
Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot - jayreno
Feather (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rentfeather.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rentfeather.com</a>) is a furniture rental company, setting out to provide stylish, affordable furniture to people and startups that move frequently.<p>I&#x27;ve moved 5 times in 6 years living in New York, and each time I spent an overwhelming amount of time at IKEA buying, schlepping, and assembling furniture I didn&#x27;t exactly want. And at the end of each lease, I found myself with furniture that didn&#x27;t travel well to my new apartment, and often had to scrap it, only to return to IKEA again to furnish my new apartment.<p>It was a cycle of buying things I didn&#x27;t really want, that didn&#x27;t really last - and I&#x27;m sure many of you have gone through the same trouble.<p>That gave me the idea for Feather. Click a few buttons and your furniture is delivered, fully assembled, and placed in the room of your choice. And importantly, when you&#x27;re ready to move, tap a button and we&#x27;ll come and pick it up.<p>We&#x27;re excited to help people live more free and flexible lifestyles - and would love the feedback of the HN community!<p>Thanks all,<p>Jay, Founder &amp; CEO
======
Animats
The problem with this business is that the company ends up with warehouses of
used furniture. Then what? Check it over, clean it, repair it, and send it out
again? Customers are going to complain if you send them beat-up junk. You're
going to need a cleaning and inspection operation, an upholstery shop, and an
air conditioner shop. What to do with the rejects? Sell downmarket? Put on
Craigslist? Goodwill?

If it takes you 2-4 days to deliver a bed, you're not competitive. A more
useful service might be "we deliver a bed, a dresser, a table, and some chairs
in 4 hours". Add in bed linens, towels, some basic dishes and tableware, and a
starter kit of toilet paper, paper towels, laundry and dish detergent, and
soap. Instant setup of light housekeeping, just what someone needs when they
start a new job in a new place and have more urgent things to do than fuss
with furniture shopping. You can sell them more stuff later.

You're in NYC and SF, non-car cities. Offer this primarily in places where
people don't have cars but move often.

------
mixmastamyk
I like to move as well. What I've found:

The problem with every rental place I've seen is how expensive they are. You
could just buy the furniture outright for the cost of three months rental.
Doesn't exactly match the year lease does it? :-/

There is a used market for IKEA furniture, and they're swapped regularly on
Craigslist for half price assembled. Sometimes you can even rent for "free" by
buying used and selling later. New items can be sold at half price as well. So
I haven't had as much difficulty with that, though I wish they had more
"modular" i.e. snap together furniture.

So there are some challenges to this endeavor, good luck.

~~~
jayreno
Thanks for the thoughts! Curious to hear what type of furniture you would be
purchasing that would break even to our furniture at 3 months?

The breakeven price for our customers is always longer than the total price of
the rental. Wonder if we should be explicitly stating this on our site?

~~~
noxryan
What about this bed in Queen Size? (First piece I priced out)

[https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/dunham-...](https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/dunham-
upholstered-bed?variant=37405401929)

[https://www.wayfair.com/Zipcode%E2%84%A2-Design-Colby-
Uphols...](https://www.wayfair.com/Zipcode%E2%84%A2-Design-Colby-Upholstered-
Platform-Bed-ZIPC6040.html)

Feather 3 month rental price: $207

Wayfair purchase price (including shipping): $201

~~~
jayreno
See my reply to koolba below.

------
beager
Inexpensive, mass-market furniture is going to be hard to build a business
around in this regard. A lot of rightful squawking about prices compared to
Overstock/Wayfair.

What if you're targeting too downmarket with this?

What if instead you marketed heirloom-quality furniture at the same price
point, but gave the option at the end of "leases" to purchase or relinquish
that furniture. You get margin on the lease, get paid out for the rest of the
asset if they buy, but if they don't, you have great inventory that you can
mark down.

That would give frequent movers access to something better than
wayfair/overstock/ikea without having to commit to a $3500 armoire if it
doesn't match the aesthetic or lifestyle that they have after moving or
growing.

Good luck and all!

~~~
lobster_johnson
Good advice.

I want to add that for $18/mo you can get a knock-off of a Hans Wegner PP501
[1]. That's very expensive for what's guaranteed to be a dime-a-dozen Chinese-
made replica of the type you find on Wayfair or Overstock [2]. I can't
reasonably afford a Wegner (it's about $4,000-5,000 new, and vintage models
are ironically even pricier), but I could see myself leasing one.

Leasing isn't just for people who move a lot. Leasing would also allow you to
swap out the furniture every now and then.

[1] "Austin chair",
[https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/austing...](https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/austing-
chair)

[2] Possibly this: [https://www.wayfair.com/Stilnovo-The-Kennedy-Arm-Chair-
STNO1...](https://www.wayfair.com/Stilnovo-The-Kennedy-Arm-Chair-
STNO1381.html)

------
nathan_f77
When I moved to San Francisco a couple of years ago, I was really surprised by
how difficult it was to find a fully furnished apartment. I really did not
enjoy those trips to IKEA and putting everything together. In contrast, it
seems that most apartments in Chiang Mai are fully furnished. We've moved 3
times so far, and it's always just one car ride with a small collection of
personal stuff. It's really nice to never have to worry about furniture.

I don't think I would use this service if I was moving to NYC, I'd just look
for a furnished apartment.

~~~
giobox
Similar experience moving to bay area from the UK, where furnished apartments
are _far_ more common. I remember expressing surprise at a temporary budget
for furniture rental in the moving expenses work covered. Given I didn't want
to continue paying Cort a ton of money forever for tables and chairs I chose
to buy all my own not particularly great furniture straight off the bat.

I always get horrible flashbacks to my own experiences seeing another "fresh
off the boat" foreign engineer trying to outfit his entire life in one trip to
the East Palo Alto Ikea, using up an entire roll of receipt paper to cover the
hundreds of items they had to buy for their new unfurnished home.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Craigslist often has most of what you'll need every weekend, often in the same
neighborhood.

------
TheAceOfHearts
This makes me feel really out of touch. I can't imagine scrapping my furniture
just because I'm moving. I've moved every year for the past 4 years. I just
pay some movers and they get everything in and out just fine. Some services
will even handle packing and unpacking everything for you.

If someone's going to be living somewhere for only 2 or 3 months, I can
understand renting. But I don't think renting makes economic sense for most
people. You can probably just buy the equivalent or very similar furniture and
break even. If you don't wanna assemble it, pay someone on through TaskRabbit
or equivalent.

~~~
jayreno
Agreed - scrapping furniture just because you're moving is not a great idea.
This will, however, occur often when we buy IKEA furniture (or items of that
quality level) that we often have to trash items, or are actually trashed
accidentally during a move (think one of their flimsy dressers or wardrobes).

It's a wasteful practice, and an important part of our mission is to keep
furniture out of the landfills. That starts by getting as many uses out of the
furniture that we can, before it stops working for us, either visually or
functionally.

~~~
dragonwriter
> This will, however, occur often when we buy IKEA furniture (or items of that
> quality level) that we often have to trash items, or are actually trashed
> accidentally during a move (think one of their flimsy dressers or
> wardrobes).

My last move, moving a house almost completely furnished with IKEA furniture,
most of which had been around for a decade, only one item (that was
inconveniently sized to remove intact, not because of structural failure)
didn't make the move.

------
koolba
> Delivery costs $99. Pickup cost varies with the size of your order - if
> you’re just renting a few items, we’ll keep it between $99-$149, but if
> you’re outfitting a whole apartment on a 4th-floor walkup, pickup is likely
> to be a bit more. There is a $99 refundable deposit - we charge you on the
> first day of your lease, and as long as the furniture is in good shape when
> we pick it up, it’ll be returned after pickup! There will be a $49 charge
> added for a weekend delivery.

That's approximately how much IKEA charges for delivering an order though they
only charge based on distance. It doesn't matter if you have a single tea
light candle or furnishing an entire 25-bedroom castle.

Delivery costs aside, I'm wondering who would pay the steep premiums for these
items. Take this bed for example:
[https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/remy-
up...](https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/remy-upholstered-
bed)

It's listed as $28/month assuming you commit to a 12-month term. That's $336
in total.

What appears to be the same bed is listed on Wayfair to buy for $338:
[https://www.wayfair.com/Langley-Street%E2%84%A2-Rasmussen-
Up...](https://www.wayfair.com/Langley-Street%E2%84%A2-Rasmussen-Upholstered-
Platform-Bed-LGLY2717.html)

The annual cost is the same with the difference being at the end of the year
you own the bed rather than being on the hook for an eventual "return fee".

So who would willingly enter such a deal? Is the market targeting people who
don't have the credit to buy the items out right?

Or is the moving in/out aspect the real kicker? Sure it's a pain in the ass
but that's a steep price to pay to avoid one phone call to a moving company
(or even just a CraigsList " _Free bed ... just pick it up_ " posting).

 _EDIT:_ Here's an even better example. I'm pretty sure these are exactly the
same bed as the pictures are identical:

Purchase Queen for $200 w/ free shipping:
[https://www.wayfair.com/Zipcode%E2%84%A2-Design-Colby-
Uphols...](https://www.wayfair.com/Zipcode%E2%84%A2-Design-Colby-Upholstered-
Platform-Bed-ZIPC6040.html)

Rent from Queen for $28/month = $336 + $99 shipping:
[https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/dunham-...](https://rentfeather.com/collections/bedroom/products/dunham-
upholstered-bed?variant=37405401929)

~~~
jayreno
Happy to jump in here to talk about pricing, as it seems to be a big topic of
conversation (and rightfully so).

\- The $338 bed that you linked to is on a massive, one-time sale right now.
I've refreshed the page several times and the price keeps changing. The
manufacturer must be testing a bunch of things out - take a look. Let's leave
that one example there for now.

\- The Purchase Queen you linked to does look nearly identical to what we get
from our manufacturer that must also sell to Wayfair. And the price on this
item has shifted dramatically on Wayfair as well.

Seems you grabbed a particular item that doesn't favor us well in the rent vs
buy equation. For the majority of our items: try the same comparison and let
me know what you find.

Point here is, we should be more aware of the dynamically shifting prices of
items on other sellers websites and re-price our items accordingly. Good
catch, thanks.

~~~
bubblethink
The specific price comparisons aside, it would make sense to offer ownership
after X months. So you can position yourself as a rental + financing service.
If you pay rent for, say 14 months, you own the stuff.

~~~
awinder
That combined with skipping the return fee would set up some interesting
dynamics (if you’re at month 10, are you going to ride out the rental to own
it or do you pay to get it out). Can’t decide if that feels user hostile or
not though :-).

------
pcunite
[https://rentfeather.com](https://rentfeather.com)

This might be a helpful service for real estate agents who need to stage a
home for a photographer.

~~~
jayreno
Yep, totally. We've been approached by a number of real estate agents asking
if we'll do staging. We're working on seeing of and how this might fit into
our business model.

------
anilshanbhag
A lot of students end up moving places due to 1) lease change 2) internships.
Might be useful to them.

However, the pricing is insanely expensive. 3 month rental for a dresser is
$210; same for a AC unit. You can buy new ones for the same price.

~~~
dragonwriter
> A lot of students end up moving places due to 1) lease change 2)
> internships. Might be useful to them.

True, then again, established furniture rental firms [0] target them; what's
Feather's distinct advantage here?

[0] e.g., [https://www.cort.com/student](https://www.cort.com/student)

~~~
jayreno
We plan to differentiate ourselves by offering better quality items, a more
modern storefront/interface, a superior customer experience with top notch
support, and most importantly, better pricing (we know it's not perfect for
every item yet, but our prices are getting better as we grow).

~~~
dragonwriter
Better pricing than CORTs student packages of $119/mo for three room package
for 12+ months?

------
mysterydip
I agree on what people are saying regarding the pricing; however, be sure to
compare apples to apples. Part of the value-add in this is it comes complete
delivered and ready to use, and hauled away at the end.

If you've ever had to borrow vehicles/friends or go up flights of stairs,
spend an evening assembling, or wade through buyers in classified ads to get
rid of it, you know that has value as well.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Part of the value-add in this is it comes complete delivered and ready to
> use, and hauled away at the end.

Aren't delivery and pickup charged services on top of the rental fee? So, it's
not a value-add, just an available service (as is the case with incumbent
rental providers, and also with most furniture sellers, except haul-away,
which is only occasionally offered and even then only in a form useful if you
_aren 't_ moving, since the haul away and delivery need to be at the same
place.)

------
jonahx
Just glancing at the home page, I see two sofas for over $100 /mo. At that
price, even if you're someplace for only a year, it makes more sense to buy.
Especially if you don't mind the effort of reselling, which could be minimal
-- even at firesale prices you'd still come out way ahead vs rental fees that
high.

~~~
jayreno
The ~$100/month price is our 3 month price. So total cost to you to have
either of those sofas is $300 vs the cost to buy them retail at $600, which
excludes assembly.

Fire sales are easier said than done. Takes time to get real replies via
craigslist, and often times you might forget to sell the item till days before
you're moving, adding to the headache.

~~~
misterbwong
Granted in a 3 month scenario, the total out of pocket cost is $300 but it's a
bit disingenuous to directly compare that to the $600 cost of the couch.

No matter how you look at it, the renting option will be more expensive. Just
own it and don't try to defend it or make it sound less than it is using shaky
comparisons. Doing so just makes you sound shadier than necessary.

------
opportune
What differentiates you from the dozens of other furniture rental services out
there? This isn't exactly a new industry. From what I see online, your prices
are pretty comparable to Cort's. But as a consumer I'm pretty sure Cort will
still be around in 6 months, whereas I'm not so sure about you guys (no
offense, I just mean because you're a startup, not because I think you are
necessarily worse).

Is there a reason you decided to enter this more conventional, established
market?

~~~
ams6110
Well, so what if they aren't around in 6 months? Once the furniture is
delivered, there's not much risk to the customer after that.

~~~
opportune
I wouldn't want their assets to be acquired by some organization that
specializes in liquidating end-of-life business, and then have to deal with
them instead.

~~~
ams6110
Normally a new owner has to honor contracts/leases made with the former owner.
Maybe the rules are different in a liquidation situation?

------
SippinLean
>What other expenses are there?

>...but if you’re outfitting a whole apartment on a 4th-floor walkup, pickup
is likely to be a bit more.

Uh, how much more?

>What if I damage my furniture during my lease?

>In general, a little wear and tear shouldn’t be a problem...As long as your
furniture is in respectable shape when we come to pick it up, there’s nothing
to worry about.

Never answers the question...what if it's _damage_ beyond wear and tear? I'm
charged the full price of the item? Minus rental fees I've already paid on it?

~~~
jayreno
Not much more. If the apartment is way up a walkup and we're carrying 4
dressers, 4 tables, 4 armoires, etc, we'll generally change the $99 delivery
fee to $149.

Re damage: if you break something, we charge the cost of fixing the item.
Since it's different for each item (ie. a small cut in the sofa vs
reupholstering an entire sofa that had a bottle of wine spilled on it), it's
difficult for us to explicitly state how much it would cost us for each type
of damage. But we could certainly try.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Sounds reasonable, add it to the FAQ. ;)

------
dragonwriter
I don't get what's new here. What is feather offering that established
furniture rental firms like Brook, CORT, Aaron's, etc., don't provide?

------
haburka
I love it, bookmarked. I'm planning on moving soon and this hits all my pain
points. I would much rather pay a monthly bill rather than a fee up front.

------
gmisra
What do you think about the fact that, in general, the percentage of Americans
who move is on the decline?

> In the mid-1960s, about 20 percent of the population moved in any given
> year, according to the United States Census Bureau. By 1990, it was
> approaching 15 percent. Today it’s closer to 10 percent. The percentage that
> moves between states has fallen by nearly half since the early 1990s.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/21/opinion/how-to-get-
americ...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/21/opinion/how-to-get-americans-
moving-again.html)

Also, [https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/02/american-mobility-
has...](https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/02/american-mobility-has-
declined/514310/)

~~~
jayreno
Great point here. It's a bit counter intuitive, right, that Americans on the
whole are moving less. To add some color:

-The majority of Americans that live in rural or somewhat suburban areas are most certainly (though anecdotally) bringing this number down. In cities, you'd expect this number to be much higher than 10%.

-This data point from article below is bit more telling of our target market. Please don't mind their incessant use of the term "millennials" \- they know not what they do.

> "44% of millennials say they plan to move again in the next year."
> ([http://blog.rent.com/the-millennial-generation-on-the-
> move/](http://blog.rent.com/the-millennial-generation-on-the-move/))

~~~
gmisra
Thanks for the response! Some follow-up questions

1\. Does your market analysis differentiate between intra-city and inter-city
move? It feels like the service is much more valuable for people moving inter-
city.

2\. Is there a better source for the "planned future mobility" data? I would
expect rent.com to have a strong editorial bias around the perception that the
rental market is healthy and renters are competing with each other. I would
not expect the same kind of bias in census data.

3\. I would love to see the census data's mobility over time cohorted by age
group. Is that something you guys have done, and can share?

~~~
jayreno
1\. Data is about split. We're seeing people use us for both inter- and intra-
city moves.

2\. Agreed, might be a bit biased. LMK if you find a different/better source.

3\. Census, unfortunately no. But like above, equally curious to see if that
data is easily accessible, and if so, would love to dive in.

------
gabesullice
First reaction: premade but customized "kits" would be nice

Second reaction: renting feels wasteful as the consumer and I struggle to see
how it's profitable to refurbish/re-rent used furniture.

What would be really enticing: premade, customizable kits with 6-12 month
financing and "trade-ups." Where I could sell back a piece for a newer/nicer
piece. This might happen during the context of a move.

Providing a moving service too then seems a little tangential to the core
business model, however it may still be advantageous since it could fill up
slack time between deliveries. You would also have a perfect inventory of
furniture and could provide an instant estimate and a one click purchase.

------
Top19
Very much love this idea.

I think a great example of where this could be useful (sorry if someone
already said this) is that it makes it incredibly easy to do the initial
moving.

A lot of times after moving you just don't have the stamina to go out and buy,
have shipped, and then assemble furniture. Especially for 1 bedroom and 2
bedroom places, it would be nice to have the furniture ready to go, while you
steadily buy your own stuff within 6 months.

This does assumes you will throw half or more of your furniture when you move,
but considering the success of Ikea and also the fragility of their furniture,
this seems like something many would do.

------
SallyH1976
This is genius time! I've moved a half dozen times in and since college. No
way I can impose on friends and family to help me move anymore. When are you
coming to L.A.? I'm all in when you do.

------
cphoover
Do you guys do rent to buy? Can I just keep something If I like it enough?

~~~
jayreno
Yes, rent-to-buy is something we recently starting working on. Many people
have asked about this, and we agree it makes a LOT of sense for our customers
to have that option at any point during their rental. We'll have more info on
our site in the coming weeks, but until then, we'll gladly discuss details
directly with you if you like.

------
ashark
> Wait a minute, you want me to rent furniture?

> We get it. This is kind of new, right? We’re excited about that.

But it's... not remotely new, right?

[EDIT] seriously, "tiny houses" = mobile homes for well-off millennials,
Feather = Rent-a-Center for well-off millennials, Soylent = Ensure for well-
off millennials. I guess I should start a payday loans company marketed in
such a way that using it doesn't offend the class sensibilities and self-image
of well-off millennials and say I'm doing something "new".

~~~
canadian_voter
I have this great idea for printing out the top news stories for reading
offline. You could print them off early morning and have them waiting for
people at train stations, coffee shops, hotels, etc. If it really takes off,
people might even be willing to pay for them to be delivered each week or even
each morning. And of course you could sell advertising to subsidize the cost!

We're totally going to disrupt the online news business!

Edit: I should mention I love the idea of renting and returning furniture. I
very much identify with the pain points mentioned and would prefer to rent
high-quality furniture instead of buying and disposing of particle board crap
every year or two.

~~~
zw123456
I have this great idea for this new service called real time voice messaging,
instead of typing out your message you simply say it into a microphone and it
is delivered to the other person in real time audio. It also works in real
time in the other direction.

Actually, the idea of online furniture rental is not bad really, we are just
having fun with it. I recently sold my house and I rented furniture for
staging, that could be another aspect of their business model, those staging
people charge a ton, I get it some of it is for the "design" but really there
could be a few canned designed on a web page and done far cheaper I think.

------
vincentmarle
> I've moved 5 times in 6 years

I've moved 10 times in the past 6 years so I can definitely relate to the
problem. I ended up buying a lot of furniture over the years and donating it
to a Goodwill store every time I moved. I moved most recently 4 months ago and
would have used this service. I'll try to remember you in about 10 months
(when my current lease is up).

~~~
jayreno
Awesome, glad to see this resonate. Where are you generally moving to/from?
Inter- or intra-city moves?

~~~
vincentmarle
I've moved from SF Bay to LA, moved back to SF, moved back to LA (probably
going to move back to SF again). Within SF Bay and LA moved a couple times as
well.

------
Lucadg
Everything which makes life easier to people who move a lot has potential
because people will move more and more. Good idea

------
davidlee1435
YES! I'm a student at Columbia and I hate having to spend money on cheap
furniture and having to sell it for a very low price at the end of the school
year when moving out. This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for, and I'm sure that
a ton of other students are looking for the same too. Best of luck with YC :)

------
caust1c
The economics here doesn't make sense.

The cheaper couches hover around $40/month, which over a 12 month period at 7%
YOY interest is valued at 473 PV or 508 FV.

What's the motivation against just buying new or used and selling once you're
done? A marketplace for this sort of thing would make more sense than a
service.

~~~
ams6110
Convenience. If I move frequently, I don't have the time or desire to deal
with listing stuff for sale, deal with people coming to look at it, deal with
getting paid for it, deal with people trying to scam me, etc. Just open my
browser, a couple of clicks and I'm done with it. If it costs me a couple of
hundred dollars more over the year, I don't care. It's probably just
background noise compared to my income and the convenience is worth it.

------
jaypaulynice
Sounds like a good experiment, but your biggest competition is stores that
offer financing. Why wouldn't I finance and then sell or move away with my
furniture? What if the furniture is scratched, broken etc...Do I have to pay
the full price now?

~~~
jayreno
We see ourselves as competing more with "ownership" than anything else. To us,
ownership of furniture (i.e. responsibility for big ticket items that tie you
down) is the problem.

Our competitive advantage to financing options is just that: we remove
ownership from the equation while still giving you the ability to pay monthly
rather than a large lump sum.

------
mixedbit
Maybe to address the pricing concerns you could make it more like car leasing
deals that often allow to buy the leased car after the contract is over? You
could rent furniture but with an option to buy at any time and terminate the
monthly payments.

~~~
jayreno
That's exactly what we're working on now. we should have more information
about rent-to-buy options on our site soon, but in the meantime we're
discussing it directly with anyone who might be interested in this.

------
rootsudo
I just use the Ikea return policy and position myself around Ikeas.

Really missing out in the Philippines. Furniture here overall sucks.

"Return policy

NO-NONSENSE - 365 DAYS TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

 _mattresses purchases may be exchanged for another mattress one time within
365 days if you don’t love it._ products that are returned or exchanged must
be clean and undamaged. Refunds will be made in the same form of payment
originally used to make the purchase. It’s OK to change your mind. If you’re
not totally satisfied with your IKEA purchase you can return it within 365
days, together with proof of purchase, for a full refund*."

[http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/customer-service/about-
shopping...](http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/customer-service/about-
shopping/return-policy/index.html)

Japan is similar.

Singapore is 90 days AFAIK.

Not sure about Thailand, gunna find out.

~~~
mslev
This is pretty similar to saying, "I don't rent cars, I just steal them."
You're buying things, keeping them for <1 year, then returning them for the
full value?

Even if this is allowed/legal, it isn't exactly moral.

------
JoelSanchez
I've moved three times in the last 12 months, and will move again in three
months. Unfortunately, Feather is unlikely to be available in my country
(Spain) in the near future.

------
justrossthings
Fyi you can return items to IKEA for up to 1 year after purchase. Even built.

------
schilick
Hi there,

It sounds interesting.

How does the logistics of this business work? Do you have the forniture? Who
does the delivery?

Thank you

Schilick

Thank you

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mbalex99
The only thing I'm scared of is Bed Bugs.

~~~
ams6110
Matresses are probably destroyed or recycled. A lot of states have regulations
specifically addressing sale of used matresses.

Other furniture can harbor bedbugs of course, as well as other pests such as
cockroaches. It's a risk. I'm not sure how it's dealt with.

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cphoover
where is the website?

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dang
Added now. Thanks!

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toomuchtodo
> I guess I should start a payday loans company marketed in such a way that
> using it doesn't offend the class sensibilities and self-image of well-off
> millennials and say I'm doing something "new".

[https://www.lendup.com/](https://www.lendup.com/)

~~~
justboxing
Didn't know about this. Landing page says

> Good Credit Not Required.

> Instant decision.

Wow.

~~~
austenallred
What's wrong with granting loans to people who have bad credit? What are they
supposed to do if there's a shortfall or a car breaks down, pawn a wedding
ring?

I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've
ever met. I mean that literally.

LendUp uses machine learning & data science to decision people with more
granularity than a credit score, and can therefore approve much deeper than
banks or credit card companies ever would. On top of that, as LendUp learns
you're a reliable borrower, it will lower your interest rate as far as it can
_for you_ , give you more favorable terms, and even extend a credit card for
those that qualify.

LendUp helps people improve their credit when almost no one else will lend to
them, and has been shown _in independent studies_ to both improve credit
scores and decrease the costs of borrowing for subprime borrowers. These are
folks for whom the only other option is payday loans or pawn shops if there's
a shortfall, and LendUp uses tech to give them much better options.

It's a noble mission, and one I'm damn proud to have been a part of.

~~~
sidlls
What's wrong is the absurd fees they charge. The only difference I can see
between them and payday lenders is the shabby facade of credibility they think
they have by being a "tech" company. Nobody who has to scrabble for $250 for
an emergency is in a position to drop a 25% vig on top of it in repayment.

~~~
bmelton
But if you lend to high-risk creditors, you have to have non-repayment built
into the rate. As of the last time I saw an article on it, the rate of default
for payday loans was something like 50%. High interest rates are there to
absorb the risk.

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kartD
Website please?

EDIT: [https://rentfeather.com/](https://rentfeather.com/)

