Why On-Demand Bin Storage is MUST when living in New York City.

Posted on by Yvonne Berger

 

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“I know my things are safe and sound and only one day away from my living room when I want something back.”

By Ronald G.

When I relocated to NYC from Chicago, I quickly needed to learn how people managed to live in those small NYC apartments. In Chicago, my salary afforded me a 1300 square foot 2 bedroom apartment overlooking Millennium Park in a full service building. In New York City, the same salary afforded me 700 square feet in a pre-war third floor walkup apartment in the Gramercy section of the city. Storage was going to be an issue. This apartment had only one closet, but still I couldn’t wait to move in!

After I moved,  I had so many boxes of clothing, books, shoes, CD’s,  old albums, video games, paperwork and knickknacks scattered around my apartment that it started looking like I was living inside of a Self-Storage locker. I asked my realtor how people live in these small apartments. She told me to think small, shop at Ikea and recommended something called “on-demand bin storage” as a solution to the closet shortage. I was thinking I needed to find a self-storage facility and dreaded the idea of using it. I didn’t have a car and envisioned trying to move stuff using cabs, trains and buses.  I didn’t need to store furniture and larger items. I just had boxes full of stuff so bin storage seemed like a good alternative to Self Storage.

I Googled all the New York City bin storage operators and after carefully researching price, service, reviews and my basic hunch;  RedBin was my choice. The price was surprisingly affordable at $7.00 per bin per month. The at home pickup and delivery was a real life saver and the reviews seemed pretty good.

The hunch part came into play as the other on-demand storage companies I spoke to couldn’t and wouldn’t tell me where there warehouse was located! They told me not to worry and that it was safe and secure, but I was leery. I thought it was strange that a storage company was hiding the location of their facility. After all, this is my personal belongings and felt I had a right to know. I just envisioned some run down dirty old warehouse located in the cheapest and seediest part of town. Not for my video games, no way! I received the same convoluted side stepping answers to this basic question from all the companies except for RedBin.  In fact the RedBin Storage rep. actually encouraged me to visit their facility. I took her up on the invitation, scheduled an appointment and took the “D” train to Brooklyn.  I was pleased to encounter a security guard at the front door and once inside I saw a clean, bright, busy warehouse packed with thousands of red bins neatly placed on racks. The warehouse manager gave me a tour of the facility and answered any questions that I had. Pretty cool business concept, I was impressed.

Easy and Affordable:

Ordering bins was a snap using their website at www.redbin.com. Bins cost $7.00 per bin per month. I ordered and scheduled my free bin drop off and my free bin pickup online.

At home delivery:

The uniformed driver showed up on time and dropped off the bins right to my door.  I received an automatic text message from the driver advising me that he was coming over and provided me with a tracking link so I could see his progress. Neat feature!

The bins held more than I originally thought they would. (This is often mentioned in the reviews as well.) I packed my things into the bins and when the driver came back, he photographed the top of each bin before sealing the bins with a zip tie. The photos showed up on the RedBin login account. This is a great way for me to manage what I have in storage so I can identify specific bins when requesting a return.

I’m loving life in the Big Apple and thanks to RedBin, I can have all my stuff available to me at any time and not have to actually live with all of my stuff. I know my things are safe and sound and only one day away from my living room when I want something back. Living in a small NYC apartment has its challenges and storage is certainly one of them, but RedBin solved it perfectly. On-demand storage really is a must when living in this town and choosing RedBin certainly was the right choice for me.

Our Relationship with “Things”

Posted on by Yvonne Berger

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We have all accumulated a lot of stuff in our lives.  Our possessions become extensions of ourselves and help us define who we are or where we want to be.

Early attachment to things starts for most of us around the age of two when we can first have an understanding of possession.  Most children will develop an unusually intense relationship to a specific object at this age. Whether it is a toy, stuffed animal or blanket they believe that the object has a uniqueness to it and a magical quality that shows up again in adulthood as related to memorabilia, heirlooms and inherited items.

The progression of attachment to objects in teens becomes a ‘crutch’ for the self and helps adolescents define by material objects “what makes me happy” at a time when their self-esteem is at it’s lowest. Transitioning from adolescence to adulthood is the crown jewel of possession and attachment; the person’s first car. 

In adulthood our possessions signal to other people who we see ourselves as. Additionally certain possessions convey a ‘group membership’ and this is most often seen with the collection of items and memorabilia as related to sports teams.  There also many people who like to simply “collect” things and have extensive “collections”.

As time goes on these things accumulate and the intensity of how we identify ourselves gets stronger and therefore their value to us increases.  For this reason victims of vandalism or robbery often say they “feel violated” because it is more than the financial loss that is upsetting but rather the loss of “their things”.

Many people willingly get rid of possessions in the time of a “life changing” event. Or they hit a crossroads and it is time to “clean house”. In either case this is carefully thought out and executed with some strategy. There are also “keepers” and “hoarders” and both  experience guilt when faced with having to get rid of things.  Keepers generally have more of an emotional attachment to the object.  Hoarders feel that they are preserving an identity by holding onto the object. 

Our relationship with our things gets more powerful as we age as they provide us with comfort, fond memories and are highly valued in human society.  Even in death our once valued possessions become “family heirlooms” to be passed down for generations to come.

RedBin Storage is providing consumers with a safe, convenient and affordable solution for maintaining our relationship with our things. RedBin’s sophisticated software system allows customers to log in to their account and see their items any time they want so they always feel connected to their “things”.

 Want or “need” something back? It can be redelivered it within 24 hours.