A new segment of the storage industry is challenging the you-haul-it model of storing your stash.
A startup called RedBin will pickup and store boxes for you, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
First the New York company's van drives to the customer and delivers big red plastic boxes. A few days later, they send another van to retrieve the filled boxes. They charge $5 a month per three-cubic feet box to store them.
Founder Tom Anderson thinks his business will prosper because U.S. consumers are a lot better at acquiring things than they are at letting go. And the on-demand model works well for apartment dwellers who live far from traditional storage facilities.
Sixty percent of storage customers live in 25 U.S. metropolitan areas. Services similar to RedBin are available in Boston, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
There are more than 50,000 self-storage facilities in the U.S. Together, their businesses will generate $33 billion in 2016, according to research firm IBISWorld.
Ellen Faye, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers, says people "buy and buy and buy."
Occupancy rates at storage facilities are at an all-time high, according to SpareFoot, a website that helps people comparison shop for the best deals. New businesses want to stay competitive.
Whether they are grabbing customers who would have gone to regular storage companies, or attracting a new kind of customer, is not clear at this time.
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