain, cold and like snow is still melting, but it did get to like forty eight degrees today and I was like, I don't even need a jacket. You know, I'm originally from Boston, so I remember those days where you were like, yeah, a blove freezing that this is lovely. Awesome, Well part of North Carolina? Are you from? We're in Charlotte now. My wife's from the Charlotte area, so we moved down right before we had our first awesome. I was going to say, my cousin is in Wilmington and they have a restaurant there. I was going to suggest that if you were there. Yeah, yeah, so okay. So I always like to ask, I guess, what is one significant challenge you've successfully navigated shaping your journey to where you are today.

4:34 Yeah. So our second when he was born, he was born with something called esophageal atresia, on which means esophagus wasn't fully formed. It just kind of ended. And we had no idea going into the birth. He came about three weeks early, and we were completely unprepared, you know, kind of realized very quickly that something wasn't right. The doctor kind of. Stopped paying attention to us, started paying attention to him, started paying attention to the nurses. The nick you team came in and took him. We found out kind of you know, they gave a diagnosis that night, did surgery shortly after that, and then we spent a really tough two weeks, two months, two months, and then if you here in Charlotte came home, that went very poorly. We came home with like oxygen and all that stuff.

5:16 It didn't go well. A couple of trips back to the hospital, and then we. Ended up going all the way up to back to Boston to Boston Children's Hospital for surgery up there, and it's been another two months up there, and so that was a really tough journey in the first place. And it was also kind of rate in hand when Stork Exchange was really starting to get going and. We were we'd been growing really. Pretty rapidly, and we ended up just kind of like shutting the business down. Wow. For a couple of months. It was still mostly my wife and me running it, and there just wasn't any wanting to do anything, and so we you know, basically had to start over and kind of as we got past this, but we did it. I mean, Baker is perfectly healthy, thriving three and a half year old. You would have absolutely no idea that he ever went through any of this, and story strange has grown well pasted anything we could have hoped for back in twenty twenty two, you know, we just we just had our third and we had a we got to have a more typical experience birth birth, in newborn experience, which is really nice. I mean it was it's you know, kind of going through it. You're like, oh, like I missed this phase of like newborn snuggles and I miss like, you know, these these kind of milestones because the last experience was just so different, was very different.

6:31 Yeah. Yeah, Oh well that's good. I'm so glad. So the running, wymm, we talk a little fitness. What is your favorite way to stay active? Yeah, So before our newest was was just born, I was a regular at Orange Theory Fitness. I started doing it a couple of years ago, back actually before we moving. North Carolina, kind of stayed with it since then. I've always been a runner, and I really like kind of the blend of running and weightlifting. At Orange Theory kind of forced. Into that nice tight fifty minute block and having an actual schedule class made me actually show up. And then recently I've just started up a dad's run club with a couple of other dads at our preschool and we get together at like five am and run before the kids wake up.

7:14 Have coffee. So fun, and so we do that right now and slowly kind of getting back into the running and fitness as life returns to normal after a new the newborn face. That's great. Oh my gosh, a preschool dad run club. I love that. It's so fun. Well, how does maintaining your fitness routine kind of contribute to your understanding of the relationship of mental health and physical health. Yeah, I mean I think fitness to me is like such a huge outlet for kind of pouring some of like, you know, anxiety and stress into and there's plenty of that between parenting, you know, three kids under five and running a business, and it's just a time where I can kind of like, you know, occupy my body. I can kind of you know, running a kind of just enter his zone where my body's busy and kind of think through a problem really well. And so yeah, I find it if I can tell if I haven't like been active enough.

8:10 For a while, and then I'm like, I'm like, I need to go do something. I get the same way. I'm like when I feel all of a sudden, I'll start feeling a certain way and I'm like, why am I so anxious or like, you know, on edge, and then I'm like, when was the last time I actually worked out? Okay, yeah, it's been more than forty eight hours. I need to go run or something sweat out. So can you tell us about your family? Yeah, so we're family five now, as I've kind of been alluding to, my wife, Cindall, and I just welcomed our third child, Lincoln, to the family. I'm in October. So you just turned four months our oldest, our daughter, Elliott, was born in twenty twenty one, two months before we launched work Exchange actually, and then we have our middle child, our newly middle child.

8:57 I think sometimes he wishes here's still the baby. You slowly coming to terms with it came about seventeen months after Elliott did. So we live in Charlotte, as I said, and that's where my wife's from. We have a lot of family on her side here. And then we also have two dogs and a cat because you know, why not. And you know, as everyone we literally pass by on the street when we go for walk say we have our hands full. How do you find that phrase annoying or just a way of conversation. I think at one point it was like kind of annoying because you're like. Yeah, yes I do, and now it's just like can you give me another hand? Yeah? At this point, it's like we just look at each other and it's like it's like the bo We're like, okay, they're going to say you have your hands full, and they men they do, and then you're like.

9:41 I know, like I feel like it's it's it's meant to be a term of endearment or like a cup. Like it's almost like oh, how's the weather when you're just like talking to someone and they don't know what to say, and like, wow, these people have a lot of kids. But then you're like, yeah, I do have all of these things and. We get it. Yeah, what do you think you're at least prepared for in parenthood? I mean, I think it really how all encompassing it is. I think you know, people always ask kind of like, what's it like having a third And honestly, I don't think it's that much different from having two, but like the change from going to zero to one is just I mean, it changes your life. Right, It's all of a sudden you have this, you know, little person that you're accountable for and so that's I think that is, you know, and you're never really off right like your kids, right, I always want to play, they always need something. I always want to talk to you. And it's like, you know, and it's awesome and it's fun, but it's like, oh wow, like I'm in it for twenty four to seven.

10:44 Yeah. Remember zero to one was hit slapped in the face, like it was just so difficult for me. Could not even like believe that people had more than one kid. But and then people are like, no, two is so much worse. I'm like, it cannot be worse from going from zero children to one, and I did. I found one to two was like pretty easy because you're already used to not sleeping, you're used to being you know, responsible for another human being. And I just yeah, so it's interesting to tell, like some people do think zero to one was easy and one to two it was really hard. But I agree with you. Yeah, And to me, it's like, I don't know, you you go through a period where you kind of like more I don't know, I think when you go to one, you still kind of like try to cling to that to your old self and like the person you were before you had kids, and you're like, oh, well, I'll still be able to do stuff, and you do, and it's important to make time to keep up with hobbies, but your relationship with everything changes, and right, you know, I think that is a tough transition, and you know, I think you go through I think I went through a bit of a morning period of like, oh, this is the person I was before, and this is you know, this is my life now. And I love my kids and I'm super grateful that we had them, but it's definitely a change.

11:56 And you know, that's a big, big change to out there. No, I totally. And then you don't have to go through that whole process of figuring yourself out too when you have your second one. You really I already am this person. I'm dad now. That is my idea. Well, what is your parenting style as dad? I would say, I don't know, like strict gentle parenting. I think you know, we have you know, we have very firm boundaries and expectations in our house somebody. At the same time, we try really hard to be very open and communicative with them and with our kids, you know, we try and talk about feelings to try and validate their feelings, kind of try and understand where they're coming from and how they're how they're understanding the world is a little, you know, three year old that's never been through it ever before, so you know, we we really want to make sure they develop good emotional intelligence and the ability to talk through their emotions, but also want to make it clear to them that their feelings aren't the only ones that are valid in the entire world, right, Like, the world is full of people with feelings.

12:54 That is something that is very important for all parents to teach their kids. You know that it's not just out them. There's so many other things and people. And you know, I agree with that. So what's one piece of advice that you would give to other parents? It's stress less, enjoy more. I mean, I think it's pretty cliche, but time does go really fast, you know. I think the other night I was giving a bath to our newborn and Elliott came into the room and. Was like, oh, can I help you? And I was like, yeah, but. Like I remember when I was giving you a bath, like not that long. Yeahs wild to me that now you're like, oh, I want to help you. And she was funny, she was like telling me. She was like, okay, Dad, like this is how mom does it? Like you put the cloth on his belly and I was.

13:35 Like okay, yeah, like you teach me and it was just it was really cute. But it's like I can't believe that, you know, we went from her being in the tub to to now teaching me how to give a bath, and. You know, it does go fast. And so I think enjoying every stage and they're all so different to the fullest and just don't not worrying about the fad. Your house is messy, your to do list never ending, or like you know, these people on Instagram have this perfect life and it's like, you know what, be where you are, be happy with where you are, and just kind of soak it all in as much as you can, and you know, it's it's a great experience. It's it's an incredible ride. So great advice.

14:16 All right, Well let's get into it. Can you tell us about the stork Exchange? What made you think of this idea and how did you get it started up? Yeah, so they did infra stork Exchange. It came when we were kind of getting ready to have our first and we visited my brother and sister in law and who just had our nephew, and I was just like staggered by the amount of stuff that they had for this little China kid. And they lived in a town home in d C. So was like, you know, the baby stuff had overtaken the place and I was like, oh, that's going to be us, right And it was like, oh my god. And so I really kind of went down the secondhand rabbit hole and talk to other parents about it, and it just felt like there was had to be a better way than kind of doing the Craigslist and Facebook marketplace, you know exercise, which there are incredible ways to get stuff and you can find some incredible deals there, but there's it's it's just like becomes so much friction of messaging people, hoping they respond, hoping you can arrange time to meet up, hoping they actually show up and that you know, it's actually what was in the picture and not like super gross.

15:25 And I was like, there's got to be a better way to do this. And we actually started the program as a way for parents to help parents buy and sell used gear in a more reliable and easier way, and we kind of transitioned away from that and towards the returns industry as we became more aware of what a problem returns were for brands and how you know, they had all these returns coming in, particularly as e commerce took off and returns grew, and they were just kind of sitting there going to the landfill and it was like, oh, wow, there's this huge stockpile of great, perfectly good gear that's just being unused. You know, it would be great if we could get this to you know, connect this gear with parents. So yeah, so that's that's kind.

16:09 Of we made that transition about two years ago and we started partnering with brands and retailers and that's that's kind of been our main focus since then. So what actually does happen when someone returns a stroller, a bassinet, or car seat to a major brands? Yeah, so for a lot of smaller, smaller. Manufacturers, you know, they'll still in fact that return, see if it's unopened or on used. If it is, they'll they'll restock it and sell it is new and a lot of times and you know the ones that don't, they kind of they'll scrap them for parts or they'll sell them off and warehouse sales to look locally. But you know, at that stage for a lot of brands, when they're selling on their websites, their return rates are really small. And then as they grow, they start selling.

16:50 Through major retail channels like Amazon or Target, where typically they see you know, return volumes go from like low single digits to like twenty percent of sales and it's a huge change. And you know, they get to do this huge amount of volume because they have access to so many more people through these channels, you know, Target, Amazons, as you know probably from shopping at either one, it's super easy to return anything to it just. Made a return today. Yeah, yeah, exactly right. I think targets like registery return windows a year, right, a literal year, and so people take advantage of that and they kind of return everything, and you know, these companies end up with all these returns and the sheer pace of that just becomes too much for them to keep up with. And so you know a lot of times there they'll be outsourcing who's running their warehouse, and returns just become a problem that's kind of too big to tackle and they get shoved aside, and you know, they're ultimately either they end up at a landfill.

17:43 I think it's roughly you know. At least twenty five percent of returns end up in the landfill, and that's I think much higher even in baby where there's a lot more concerns about safety, or they end up kind of in this like gray market where they're liquidated and sold off and you know, anyone can kind of buy and sell these products and there's no real like checking or standards or anything like that. You know, someone can buy it and sell it out of a storage unit and you don't really know how much diligence has gone into whether that product's still safety use or not. Wow. So and then so you came from supply chain optimization, which sounds very corporate and adult, and now you're working with high chairs and car seats. So what did corporate America teach you about waste that maybe most parents never say?

18:28 Yeah, I mean I think I think that there was always really eye opening to me, right, is what wasted like scale looked with. I think when you know, balance sheets get big enough for companies, like they have line items that are kind of just footnotes for them that would make your eyes water, and it's just to. Them there, it's just like, oh, it's the cost of doing business. And so we would go in and we would kind of talk to teams and be like, Okay, you know, what are you buying, where are you buying it from? Why are you buying it from them? And for a lot of companies it was like, oh, I don't know, and that isn't it's not true for like, you know, the big stuff that they're buying kind of their main focus. But you know, all any company has this huge long tail of just stuff they have to buy, kind of parts they don't use that often, and or like even just like office supplies or you know, wearouse supplies and all that stuff, and that long tail never really gets to look at, and all of a sudden you realize it's just like there's a lot of really wasteful spending in there. That just is like someone did it once and it became the de facto a way of doing it, and you know, they might not even really.

19:31 Be using it still, but they're still buying it. And someone gets the box. And I don't know, puts off in a corner and then you have thirty boxes of it. Mike, Yeah, that's crazy, and you guys have diverted like fifty eight thousand pounds or something like that number of gear from landfills. When you see or hear that number, what does that mean to you personally? I mean, I think to me, it's it's it's really a testament to like how far we've come. You know, when we started back in twenty twenty one, you know, we started with forty baby carriers that we had bought up off Craigslist and Facebook marketplace here in Charlotte. I think I'd quartered the market on baby carriers used carriers here and we decided to list them online and see if like, okay, like we have this idea, like, let's see we could get people to buy them from us.

20:18 You know, we're working out of this little tiny basically a utility closet and a church basement down the street from us. It was freezing cold that had no heat, and you know that's where we kind of started out of. And now we were talking about you know, tens of thousands of pounds of gear that we're you know, taking in from retailers and brands and turn around inspecting, cleaning and selling off to parents and you know, making good. So it's it's kind of like mind. Blowing to me that, you know, we've gone from that little baby utility cuset to this massive warehouse that we're working out of. That's really neat and such a great just doing good for the world. Like you know, they say, what is the starfish? When someone's picking up the starfish off the beach and the guy says, you know, there's a ton of starfish, and they're like, why are you even bothering And he's like, this, it matters to this starfish.

21:08 And that's kind of I was, you know, that's. You're doing such a good thing for the world, which is really great. So but to kind of go along that line, parents are drowning and stuff. I mean, I myself am looking behind the computer of all the stuff I have for my kids. But if you had to give maybe one gear sanity rule for every new parent to follow, what would it be. Don't chop after nine pm? No, I think I think we've all fallen guilty to kind of, you know, to that late night shopping bench. And I know it's true because I can see when orders come in for our website, but you know you're up feeding the baby or you know, it's a sleepless night, or you're kind of can you convince yourself that this one product you see on Instagram or someone told you about it's going to fix everything for you, it's going to make tomorrow great, and so you buy it. Maybe sometimes it words, but a lot of time this is another piece of gear and there's a reason you didn't buy it in the first place. And so I think, like, you know, stop, wait till the clear light of day comes, hopefully maybe after you've actually gotten some sleep, and you know, then actually try and decide to buy it. I think I mean that rule pries in life. I think someone gave me a great advice that was, like, you know, anytime you want to buy something, put it in your Amazon cart and wait twenty four hours, and you know, if it's still in your car, if you still want to buy it after.

22:26 That, like go ahead. But a lot of times they're like, I don't really want to spend that much money on that day anymore. And as you're saying that, I am remembering with my kids, like getting up in the middle of the night and that's all you're doing is scrolling and I forget which brand or that it was, but it is a pretty smart marketing tactic. But they they would have random like forty percent off sales for like the three AM feeders or something like that, and you would just and of course you're like gonna buy it at that time when you see it, because you're like, oh, this is never. On sale, and I'm like it's a great idea, But also. You are praying on the tired and board moms and dads that. Are you know, Yeah, well, I mean I think I think you know, most most bird and companies are run by parent or you know, baby product companies are their parents, and they they know we know. I mean we don't like like, hey, I know, I've been through it, like I know when you're I know when you're vulnerable and you're going to buy it.

23:18 So we kind of talked about how your gear is inspected and graded, but what does that actually mean, kind of walk us through what happens when a product comes in just for people who are listening to hear about. Yeah, so when a return comes in through our warehouse and we kind of checked through that it's what we're supposed to get, and we fed all the information back to the partners so they can kind of handle things on their end, he'll go to our inspection team, who unboxes every single returned item that comes through our warehouse so they can do a full and complete inspection. We have a detailed inspection checklist for every product, and it's kind of customized to the product, product brand, and so that our team and then our team is kind of guided through that process by the tech interface and so that they know exactly what they're looking for and to check.

24:09 And so everything gets tested for functionality, Everything gets tested for safety, particularly features like breaks or safety harnesses, make sure that all the parts are included, including accessories. You know, we don't sell any any products that don't have everything that's supposed to come in the box. And then each product gets graded on cosmetic condition. Things you know, sometimes to. Get banged around and try you know, get shipped from factory to a warehouse to a parent to back to us, and you know, sometimes things get a little jumbled. So we always kind of try and make sure that we're queer about what it's going to look like. And then once it's been fully inspected, they'll kind of you know, wipe down and package you back up as close to factor respect as. Possible, that's great.

24:49 And for those also who are listening, is there a difference between what is the difference I guess between open box overstop return items and does that matter? Does that matter for you as a matter to the buyers, there's a lot of you know different. Yeah, so so overstock items are like items that are completely new, right, Buying these items is exactly the same as buying this product from tragically from the manufacturer, going to target and buying it. Typically it's just when manufacturers decided to phase out of color or maybe an older model of a product, say went op a baby switched from the this to B two to the this to B three. You know, they're kind of going to try and run down their remaining sock, and so they might work with a company like us, and you can buy that product at a reduced price to what kind of traditional retail prices.

25:37 And so that's a great way to get product that might be slightly out of date. Or kind of more out there color maybe, but you get perfectly brand new product, you know, often at a really great deal. And then for returns, which are kind of the other main sources of product that we sell, these are all you know, we grade all these products. We have to actually go and grade those right overstock products. Those a brand new, they're sealed from the factory. There's nothing, you know, we don't have to check anything and returns. We actually go through and we actually you know, we we fully inspect every one of those products and then as I said, we grade them on the cosmetic condition they come in. Sometimes, you know, you have some that are kind of pristine and open box. Maybe someone cut open the tape. Sometimes they haven't even opened the box, you know, there's just a shipping label stuck on it.

26:19 Maybe they got to it their registry. Maybe they decided, uh, you know, they opened it and they looked and that green isn't quite the same green it looked like. Online, you know, whatever it is. But they you know, and the others, you know, times you have times people fully take it out, they take for a test drive around the house. They're again, this isn't for me. They box it back up it, you know, once you kind of unbox something. I mean, we all done it right, We're like, how did they get this into a box? Right? So then they get to put back in the box not totally perfectly. And sometimes that's where you can kind of have some of that rubbing and scuffing that can happen in transit. So we grade everything on condition. As I said it, everything's gonna come it's fully functional, fully. Tested for safety. Everything is going to be included.

27:01 You know, if you're like really excited about the cupholder, the cup holder is going to be there. You know, we know, I know that's important, right and so you know, I've been taking the strollers to enough early morning walk so I'm like, yeah, there's not a place to put my coffee. It's going to be a problem. So, you know, so functionally, there's no difference, you know, functional, functionality wise, safety wise, there's no difference from an overstock product. There just might be. Some cosmetic you know, you know, maybe a little stuff on the frame or scratch, and we just want to make sure parents are are fully clear about what it is they're getting. You know, there's no mystery. You know, the conditions are explained very clearly on our website. So yeah, and you're partnering directly with brands. Why do you think that is so important?

27:45 Yeah, I think it's really important because you know, we think you know, when we work directly with a brand. We get full access to the people who made that product, right, you know, we can talk to the engineers who design the product, and we can run our you know, when we say, okay, this is how we're gona inspect your product, like they can offer feedback, and we've had companies come back and say, oh, hey, you want to make sure you look at this, so you test this, and so we can you know, make sure that what we're doing fully ensures that product is one hundred percent functional, ondred percent tafe to use, and. We get you know, we get trained on that product bright people who kind of live and. Breathe it every day, and so everything is as accurate as possible, Everything is as as thorough as possible, and so we're just able to create a better, safer experience for our consumers and for the brands.

28:27 You know, it means that we're able to. Take those products that kind of were a problem for them and we turn those into assets that they can use to bring their full, complete, normal brand experience to new customers who might not shop them otherwise. Right a product that might be out of price, out of their range is now available, and so they get to reach new customers, and so I think that's really, you know, a great win for that as well. And recommerce. Re commerce is really becoming a lifeline for families trying to save money. Why do you think that shift is happening now? Yeah, So, I mean I think parenting is I think parenting has always been expensive, right, I think it was, you know before I I can't you know, the idea of story exchange came before COVID ever hit in. You know, it was clear then that parenthood was ridiculously expensive, and that has only gotten tougher.

29:15 You know. I think inflation's been you know, everyone's felt it the last couple of years. I think it's been and it's really been. I think some of the worst in industries that parents are particularly exposed to, right, you know, groceries, healthcare, childcare, those of all skyrocket in recent years. And that's you know, there's no avoiding it when you're a parent, right, So I think you know, parents are kind of right, once. You take care of all that, you still have to buy all the other stuff that kids need, right, And. Even those things have gone up a lot. You know, I think last year, right, you saw companies raising the prices of strollers fifty percent overnight when tariffs hit, and so you know, I think parents are like, I got to save money anyway I can, and you know, this is a great way.

30:01 To do it. Yeah, And it's I mean for me a thrill of finding a high end baby product that is in great shape for you know, three quarters of the price or whatever. I'm like, this is a win all around, Like there's nothing that could be better than that. But which kind of does give me to the next question. Do you see the stigma fading around buying secondhand, especially from premium brands, not from me, but for other people? Absolutely? I mean I think, you know, on the parenting side of things, like I think we all kind of you know, few secondhand is perfectly legitimate. I mean, I think I know people who like view to the market pride how much secondhand stuff they're able to get to go, like clothing and stuff. And I think, you know, our generation and the generations younger than us have grown up thrifting.

30:50 They've grown up with online platforms like eBay. And t pop and you know, they as you just described right, like we all know you can find great stuff online and greats up secondhand online and secondhand, and you know there's no reason not to take that same approach to shopping for your kids. And there's a huge. Thrill just as you said, like right, there's a huge thrilling like when you scored a deal. And I think brands, you know, right, like, I think you're seeing it across industries. I think you're seeing fashion companies realize like, hey, look like this exists, people are going to stop secondhand, Like why don't I get involved? And I think that fashion's always on the. Leading edge of everything, and you know, everything else kind of follows along slowly. But I think even in places like the baby space, you know, brands are cluing into this, right, Like there's their products are being sold secondhand, and you know they might as well be part of that, right, they might as well make money off of it, and they might as well get involved so that they.

31:48 Can control a little more of how their products are sold. They can make sure that products are safe, they can make sure that, you know, the products are being presented the way they envision it. And so for them, it's it's like it's silly to miss out on this kind of shift for its second hand market. I agree. I know I love to thrift. Like it's I go, like at least once a week. This sweat sweatshirt that I wear pretty much on all of my interviews just so that I'm like consistent with it is it's like Lily Poultzer, which is like normally it's like a seventy five to one hundred dollars sweatshirt. I think I got it for like five bucks thrifting and it's like, I mean it's great shape, it's comfortable, and I'm like, yeah, I love it, you know, and it's something that I forgot I thrifted in until we were just talking about it, like I would have I would have just the same quality.

32:39 Yeah, it looks great and like it's your stoke to wear it, and it's like it's a super huge fun and I mean I think to me, it's it's a great way shoo to try things. That maybe you wouldn't try other ones. Right, It's like, yeah, like you know, I've never used a product from this company, Like I'm not going to pay, like do I really want to pay seven hundred dollars for a stroller? And then it's like, well, I get it cheaper and I can try it and then you're go, I like this, and then you buy other products from that company because you know, you know good or you know how they fit. Right. Like I buy clothing from the same like four companies most of the time nowadays because I'm like, I know they fit for me, and yeah I don't. I'm not gonna worry about it. But like shopping second hand or thrifting, I'm like, like, I'll take a risk on that because like, worst case, I spent five bucks and it doesn't fit in.

33:21 Like, yeah, you just donate it back. Yeah, exactly. So you're solving both a financial and environmental problem at the same time. Which one drives you more? Yeah? So, I mean I get a thrill every time, you know, parent writes to us and tells us they were able to get you know, their dream stroller because we kind of put it within reach of them, And I think that's so exciting. That's a huge win for me. And but I think selvishly the environmental mission is is ultimately what really drives me. It's kind of what brought me here in the first place. I think, you know, the earth is the greatest, Like can say we're gonna leave our kids right like, when we're gone, and this is the planet they're going to live on, and I want to leave the best planet behind for my kids possible, right Like, I want them to have a great life living here, and I want their kids to have a great life living here. And I want them to be able to go to places and see see natural beauty. And it means a lot knowing that I'm helping reduce waste and keeping places looking better and reducing consumption of new products and all the materials that go to that.

34:23 But also, you know, I think hopefully part of a broader movement that's kind of shifting the way we think about consuming stuff. It's a little. Less of oh, hey, let's just buy lots and buy new and throw it away, and instead think, you know, hey, let's be think carefully about what we're buying and make sure that everything gets used. Yeah, And that really like to go not to go back to the thrifting, but it's the easiest thing for me to compare it to not that it's shrifting what you guys are doing, but I always feel like you're giving this, You're giving the environment, like a better chance of again not being in a landfill and as the consumer, feel better about buying that stuff rather than like, I mean, I would never order just off Ofchine because it's like, I know, that's fast fashion and it's going to go into a landfill some somewhere, and I just I think as a consumer it's really important to think about it that way when they're buying from you, that you've saved this stuff, and you're buying saved stuff at a cheaper price, which is.

35:21 Great and hopefully it means you're buying stuff too that's like better built and it's going to leave better. Yeah, for sure. The alternative is to shopping with US or another site like US or shopping so your hand is, you know, you can go on Amazon and you can find all sorts of cheap kind of you know, baby products and realistically, like most of them probably questionable quality and you know, who knows how long they're going to last for you and you know, right, or you can go out and you can you know, you can. It sounds the same, but you can go buy the soaky trip trap that's kind of it is really expensive, but it's a really nice high trip that's going to last multiple kids, and on it you can transition it to like a regular chair that they can use as they grow older, and like you're probably gonna get ten plus years out of that versus ten months.

36:09 That's definitely when I would have bought off your website if I knew if you had it when I had my first kid, because that was something that I wasn't willing to like spend all the money on because I was like, I just can't justify it. But I could have justified it with you guys. Yeah, that was one of the exact ones for me that I was like, I want it, and I was like, I can't pay that much, and then I know by the time the first one came through our website. Yeah, I love that. So for those listening, check that one out because that's you're building such a fast growing company while raising three young, young kids. What systems have you put in place at home so your life doesn't implode?

36:50 You're assuming my life hasn't imploded, which is a big one. Yeah. So I think you know, Sinto and I we have a family meeting every Sunday to kind of review the week ahead. You know, what's happening. How can we support each other? You know, what do we need from each other and or and you know, just kind of talk bigger planning things as well. You know, like, h so, who's going to one birthday? You know, do we need to get presents for this kid's birth there or whatever? And you know, it's eventually something that I think we want to bring our kids into as well and kind of make it a larger family meeting of hey, like let's talk through things a plan. And you know, we have a bunch of shared calendars. Everyone in our family has a has a calendar and a digital calendar that you know, we can.

37:32 See in our phone. They're all color coded, so you know who's who's doing what. We have one of those skylight kind of shi digital calendars too that sits on our kitchen counter so it's easy to see. The kids can see it. They don't have phones or other screens, but that's the way they can see the calendar, and we can kind of quickly see it whenever we're in there. We're in the kitchen, So that that's kind of like the high level way of looking Personally, me, I still love paper, pen and paper. I write out my I write out my week every weekend in a paper planner and then transit from that to a daily to do list every day. I just find it. I don't know, right, the active writing it out I think kind of just helps it sinking better. Plus it's just way more satisfying to cross stuff. Off, check it off. Yeah, it's not the same as like you clicking the little bubblets. Yeah, scratch it out is big.

38:16 I totally agree with that. You got to like cross it or check it out. So what is one baby product you thought you needed and you did not. So we we got to seck. We gotta seck a hints new and we want to took in hands. Still way too expensive. And. H Ellie hated it, like it did not work for her at all. And you know, I think we use it for like three month stops and then we're like, this is just this is a waste, and then we never we never really got a chance to use it with Baker, But with our newest we're just using a basic Hanlo bess Net buyer bets on and it's totally fine. He up until the last couple of nights he.

38:58 Slept Grant night until that regression, Yeah. Into the regression subgrade, and so it's like, you know, yeah. And so on the flip side, what's one product that you would absolutely buy again without hesitation. So we we have this baby Bjorn bouncer and it's fantastic, right, like it's been. It's better than any swing that I've ever tried. All our kids loved sitting in it. It's super portable, right, you can bring it outside with you, bring it to different rooms. You know, you're not tethered to like an electrical outlet or anything. So that is when I would swear by. I think it's probably my favorite piece of baby tech that I've ever had.

39:39 And so this is funny. So you guys are going to be at the Prego Expo on Saturday, and this will be my third year going to it. But two years ago Baby Bjorn was there. I think they were there last year too, but they had an adult sized, you know one, and so of course I went and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm like sitting in it, and I'm like, this is why our kids love it so much. This is like one of the products that I actually did want to see what it felt like and then had the opportunity to So that's pretty cool. It's so comfortable. They had one I was at ABC, the big kind of like industry expo, and they had they had it there too, and it's so comfortable. I was like asking them, I was like, do you sell these? And like would you sell this to me?

40:23 And right now? Yeah? I think afterwards, because the video that I posted of it went like crazy viral. I think it had like five million views for it, and I actually like looked into it to be like is this something that you could do for adults? But there was all these like things surrounding it, and I'm like, whatever it was. It was one of those ideas you have in your mind for a second. But it was so comfortable I would I would fall asleep with it. I think it would be a hit if they ever decided to sell that adult version. You have given us so much information about Stork Exchange. I know everyone listening has learned so much. But I have to ask for the last question, five years from now, what do you hope changes in the way families think about buying, keeping, and letting go of their maybe gear.

41:09 Yeah, you know, I think it's something that I think about a lot. I think, you know, is I hope families kind of move more towards communal. Forms of living. I think raising kids is really hard, and just doing it as you know, two people is even harder. You know, the people I know who don't live near family, I'm just in awe of how they do it. I think a lot of families, you know, they used households, used to be very multi generational, Like I spent every summer in the house with grandparents and aunts and uncles. You know, that just lowered the load for everyone, right, you know, it's pretty easy to take cooking from cooking for four to cooking for ten.

41:50 It's not it at a papasta, right, you know. So i'd love to see and I think we're starting to see people starting to build more similar communities that with but with non related families. You know, I know people who've kind of taken over an entire apartment building right in the city, right, friends living on each floor, and or people kind of buying houses on the same street as people and really intentionally seeking out, you know, where they live to make sure they're very very close to people that they can build a community with. And I think when you do that and then you start having kids, it's easy to pool those resources of baby products. Right, you know, something even like this new which not a huge fan of, but you only use it for a couple of months, right, and then it can go to the next family, and then it can go to the next family, and instead of four families buying four snooze, you can have four families buy one and get to use it. And it just gets passed around and around and around. And you know, like we have a very small version of that on our street. We share clothing.

42:47 There's a couple of families that are we all our kids are kind of perfectly staggered, and there's like a tote bag that just goes between houses like every couple days, and it's just like, oh, like here's. The newest batch of shoes, and here's the newest batch of clothing. And I think that that is figuring out ways where people can pass this gear to each other and build community around it and take these products that are engineered like, you know, a truly good story. It's meant to. Last ten years, yeah, and you know, making sure it actually gets used for all ten years and being passed between families so that it's available when they need it. I think that's what I'd love to see that kind of change continue to take the place. Yeah, that would be great and I hope that that is the future for everyone. And I think that's going to be a great place to end it. So thank you for coming on tonight, hawsme.

43:37 Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, thank you. And so that's going to bring us to the end of another episode of The Running Wine Mom. And as someone who has absolutely paid full price for something that probably lasted about six weeks, I appreciate everything that. You are doing. And for anyone listening, if you're in baby mode right now or you know someone who is, send them this episode because it might save the money and I'll save them stress and honestly, it might change how they think about buying in the first place. So thank you, Ben for creating the stork exchange for people to have something. Like that to go to awesome. Thank you so much. As always, thank you for sending time with us today on The Running Wine Mom. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. You can follow me on Instagram at the Running Wine Mom Underscore and Ben, where can the listeners find you?

44:27 They can come check a stork exchange at BW dot, stork exchange dot co, or find us on Instagram at stork understand. Perfect and I will link all of that. So thank you so much for joining us today. Remember you were strong, you were capable, and you were all amazing. Until next time, keep running, keep sipping, and keep embracing the joy of parenthood. Tears and I will be back next Tuesday.