Spare Foot

Sparefoot.com a start-up website connecting tenants with storage facilities reached an additional $1.5 million in series B funding this week.  The company was founded in 2008 by Chuck Gordon and is based in Austin, Texas.

The site allows potential tenants to comparison shop by price, unit size, and other amenities for more than 5000 storage facilities nationwide.  The service is free for consumers to search and make reservations.  Facilities gain new tenants through a pay for performance revenue model, based on a referral fee for every customers sent to their business. 

The parent company Classified Ventures, Inc. also operates the websites apartments.com and selfstorage.com.   Since the addition of Sparefoot.com, the company is now the largest advertising network for self-storage in the United States.

Elephant Art

How much would you bid for a one of a kind electric guitar hand painted by an African elephant?  Wendy Dio, the widow of Black Sabbath guitarist and front man of Dio Ronnie James Dio hopes you will open your heart and your pocketbook.  She is working in collaboration with the foundation set-up in her husband’s honor Stand Up and Shout Cancer fund and the Asian Elephant conservation project to raise funding and awareness.

 
Three trunk painted guitars and 100 other celebrity signed instruments will be sold in an auction this fall.  See more of the elephant artwork on The Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project website

Painted Rocks

Gracie Zenz an artful 10 year old was inspired to create her own version of street art after watching the quasi Banksy documentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop”. 

She wanted to create something that was artsy, stealthy and public but not damage public or private property.   

The idea of painting rocks bright colors, with funny faces was born. 

The artist enlisted the help of her dad, a children’s book author and her siblings to paint and decorate the stones.  A total of 48 stones were placed in fun places around town. 

See more pictures of where the stones ended up on the family’s blog Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty.

Watching Our Figures

Relocation Insurance Group's  innovative online reporting system has compiled a year-end report of market trends and statistics for our moving insurance program. We are excited to share with you our first annual Relocation Insurance Group Facts and Figures Newsletter. Did you know we insured 11 urns last year? I guess people are dying to get moving insurance. Enough with the bad jokes, lets talk statistics. It may come as surprise (or maybe not) that customers wait until the last minute to purchase coverage; the average is four days prior to the move. The majority of our monthly policies (39%) are purchased at the end of the month between the dates of 22-31, while only 18% are purchased at the beginning of the month, from 1-7. The beginning of the week is our busiest time to purchase moving insurance. The majority of customers  purchase coverage  on Monday and Tuesday. Our customers take the weekends off too, Saturday and Sunday are the slowest times of the week for purchasing policies. Relocation Insurance Group's customers are not early birds, as only 1% purchase coverage between 4am - 6am EST. Most policies are purchased in the afternoon between 12pm - 2pm. On an interesting note, Relocation Insurance Group  insured 7 vinyl records, 6 Victrolas, 4 banjos and 3 doll houses in 2010 and 700% more Christmas china, 80% more tuxedos and 60% more cuckoo clocks than in 2009.

What are the most interesting items you have moved?  How many days in advance  do your customers schedule a move?  Share your thoughts on our blog.

2010 Facts and Figures

If you read our CEO's "Word From" column, you know that Relocation Insurance Group insures just about everything--even urns. Welcome to our first annual Relocation Insurance Group Facts & Figures Newsletter.  The statistical information is based on our Moving Insurance program.

Our Customers

On average, 53% of customers are male and 47% are female. Thirty-three percent have an average household income of $60-100K per year, while 29% have an average income above 100k per year. Did you know 41% of our customers have a college education and an estimated 28% attended graduate school?

Coming and Going

Where are insured moves coming from and going to?  Thirty-six percent of moves we insure originate in New York.Other popular origin states include California, 21%, and Florida, 9%; both Illinois and New Jersey account for 6%.

To which states are our insured customers moving? California is a popular destination, with 22%, and not far behind is our company’s headquarter state of New Jersey. Other customers are seeking the warmth of Florida, 9%, and Texas, 7%.

The origination zip code with the highest declared value and the most insurance certificates purchased is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan near Central Park, with 4% of total certificates purchased. As an origination zip code, Martinsburg, West Virginia, ranks as the lowest in certificates with the lowest declared value, and the least number of certificates sold, with 0.05%.

Our destination with the highest number of insurance certificates sold  and declared value is also the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It appears our customers love the “Big Apple” as much as we do.

Jackson, Wyoming, is the least popular destination of  our insured customers, with only 0.04% of our customers insuring goods to that state. 

What are customers insuring?

The most popular items customers insure are big screen TVs, mirrors, dining room tables, coffee/end tables, and queen-size beds (we thought it would be king, too).

Relocation Insurance Group can insure any type of item with any value. Our customers insure all types of items from the high-end to the low-cost. In 2010, the item we insured with the highest value was a book binding machine. We also insured napkin rings with a declared value of under $5.

Did you know our customers insured 9 surfboards, 26 umbrellas, 5 waffle makers, and 10 violins in 2010?