By Alex Hassel, Storage.com
A bin rental company is turning its attention to on-demand storage after many requests from its customers. Bin-It is now offering its new service in Nashville, Philadelphia, and New York City. Co-founder and CEO Robert Theryoung says there’s a large need for on-demand bin storage in these densely populated areas.
Bin-It started in June 2011 in NYC. The business first began by renting out plastic bins for people moving in or out of a home or business. It still offers this service today. In its smallest package, the company will drop off 15 plastic bins and a dolly for a customer to rent for two weeks. After the move, Bin-It employees will come retrieve the bins. In Nashville, this offer costs $50 and goes up $0.50 a bin per week after two weeks. In NYC, that same service costs $79 per week and then a dollar per bin per week more after two weeks.
Theryoung says the business model expanded after many inquiries from customers about storage options. “A lot of our clients also tried to buy bins from us to use at their own self storage unit because of the durability. We decided that this type of storage service would complement our current bin rental service very well, especially since we already had built up a large customer base of people moving.”
Bin-It started in NYC, expanded to Nashville, and most recently moved into the Philadelphia market. Theryoung says these cities are great venues for the new on-demand storage service due to the dense populations in smaller living spaces.
“A lot of people in major cities don’t have vehicles of their own,” Theryoung explains. “Lugging items to a self storage unit can be very time-consuming and laborious. We also are noticing that many people just want to simply declutter closets. A lot of these smaller apartments, like my own in Hoboken, N.J., don’t have walk-ins. We conside this your on-demand walk-in closet.”
Bin-It’s website shows that storage pricing starts at $25 per month and $6.25 a bin per month. Other large items like wardrobe boxes, golf clubs, or skis are $12.25 a month.
To get started, a customer first contacts Bin-It on its site or with the Bin-It app and gives details of the items they want to store. One of Bin-It’s customer service team members then arranges a date and time for free pickup. With the app, customers can take pictures and log the items they’re storing. Bin-It then takes the items and stores them in a warehouse with 24-hour surveillance.
When a customer wants something back, they can use the app to request a return with a simple click on the item’s image. Bin-It will deliver requested belongings within 48 hour notice at a $19.99 delivery fee.
Theryoung says what sets Bin-It apart is the experiences and relationships it already has in the moving industry. “We started out as a simple bin rental company for people moving their home or office and have added this as a complementary service. If you’re in the process of packing up and moving with our bins, you can declutter and send things to storage during the moving process. This is the time most people are putting things into storage, so now we can handle all of that seamlessly for you.”
Though only serving three cities right now, Bin-It hopes to add up to five more by the end of 2016.
Images courtesy of Robert Theryoung, Bin-It.
Alex Hassel is News Reporter for Storage.com. If you’d like to pitch Alex a self storage industry news story, email alex.hassel@storage.com or call 402-779-7328.
