Zak Jones lived in a household where phone chargers always seemed to disappear. He was raising kids, juggling daily life, and watching the same small annoyance play out every week — someone borrowed a charger and forgot to return it, or it vanished completely. He bought more than he wanted to count. At some point, he stopped thinking about the charger itself and started focusing on the outlet. The problem wasn’t just the cord. It was that the entire charger could be pulled out too easily.
He started experimenting with ways to anchor a charger in place. Most solutions were overkill. Some involved building a recessed box into the wall, others involved taping or tying the cable. He sketched out ideas for a simple cover that could lock over the charger and stop it from being yanked out. It had to be easy to install, work with a normal outlet, and protect the cord from being bent or broken when pushed against a wall. He mocked up a few prototypes and realized he could route the cable upward through the top of the plate, avoiding any strain from furniture pressed flush against the wall. That design became the foundation of Permaplug.
Permaplug launched in 2019 as a concept and went through several development phases before reaching market in 2023. Zak worked with a co-founder, known publicly as Nicky, to refine the idea and bring it to life. They patented the locking design and ran a small crowdfunding campaign to get it manufactured. The first production units were sold through their own website and on Amazon. Zak handled logistics out of Dallas, Texas, where the company ships directly and manages fulfillment.
The product itself replaces a standard wall plate. It’s a molded plastic cover that fits around a 20-watt charger block and locks it in place with a single screw. Once installed, the charger cannot be removed without unscrewing the cover. Only the USB cable exits through the top. The charger included with each unit has two ports—one USB-C and one USB-A—and the bundle comes with a short charging cable to match. The design is simple and doesn’t require any tools beyond a screwdriver. For added protection, users can add optional security screws so that only the device owner can unlock the unit.
Permaplug wasn’t built for gadget fans. It was made for people who were tired of losing or replacing chargers. Parents who were tired of fighting over whose cable was whose. Landlords who didn’t want to replace broken outlets. Offices where cables vanished every week. Zak built it for exactly those cases—places where one small piece of tech kept going missing or breaking.
The company began with one product and gradually expanded. They added a version for decorator-style outlets and started developing slimmer and faster models for future release. Support and returns are handled directly by the team, and every unit ships from Dallas.
