3D Printing Begins Its Biggest Conquest

One minute after midnight on the first day of 1863, more than 270 million acres of U.S. land went up for grabs.

Under Abraham Lincoln’s Homestead Act, adventurous Americans were allowed up to 160 acres of free federal land to set up new settlements across the vast, unpopulated West. They had to create viable residences on the new land and remain there for five years.

Just six years later, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific rail companies drove the final golden spike into America’s first transcontinental railroad, opening up a new, faster avenue of travel across the country for these homesteaders.

In this same year, the United States Postal Service opened its Railway Mail Service, which equipped all major train routes with Railroad Post Offices and mobile sorting cars. From this point until the late 1960s, rail cars handled the majority of American mail.

These factors worked together to blow up a new business in the growing United States: mail-order catalog retail.

In 1887, Montgomery Ward launched its catalog business. In 1881, Hammacher Schlemmer launched its first catalog. And in 1888, Sears & Roebuck launched its own.

People spread out and settled down, and companies used the rails that connected them as their supply backbones. The whole process took about 25 years to get into full swing.

Flash forward to today, and we’re in a strangely similar situation.

The Mail Order of Tomorrow

25 years ago, CERN opened its first external TCP/IP connection.

This was the “golden spike” that connected the various private computer networks on both sides of the Atlantic into what we now know as the Internet.

It has connected some 2.8 billion people across the globe and has served as a way to handle the less corporeal aspects of business and daily life. We can consume audiovisual media, communicate instantly, buy and sell goods, trade equities, and send digital files.

Now, the Internet can be used to transport physical goods as well. With the growth of 3D printers and their related materials, we can create physical objects from what is essentially pure data.

From Shipping to Printing

This week, the United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) announced it will turn 100 of its stores across the country into 3D printing centers.

It’s becoming clear that the future of shipping is printing.

Customers can send their designs to their neighborhood UPS stores, and after several hours and however much UPS wants to charge, they’ll have 3D-printed versions of their designs.

Elsewhere in the world, similar developments are taking place.

On October 4th, Copenhagen, Denmark will open its first 3D print store called 3D Printhuset. It is being billed as the largest 3D printing shop in the world, and its operators are hoping they will be able to kick-start interest in the nascent technology.

Even though 3D printers are slowly dropping in price, they haven’t yet grown into the “necessary household item” category. They’re still mostly a curiosity and a novelty.

But with the advent of community printing centers, 3D printers can become a new extension of online shopping.

The Next Phase

Last July, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) debuted the Amazon 3D Printing Store — a rather rudimentary attempt at collecting everything related to 3D printing in a single place. It sells design software, printers, and materials, as well as custom-ordered, 3D-printed merchandise that gets shipped to users via the usual shipping channels.

Companies like Shapeways and Mixee Labs allow shoppers to do the same thing.

However, for customers who want to choose where and when they will print their items, the only really valuable piece of the process is the design file. Sites like cuboyo, 3D Burrito, and Modelyst sell individual design files that shoppers can print wherever they want, such as at their local UPS stores.

Some inventory from Create This

With this method, the whole process of buying 3D-printed goods would be radically sped up because there’s no physical item to be shipped. As a bonus, the buyer would have the power to change the cost of the item he or she is buying.

Of course, the time and cost to print will vary depending upon the complexity of the project. At UPS centers, for example, a simple iPhone case could cost as much as $60 and take up to five hours to make. But a full-sized replica of a human femur could cost upwards of $325 and take two days to fabricate, according to CNN.

As the technology grows, it will get cheaper and faster. The investment opportunities abound.

Good Investing,

Tim Conneally

 @TimConneally on Twitter

For the last seven years, Tim Conneally has covered the world of mobile and wireless technology, enterprise software, network hardware, and next generation consumer technology. Tim has previously written for long-running software news outlet Betanews and for financial media powerhouse Forbes.