Call these guys to find a place to store that massive AC unit in the winter.
Credit: Fetch
Fetch Storage co-founders Brij Patel and Jesse Mastro have a simple business model: their customers don’t have to lift a finger. North End-based Fetch offers bespoke storage, including pick up and return. Well, Fetch customers don’t have to lift a finger until later this year, which is when the 33-year-old Northeastern University business majors plan to roll out a mobile app giving customers instant access to monitor and control their own storage. Call it a veritable virtual peek in the attic, just a screen tap away. Patel says the app will also promote a Fetch community where people swap, share, sell and even rent their stored goods such as power tools.
“Storage can promote hoarding; this promotes a sharing economy. People can make some money on the things they have sitting in storage. It’s not just money based, though, it’s also better for the environment than having endless stuff sitting in storage.”
Apparently, there’s so much stuff sitting in storage in the US that it could fill Manhattan: “It’s sad and unhealthy from a societal point of view.”
Environmental concerns wasn’t what prompted Fetch’s formation though. After the pair graduated, they started Rent-an-AC, which similarly takes the schlep out of summer cooling by installing and retrieving air conditioners as customers need them. Problem was, the niche seasonal business boomed for 12 weeks of the year.
“We already had the infrastructure: vans, storage space, and a great team,” says Patel. “Fetch is for a similar customer who’s short on space.”
Fetch’s pricing structure is simple: you pay for how much storage you use, starting at $3 per month including pick up and drop off under one hour. “Creating a little space in a tiny apartment on Beacon Hill can mean a lot to daily life quality.”
Be it ski gear, patio furniture, or holiday decorations, “Storage is a necessary evil,” says Patel. “It affects most people as they go through certain life events. Normally, you rent a truck, rent some storage space with uncertain pricing, then you schlep it out there, and then wonder what you put in the boxes, and search through it all to find things. We pick it up, give a detailed inventory, and deliver what you need back when you want it.”
For more info: 888-610-1684
www.fetchstorage.com
