
Show HN: Store your luggage in local shops - cody3222
http://usebounce.com/
======
boyband6666
I 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.

~~~
virtuous_signal
This 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
I 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.

~~~
organsnyder
I've seen a mix. Some are definitely dedicated AirBnB rentals where it's
obvious the owners are professional landlords; but we've stayed in ADUs where
owners occupied the primary residences, cottages being rent out part-time,
etc.

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Lucadg
This 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.

~~~
tluyben2
I wanted to start something like this many years ago (and I still cannot find
anything like it in the cities I go to); I travel a lot for work and I want to
leave a suitcase in every city I travel to every few months so I can just take
my laptop on the plane. The places that exist only do 24-48 hours max or are
very expensive (can rent an apartment for just a little more). So yeah, airbnb
for luggage.

~~~
cody3222
Where have you needed this? Will add it to our expansion roadmap! Keep a look
out for us next time. We're in 72 cities now and that number will at least
double this year.

~~~
tluyben2
I was thinking of adding some other services as well as all people (expats)
were looking for those; buying stuff for you and putting it into suitcases for
instance.

I have a room full with crap; even at $1/day per case (which I would pay long
term), I can put enough cases in there and easily get them out to pay triple
the mortgage on the entire house every month... All my chinese and thai
friends (where I store stuff now) would gladly long term store cases in their
houses: 20-30 of them for sure.

Short term they would not but 2 weeks or more; many people working abroad
would jump at that.

~~~
rckoepke
I have always dreamed of someone providing me all the essentials I need on a
vacation - toothpaste brush comb etc and having it ready at airport or hotel.
At a reasonable price.

Seems I always forget something or forget to bring it home. Would be nice just
to not stress about them during packing and just focus on clothes laptop etc

~~~
ghaff
As a general tip, if you travel enough, keep a travel kit that you can just
toss in a bag. For toiletries, I just have a 1 quart Ziplock I only use for
travel. And I have another little kit bag that contains a bunch of odds and
ends I may need while traveling.

I don't keep dupes of everything. My cables and plugs bag is the same one I
use day-to-day. But I do keep a general travel pile that has most of the stuff
I may need on a trip other than clothing--which varies by location/season/type
of trip.

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hboon
In 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
train 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
We 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
:( 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.

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sokoloff
In 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
I'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
Yes, 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.

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cody3222
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.

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arey_abhishek
Bounce 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.

~~~
whyhow
Have 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
I'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.

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swift62848
I think [https://stasher.com](https://stasher.com) is the leader here. They
have nearly every Premier Inn in the Uk on their platform.

~~~
gandalfflew
Stasher are the leader worldwide from what the press says. They also work with
Klook and hotels.com

Bounce website looks nice too

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TACIXAT
This 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
Many hotels will hang onto your luggage even after you check out.

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dahfizz
Yeah, 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.

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ozim
I 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.

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Waterluvian
This 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
People 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.

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giancarlostoro
A mixture could work though:

Store in shops long term. Summon it on demand.

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Waterluvian
Love it. Let's make this.

SMS: Summon My Shit. On-demand storage and delivery in your city's "cloud".

~~~
aherforth
Hi,

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?

~~~
Waterluvian
Cool. I just assumed that it was about the expediency of "drop our stuff off
quick and let's bounce!" Do kids still say that these days?

~~~
cody3222
Yes! Haha love it. Adding delivery to Bounce will be a game-changer. Then you
can 'bounce your stuff'

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harlanji
I 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
Very 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
That'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.

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anon463637
It 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
Reasonable 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.

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undoware
I 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.)

~~~
undoware
(context: often shelters don't want you bringing your stuff, which means it
disappears)

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drivingmenuts
I 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.

~~~
cody3222
Oops - 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
Another 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
That’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
How is that a secret? Honest question as I assumed it's common knowledge

~~~
ComputerGuru
It 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
Another 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

~~~
Groxx
That's one of the reason I've been reluctant to do so, yeah. _All_ of the
hotels I've been to that do this have been _painfully_ explicit about how
they're not responsible for literally anything, and that there aren't even any
cameras to investigate potential issues afterward.

That's a big fat "nope" from me. Which is likely their desire.

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nestorherre
How 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
We have an insurance policy covering $5k of loss/damage. We have a process
rigorous enough to fend off scammers.

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actionowl
Looks 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
We will be expanding internationally this year! Please check back in a few
months!

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mariushn
Being 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
We 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
That's an excellent approach! Well done! Thanks for sharing

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johnsimer
I’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

~~~
cody3222
Yes! What's your email?

~~~
cody3222
You can email me at cody@usebounce.com

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Neurocynic
I 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.

~~~
cody3222
We'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
:-) 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

------
tempsy
Sounds 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
Shop 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.

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ksec
Are there no security risk involved for the particitpating shops?

~~~
aherforth
We 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.

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docdeek
I 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
In Spain it was probably Luggagehero, you used.

[https://luggagehero.com/](https://luggagehero.com/)

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nicolas_
I 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
Awesome to hear that Nicolas - hope we can serve you again in the near future!

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giga_danzer
Nice idea! I noticed EU is not currently supported. Are you planning to launch
in top European cities soon?

~~~
aherforth
We certainly are! We're rapidly expanding this year and Europe is definitely
one of our most requested markets

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awillen
I 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
Depends 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.

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blondie9x
Only problem is if someone tries to store or hide illegal goods. Thats where I
get concerned.

~~~
cody3222
Store 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.

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vbordo
This solves a problem I've had frequently while traveling. Very cool.

~~~
cody3222
Awesome to hear this. I just made this discount code you can use next time:
THANKSHN

