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Comment by omni | Hacker News Reader

The pricing seems a lot more reasonable than I was expecting, at $300/yr + $29 per delivery (pickups are free).

Are there any competitors in this space, or is this a new concept?

The pricing is definitely geared towards city living. $300/yr for 12cu ft of storage. I paid $600/yr for 600cu ft of storage at my local U-Haul. So about 25x wholesale/suburban prices. For the price, you get really easy web interface and almost no hassle pickup/delivery. If I lived in a city and had no storage, I would consider it but I don't know how much one can pack in just 3cu ft boxes.

I hope they offer larger boxes or rather, standard pallets. After all, the boxes will be storage in typical bins in a warehouse. Industrial warehouses rent out indoor pallet-sized bins (4ft x 4ft x 5ft = 80cu ft.) for about $12/mo. If they charge a customer $25/mo for 12cu ft and stack even 5 customers in one pallet (60 cu ft), they make $25*5 - $12 = $113 => 90%+ gross margin. This is just monthly storage. Of course the warehouse charges handling fees but they would certainly offer price breaks when 1000+ bins are rented out.

This can be a very profitable venture if the marketing and customer service is done right and their small apartment dwelling customers wouldn't have to rent a car or ask friends for a ride just to storage the christmas decorations each year. All in all, just what a real-world startup is supposed to be.

About four years ago, I used a service like this to move between homes [1]. It's particularly useful if your move out dates don't match up with your move in dates, and if you want to load/unload at a more leisurely pace. At first glance, the only difference seems to be the size of storage units, and maybe a bit more automation in the web interface.

The Pod moving/storage unit was basically in units of half-size shipping containers. They would deliver on a date, you'd move your stuff in, and schedule a pickup. Keep the unit in their facilities as long as you care to pay the rent, then kickoff the "download" process whenever you were ready.

[1] http://www.pods.com

$6.25 for a 3-cu ft. box (presumably something close to 18" per side) sounds like a really terrible deal.

Put it this way: as long as you let me look inside first to make sure you aren't storing anything that will get me arrested or burn my house down, you're welcome to store four 18" cubes in my garage for $25/month.

Will you deliver for $29 too? :)

I agree, it doesn't sound like a good deal, although I don't have experience living in NYC.

For comparison, this wine storage place charges $3.35 per carton, about the same as a 18" cube, and $10 per delivery. http://www.vinfolio.com/services-storage-overview.jsp

Sure, subject to reasonable limitations on the delivery radius. As long as I can call a cab and have them deliver your box(es) for $29 or less, we've got a deal.

I like the idea a lot, in principle, but the rates amount to robbery. Hopefully some other competitors will disrupt this particular "disruptor" by offering the same service at a more reasonable price.

It sounds a lot like BoxBee which I think launched earlier this year.

I don't think this is a new concept. I used "The Box Butler" when I moved to NY about 4 years ago. They would pick up and drop off and even supply boxes to store the stuff in. It wasn't the cheapest thing ever but it was convenient.

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