fb-pixelNeed a place to store your luggage for a while? There’s an app for that - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Need a place to store your luggage for a while? There’s an app for that

The Bounce app helps you find a place to store your luggage for a while.Michael Candee/Firstlight Creative

We’ve all been there: Checkout is at noon, but our flight isn’t until 6 p.m. There is so much to explore in the city we’re visiting, and several hours in which to take it all in before heading to the airport. But what to do with our luggage, not to mention the numerous must-have trinkets we purchased during our stay and crammed into what we’re hoping will pass for a “small, personal carry-on item”?

Sure, many hotels will allow guests to store their bags for post-checkout pickup. But what happens when your hotel is on the opposite side of the city from where you’re going? Do you go back across town during rush hour to retrieve your luggage? And what if you’re staying at an Airbnb and there is not an option for a later pickup?

Advertisement



Enter Bounce Bag Storage, an app aimed at solving this very problem.

The free app allows users to locate businesses with which Bounce Inc. partners that will store their bags in a safe and secure place for $5.90 per bag, per calendar day. The items are secured with a coded zip tie and insured for $5,000 per bag.

“Technology has solved our commuter problems, with Uber and other ride-sharing platforms, but it was crazy that nothing existed to make our lives less burdened by our things,” said Bounce cofounder Cody Candee, who came up with the idea in 2014, but who, along with business partner Aleksander Rendtslev, didn’t launch it until 2017.

Bounce Inc. is in nearly 20 cities across the country — including Boston — and in London. New cities — domestic and international — are being added weekly, Candee said.

Storage sites in Boston and in other cities range from fitness centers to retail shops to dry cleaners to cafes and restaurants. There are currently 25 storage sites in and around Boston.

Advertisement



The benefits to the storage partners include not only a cut of the money users pay, but added foot traffic in their establishments, Candee noted.

“Gift stores do especially well,” he said. “I was just talking with one gift shop owner in New York City who said that nearly every single Bounce customer shops and buys something while they’re there.”

And while travelers make up the majority of Bounce users, Candee said he has seen a “significant uptick” with commuters — from people storing items between work shifts, to those going to the theater or a sporting event after work and needing a place to leave a briefcase or backpack.

“It’s exciting how fast it’s growing,” said Candee, 30, who worked on global product development before starting Bounce Inc. “The idea is to bounce your stuff away from you, and we’re finding that people are really enjoying doing that . . . not being burdened by their things.”

Visit UseBounce.com. The app is Bounce Bag Storage.