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Show HN: Store your luggage in local shops
- drivingmenuts 7y agoI don’t get it. If you have luggage, wouldn’t you also have a hotel or motel room to store it in? This sounds more like something you’d do so your buddy, Dave, could pick up a suitcase of drugs or something.
- wojciii 7y agoI think that often you can have a period of time between checkout from hotel (example 1000 hours) and flight home (1800 hours) where you have perhaps a half day where you can do something but have luggage with you. This service makes so much sense.
- llarsson 7y agoI have never in my travels stayed at a hotel, motel, or hostel that didn't let me keep luggage at the front desk in this situation. Just ask them. I can, however, see how this would be helpful for when your hotel is not close to where you want to be the hours before departure, though.
- wyxuan 7y agoYeah, and most places that experience a lot of travelers already have paid storage options (albeit pricey)
- fasthandle 7y agoI also don't get. In my experience, lggage shops are usually divided into higher end stores with carefully curated displays that won't want clutter or budget stores that have no room to move as it is. And I won't want the risk of someone walking off with my bag. Could OP explain. Edit: Reading the FAQ, it's not luggage stores, it's stores that store luggage. Restaurants, delis, anywhere really. This makes much more sense. Upvote. Novel idea.
- jackthetab 7y agoI don't get it either. How is this different than a "left luggage" place? A coupla' years ago, I landed at Heathrow, dropped off my luggage at the left luggage shop, travelled through Europe for two weeks, went back to Heathrow, picked up my luggage and flew back home. Just google "left luggage near me" when you land somewhere. No need for an app that is most likely (not necessarily nefariously) tracking you.
- cody3222 7y agoOops - meant to type this as a reply not as a new comment: Not all hotels are convenient to where you want to be - if you are staying in Fisherman's Wharf for example and will be in Union Square before your flight, it doesn't make sense to go all the way back to FW to get your bags. Bounce has locations everywhere. It's also really popular with AirBnB folks, people going to games, concerts etc. Have 10's of thousands of users already.
- Groxx 7y agoAnother scenario where it's handy: you have to leave your hotel in the morning, but fly in the evening. Either pay a few bucks somewhere nearish where you'll head to the airport, and pick it up on the way, or drag it around all day.
- ComputerGuru 7y agoThat’s what hotels do. It’s kind of a secret but basically every hotel lets you keep your luggage past checkout and pick it up later that day before you leave for the airport.
- Lucadg 7y agoHow is that a secret? Honest question as I assumed it's common knowledge
- ComputerGuru 7y agoIt depends on where you’re from and what sort of upbringing you’ve had and life you were exposed to. Just like most common knowledge.
- gandalfflew 7y agoAnother little known fact - your luggage isn’t insured when you do that. These guys all seem to offer insurance to protect what happens to your luggage
- kelnos 7y agoMost hotels will store your luggage for you if your flight is after their checkout time, but it's pretty rare to find an Airbnb that will do the same. I used one of these services in Denver last week and it saved me from carrying around my bags for 5 hours. Another possibility is if, after checkout, you want to hang out somewhere where it wouldn't be convenient to go back to your hotel to pick up your bags before heading to the airport.
- cody3222 7y agoYes, exactly!
- spamfilter 7y agoDave's not here, man
- kbrosnan 7y agoI used a similar service in NYC in December. My partner and I were in the city for a half day. We got into the Port Authority around noon and dropped our bags at a Best Western near Penn Station. It allowed us to spend a day visiting with friends without the need to lug the luggage around. During the day we walked about 6 miles. Three bags ran about $20, it was well worth it.
- cody3222 7y agoAwesome to hear it worked out so well. Any feedback to make it better? At Bounce, we've worked really hard to create a beautiful, easy to use product, and a lot of locations to go with it. We now have the most in NYC. Can I convince you to try Bounce next time? Here's a discount code I just made for this threat: THANKSHN (10% off)
- kbrosnan 7y agoThe hard part about this model is that I might only need this service once a year or less. If this service did not exist I would just try the tip the bellhop option.
- cody3222 7y agoNot all hotels are convenient to where you want to be - if you are staying in Fisherman's Wharf for example and will be in Union Square before your flight, it doesn't make sense to go all the way back to FW to get your bags. Bounce has locations everywhere. It's also really popular with AirBnB folks, people going to games, concerts etc. Have 10's of thousands of users already.
- docdeek 7y agoI have used a similar service in Spain when my hotel was a little too distant from the train station to make and end of day return trip feasible. Worked well, good idea.
- klausjensen 7y agoIn Spain it was probably Luggagehero, you used. https://luggagehero.com/ https://luggagehero.com/
- cody3222 7y agoThis is an odd assumption. Do you have an affiliation with this company? I notice you have a danish name (and it's the local danish company).
- elliekelly 7y agoThere is a vibrant mini-economy for this along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Both day storage and transporting short distances. They’re very efficient!
- cody3222 7y agoIt is actually really cool to see all the local mom&pop options in each city. For storage and for delivery. We work with all the shops who are willing (and will uphold our high quality bar).
- cody3222 7y agoAmazing. How did you discover it? Anything to be improved? EU coming soon for Bounce.
- docdeek 7y agoA Google search while in Pamplona, I think. There are more than a couple of these startups, mostly using hostels for the storage as far as we could tell.
- anon463637 7y agoIt seems like a good idea... until the first terrorist leaves their suitcase bomb in Manhattan, mobster uses this to arrange drug mules or child trafficking, or shady business or their employees goes through bags looking for valuables. Most people can simply mail their luggage to their hotel. Only a limited subset of travelers who use Airbnb or are homeless would need this service. It seems like a better business model would be somewhere at the airport where you can pay someone to watch your luggage if you want to explore / go to dinner / etc. and know you're going to get everything back (like some sort of branded plastic-wrap "seal" with writing on it). Fewer locations needed and infinitely more customers. Of course, the downside is there's nothing to patent or can be protected in either business, it can be knocked-off ad infinitum.
- cody3222 7y agoReasonable concerns but I don't think we offer anything inherently new for terrorists. They don't need our service to carry out attacks today. There are easier ways to leave a bomb, drugs, etc without your ID / payment info attached. We've found quite a broad range of folks using us. We even have commuters who use us 5x / week - it's become a part of their lifestyle.
- Neurocynic 7y agoI thought Bagbnb - https://bagbnb.com/ https://bagbnb.com/ - did the same thing. Are you aware of them and what differentiates you from them? Good luck with everything.
- superhuzza 7y agoThere's many different ones, for the most part it seems particular ones dominate particular cities/countries. I guess it takes a bit of time to build up the relationships and credibility.
- cody3222 7y agoWe've built a far better product (judge for yourself - usebounce.com), and have a much higher quality bar for locations. This work comes through in numbers: Bounce has maintained a 4.9/5 star rating across all our customers. The company you mention has a 1.9. This other company has far more reach however...they definitely beat us there. We hope to close that gap in the next year. Lots of work to do!
- bagbnb_official 7y ago:-) Happy to read this, but Don’t use trustpilot as a bible, it is always a marketing strategy if you don’t have an official account with them :-) By the way we love workings with numbers @bounce. BAGBNB 1.5 mln bags stored +2,500 luggage storage places all over the world 300 cities Is a blue ocean Good luck to all of us Ciao BAGBNB
- dannyr 7y agoI used Bagbnb when I was in Sydney. It's much cheaper than using lockers at train stations.
- ksec 7y agoAre there no security risk involved for the particitpating shops?
- aherforth 7y agoWe do a few things to keep it risk free for store owners. For one, we are the ones providing insurance, so they're never the target of a claim. Besides that, we allow store partners the right to refuse service - or ask to inquire about what's being stored. None of our locations have ever had to do that, but it takes care of the scenario where a store partner fears people are storing something illicit.
- swift62848 7y agoI think https://stasher.com https://stasher.com is the leader here. They have nearly every Premier Inn in the Uk on their platform.
- gandalfflew 7y agoStasher are the leader worldwide from what the press says. They also work with Klook and hotels.com Bounce website looks nice too
- cody3222 7y agoWhat's up with these user names created one hour ago just to comment on this post?
- undoware 7y agoI sincerely hope they don't discriminate against the unhoused. This could be a game changer for folks who are used to putting together $20 per night for a shelter stay already (being homeless is very expensive, as I learned firsthand many years ago.)
- Lucadg 7y agoThis is a pretty vibrant space with many startups trying to solve the problem. It's been sparked by the raise of Airbnbs which rarely offer luggage storage. A similar trend is in self checkin solutions. It's interesting to note the herd effect on this kind of startups: it becomes easier and easier to raise capital to solve problems many others are trying to solve already.
- vbordo 7y agoAny examples of startups working on self check-in? I haven't seen any.
- Lucadg 7y agoKeynest: get the key from a shop. Keycafe:get the key from a self service box in a shop. Keesy: get the key from a machine. Vikey: keyless. Enter with a code. And many many more. At Host London exhibition there were at least ten new ones.
- riffraff 7y agoisn't this solved "well enough" with a code-lock holding a key? I've used it a few times and while it's low tech it seems pretty effective and costs about zero.
- Lucadg 7y agoThat's one of the best solutions when possible. Low tech, low cost, high usability. Unfortunately in many cities, particularly in Europe, you are not allowed to stick a lock on the wall of the building.
- pugworthy 7y ago> It's been sparked by the raise of Airbnbs which rarely offer luggage storage. Help me understand this. People go to an Airbnb, unpack their luggage, then take it (or have it picked up) for storage elsewhere? And when they are ready to go, they get it back and pack? I'm basically a minimalist packer, so if this is what people actually do, it's very foreign to me.
- vbordo 7y agoThis solves a problem I've had frequently while traveling. Very cool.
- cody3222 7y agoAwesome to hear this. I just made this discount code you can use next time: THANKSHN
- harlanji 7y agoI recently thought “Uber for Backpacks” would be a boon to the homeless. They could leave it in storage until requested back, as opposed to A-to-B transport. Natural partnership here. Economics of having a storage locker or large van were problematic, this could help. Realistically a homeless person would pay a few dollars for this regularly, as they can afford to buy a few coffees from cafes they spend time in. Not being ID’d as homeless would be dignifying.
- cody3222 7y agoVery interesting idea. I am sad to say that the stores on our platform aren't excited when someone who appears homeless (smelly or dirty clothes) wants to use Bounce.
- eps 7y agoThat's perfectly understandable. Homeless people belongings is not exactly what one expects when signing up for a _luggage_ storage. Doubly so if they are a hotel.
- arey_abhishek 7y agoBounce is an awesome idea! I've struggled to find good places to store luggage in the US, while I've generally managed to find something when I travel in Europe. If you use Airbnb exclusively, most hosts let you checkin in the afternoon. So you absolutely need to store luggage somewhere while you wait for your host.
- cody3222 7y agoThanks Abhishek! We’ve focused exclusively on the US to date (72 cities covered). Will cover EU later this year. It’s a massive problem - we hope to create a world where you can open the Bounce app and instantly drop your bags around the corner. Here’s a discount code I made for HN...hope you can try it soon! THANKSHN
- whyhow 7y agoHave you ever reached out to the Airbnb host and asked them to store your luggage before check in? This is something that I think most hotels will allow.
- cbeley 7y agoI've had multiple Airbnb hosts have no problem with that. However, you can't really rely on it, and unlike a hotel, figuring out timing logistics for when they will be around to let you drop it off early can be tricky/more trouble than it's worth.
- sokoloff 7y agoIn my experience, you can go to any random hotel bell desk and check your bag for the day for 1-2 units of the local currency. (You don't need to prove that you are checking in or out.) I don't see paying bounce $6 and farfing around on a website for something that's so simple and quick to do in person and if there's a problem of any sort, I can readily sort it out on the spot instead of over some support-via-email system. (When bounce offers a non-hotel answer in a spot with no hotels nearby, I can see the value, but that seems like a corner case.) Of course, I also didn't see people being willing to pay $10 to have unpredictably slow delivery of cold food from the likes of Doordash, either, so...
- ghaff 7y agoI'm usually staying in hotels and, to be honest, I've never tried to go into a random hotel and asked them to take my bag. So my alternative take is I'd probably rather pay $6 for a legit service than farfing around social engineering random hotels to store my bag for me.
- cody3222 7y agoYes, this is how we describe it! Low enough price, and max reliability. The cost of getting turned away at a hotel because you're not a guest is probably worth $6, especially if you have places to go, people to see.
- VvR-Ox 7y agoI had to smile when I read this :) When I was visiting China last time I did not find the post office so I went into a hotel near the supposed location of the post office and just asked them if they could send my letters and so they did. Of course I payed for the stamps (including a tip).
- leppr 7y agoNot just hotels, any small shop may be able to take care of it for you, provided you have enough charisma points. I've done this many times while traveling.
- Waterluvian 7y agoThis gave me a wildly dumb idea that some startup should try. This idea, but in the trunks of Ubers (as a side gig for the driver), rather than static locations. You can summon your shit wherever you end up.
- skellera 7y agoPeople need to go home sometimes. This would be pretty complicated dealing with issues like someone being late to get their stuff. At least a shop can say come back tomorrow.
- notyourwork 7y agoA car can declare delivery during a fixed time range.
- Waterluvian 7y agoYeah it's a state persistence issue. Your worker literally times out and state is lost. So maybe a central repository (database) or hand-off to a new worker. Then there's the whole idea of security and trust. Like I said, it's a dumb idea. Which is why I expect to see an SV startup try it.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoA mixture could work though: Store in shops long term. Summon it on demand.
- Waterluvian 7y agoLove it. Let's make this. SMS: Summon My Shit. On-demand storage and delivery in your city's "cloud".
- aherforth 7y agoHi, I'm Cody's co-founder. That is literally the origin of Bounce. "Bounce" your things away from you and back to you when you need them again. As mentioned it obviously comes with a host of challenges that you don't have in the current decentralised and static model - but I do believe it's achievable. And it's definitely something we want to tackle long term! I love your name idea ;) SMS. Are you in SF?
- hboon 7y agoIn some countries, like Japan and Taiwan, they have big lockers for storing luggage at the airport or MRT (metro) stations. Is this meant for the same purpose?
- riffraff 7y agotrain stations offer the same service in europe, in my experience. (it's not the same and not very reliable, but random places like museums and restaurants will keep your luggage if you just ask them nicely too :)
- mikelward 7y agoWe used a locker at Antwerp main station. It was defective. Spent most of our visit there trying to get our bags back. Something with a human attendant right there could be an advantage.
- cody3222 7y ago:( that sounds miserable. I hope Bounce is in Belgium for your next visit. Manned by staff, and also 24/7 support if you need help with anything.
- davedx 7y agoYeah London and Amsterdam stations have this too. The problem is only the bigger main stations have them. In Amsterdam this is actually a PITA as Centraal is right at the northern edge of the main city, so it's not actually as "central" as the name makes out... :D
- cody3222 7y agoYes! I went to Japan after starting Bounce and was really inspired. Everywhere you go, you know you can find a locker nearby. It's ubiquitous, reliable, inexpensive...can truly change how you get around a city.
- sib 7y agoWe used to have these at airports and train stations in the US and then 9/11 rolled around...
- boyband6666 7y agoI forget which app it was, but when in the US for the Boston Marathon this year, my friend and I used one of these systems. It was amazing - we left one set of cards and a phone in a bag the day before, plus clothes. We could then finish the race, go to the shop to get our bag (a chinese health store - they stored it in a back room), and get changed, then go have beers. No need to go back to our hotel (which was near Hopkinton). It's actually a more legitimate service I think than the likes of uber, as it is anciliary service for more income for small shops (we also bought 'candy' when in the store - a bit more revenue for them), as opposed to people relying on it to make a living.
- namdnay 7y agoAs a side hustle it reminds me a bit of the parcel reception service that a lot of shops in France and elsewhere do. Very useful for Amazon etc if you’re not at home. I’ve always wondered if they’re paid for it, or do it for free Hoping it will bring customers. Probably half way between
- cody3222 7y agoVery similar value prop to the shops. More foot traffic & more revenue. The shops that do it in the US make $0.50 per package held.
- virtuous_signal 7y agoThis sounds great. I would compare it more to airbnb - using someone's stuff that would otherwise go unused. So actually extracting lost value. Uber might one day become that (I hear the typical personal car goes unused something like 90% of the day), but when everything is self-driving.
- cnorthwood 7y agoI think the days of Airbnb being "rent out a spare room" are gone, whenever I look, most Airbnb properties tend to be used as dedicated short-term lets and has supplanted the old holiday letting market.
- TACIXAT 7y agoThis would be incredibly useful in ski towns, when you're trying to get that last day of riding in but checked out of the hotel. I always skip it cause I'm afraid my car will get robbed.
- tcoff91 7y agoMany hotels will hang onto your luggage even after you check out.
- dahfizz 7y agoYeah, I think this service is meant to fill that gap for Airbnb users. There's no added value here if you stay at a hotel.
- aherforth 7y agoWell, we thought so as well when we initially entered the space. But if you're checking out near Fisherman's Wharf in SF and you want to spend the day in the mission, commuting back to your hotel to pick up your things become a lot less practical. The majority of users are Airbnb customers, but do see quite a few hotel guests use us as well
- ozim 7y agoI think there is because you don't always have a hotel in convenient spot. Not having to go back to your hotel might be added value. Like you have to check out at noon but you have evening flight and you could drop your things somewhere in city center and take Uber to airport from there instead of going back to pick your stuff.
- aherforth 7y agoYou're absolutely right. In Europe a lot of ski trips are done by travel agencies, with busses and housing in apartments. And you almost always have to check out at 10AM. So it mostly takes away a day on skis (which is awesome for the few that do make it out on the "travel days" )
- plumednom 7y agoThese have been popping up all over Europe the past two years, often at stores which also have key-holding services for absent AirBNB hosts.
- giga_danzer 7y agoNice idea! I noticed EU is not currently supported. Are you planning to launch in top European cities soon?
- aherforth 7y agoWe certainly are! We're rapidly expanding this year and Europe is definitely one of our most requested markets
- awillen 7y agoI find that if you go to a high-end hotel and tell them you're not checking in until tomorrow but would like them to hang onto your luggage for the day until you meet a friend that you're staying with tonight, they'll do it for you. Given the low cost to them, doesn't make sense to try to check your story at the risk of upsetting an actual guest.
- cortesoft 7y agoDepends on the hotel... many bigger hotels have dedicated bag check rooms. Last time I was a conference in New York, I was going to hang out for a while before heading to New York. The bag check room at the hotel had a line, and there was a set fee per bag to store it there. There were hundreds of bags in the room, so not exactly low cost to accept and track all of them. Makes sense they charged.
- cody3222 7y agoThat's a great way to go. We hope to make Bounce far more ubiquitous than hotel options and for roughly the same price or a bit more than your tip!
- tempsy 7y agoSounds like a great service for drug deals though. Drop off “luggage”, give whatever code you receive to recipient, then they pick up. If I were a shop owner the liability of storing the luggage just doesn’t seem like it’s worth the risk.
- cody3222 7y agoShop owners can reject any customer that they're not comfortable with. These guys have an eye for everything. They'll sniff you out in a heart beat.
- nicolas_ 7y agoI don't remember how I discovered it but I used Bounce last June in NYC. Very easy to use and cheap. It was very convenient on my last day in the city.
- cody3222 7y agoAwesome to hear that Nicolas - hope we can serve you again in the near future!
- blondie9x 7y agoOnly problem is if someone tries to store or hide illegal goods. Thats where I get concerned.
- cody3222 7y agoStore owners have the right to reject customers and to ask what's being stored upon deposit. This has alleviated this problem and this concern with stores. These guys on the ground know what they're doing.
- mariushn 7y agoBeing a marketplace, how did you manage to get the suppliers (shops) to signup before having buyers in place? Then how did you got buyers (people wanting to leave luggage) to roll in starting with a specific launch date?
- cody3222 7y agoWe have some really great stories here. When we were first testing the model, we had a phone number on our site that said you could store your stuff in locations all around the city. Someone called and asked for a location in the Upper East Side. I said we have some spots scheduled to open there next month but let me see if they can open earlier. Can I call you back in 30 minutes? Then I called stores in that area until I found one that said yes. Then I'd connect the dots, onboard them to our platform, and off we'd go. That's how we got many of our first locations.
- mariushn 7y agoThat's an excellent approach! Well done! Thanks for sharing
- nestorherre 7y agoHow do you protect the customer in the case that somehting inside the luggage get lost? Or what if they claim that they lost something, but it just bs and want to rip off the store owner/your platform?
- cody3222 7y agoWe have an insurance policy covering $5k of loss/damage. We have a process rigorous enough to fend off scammers.
- johnsimer 7y agoI’m a professional Airbnb host in Columbus and know some big hosts - 20+ properties. Any way I can help bring this to Columbus? I run into the storage issue every few days
- actionowl 7y agoLooks neat but would be great if you expanded internationally. We're in the Philippines and going to South Korea in a couple of months and there's no options in either country.
- cody3222 7y agoWe will be expanding internationally this year! Please check back in a few months!