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Storage by Mail: The Netflix for Storing Your Stuff

It was exactly 11 years ago when Daniel Hughes, CEO of Storage by Mail, conceptualized the idea.  He had just finished is undergraduate work and moved to a small apartment on the upper east side of New York City.  “My apartment was 400 square feet and they advertised it as a one bedroom…it was the tiniest apartment you could imagine.  I actually think 400 square feet was being generous.  It didn’t have a single closet, so I had to get creative like hanging my bicycle from the ceiling,” Hughes describes.  Knowing that he needed to find some extra space Hughes did what most people do, which is jump online and find the nearest storage facility.

He went over to the nearest facility and had a series of miserable experiences:  “The first thing that I experienced when I walked in there and I had seen this ad for a $29 personal closet, and I thought this would be perfect for me!  I asked about that one, and they explained to me that they had just rented the last one, so perhaps I would like to have the next size up?  I felt like no matter what size I asked for they would have done that to me.  Also, even though the facility distance wise wasn’t that far from me, because I didn’t own a car it was going to be really problematic moving in and out of the facility,” said Hughes.  More»>