By GREGORY ZELLER //
With Red Rover, you haul – they innovate.
A new, better way for humans to relocate their lives has been the modus operandi of Florida-based Red Rover – the latest creation by PODS founder Peter Warhurst – since its early 2020 launch.
Now, the forward-thinking regional startup, which boasts three Tampa Bay-area offices, has staked a second market – right here on Long Island, with its first satellite operation up and running in Syosset.
Red Rover advances the storage-mobility motif Warhurst pioneered with PODS, which launched in 1998. PODS, which Warhurst sold off in 2007, delivers empty storage containers, picks them up when full and transports them to their next destination, using its own proprietary hydraulic-lift system.
Red Rover puts the client behind the wheel, with portable storage units loaded onto trucks that the customer picks up and drives – from moving Point A to moving Point B, or to a climate-controlled Red Rover storage facility to await long-distance shipping. On the other end, the unit is loaded onto another customer-driven truck for the last leg.
Peter Warhurst: On the move.
With its new Underhill Boulevard facility in Syosset, the company is bringing its “Fetchable Storage” solution to the heart of the suburbs, at a time when the suburbs are a relocation hotspot.
It’s also specifically targeting movers doing the Long Island-Florida shuffle; Warhurst estimates that “close to 1,000 New Yorkers a day are moving to Florida,” and to that end, Red Rover is already scouting additional Long Island locations.
“Our move into the Long Island market just made good business sense,” the CEO said. “And it doesn’t hurt that I grew up in the Long Island area.”
In addition to updating the parameters of the move-it-yourself industry – for one thing, the trucks are free to drive for up to 60 miles, including gas and tolls – the Huntington native and his 2020 startup are heavy into technical innovation. Back-up cameras, lane-departure warnings and other bells and whistles useful to non-truckers come standard.
There’s also a patent-pending automatic ramp, operated by remote control, that facilitates side or back loading at the touch of a button.
The mechanical upgrades – and the new approach to storage-unit loading, moving and stowing – will play big as Red Rover embarks on an anticipated national expansion, beginning on Long Island. Warhurst, a serial entrepreneur with a in multiple industries, grew PODS to more than 100 corporate-owned and franchised locations before selling it off 14 years ago.
Red Rover is the creative thinker’s coming-out-of-retirement – and another shot at the big time, starting with a you-can-go-home-again expansion effort in Syosset.
“I am excited to see us expand the company in my hometown,” Warhurst said, “and to begin offering long distance moving capabilities to our customers.”
Red Rover
What’s It? U-Haul meets PODS in the next stage of move-it-yourself evolution
Brought To You By: Storage mobility pioneer Peter Warhurst
Status: Now bridging Tampa Bay and Long Island, with other national footholds in the works
