Show HN: Rent camping gear and get it delivered up to 1 hour before the trip

https://www.lastmingear.com

by jmzbond • 11 years ago

29 59 11 years ago

lastmingear.com

27182818284• 11 years ago

I like this idea, it is too bad you're not in my area, I would have tried it.

therobot242• 11 years ago

Yea they shouldn't have the user wait till the order form to find out that they're only in SF.

jack-r-abbit5• 11 years ago

To be fair... it is in the FAQ right there on the front page.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

That's a fair comment. We can certainly do a better job communicating up front where our geographic region is.

georgehotelling• 11 years ago

I once heard someone say "Being in San Francisco is like having good cell reception, except for apps."

Every time I see something like this that's what I think of.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Haha, I also heard someone say "Living in SF is like living in the future." Ironically I'll personally say that there are plus sides and down sides to this "app for everything culture." But it's as bit long and philosophical, so I'll point you to a couple of posts I wrote:

"Stop making an app for everything" = https://medium.com/@bsemaj/stop-making-an-app-for-everything...

"Innovation: the virtuous cycle of efficiency and the vicious cycle of laziness" = https://medium.com/p/64d6b091c455

nether2• 11 years ago

REI and other camping stores will rent gear, though no delivery.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

And it takes more time to go to REI rather than just have gear show up to you ready to go. That and we're cheaper and open 24/7 but REI isn't, so you can be spontaneous! =) There's another thread on here with a longer answer about why us over REI (to be clear, I love REI, but they're focused on selling and I think they are great for people who know they want to buy)

jack-r-abbit5• 11 years ago

I've seen a few people running this type of thing (in a much smaller scale) via Airbnb. They seem to mostly cater to people visiting the area that want to camp in Yosemite or similar but don't want to travel with all their own gear. I've thought about doing that since my gear sits in a closet most of the time.

Of course this is different. I like the idea. Good luck.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

That's right travelers are a segment of our users! The majority though, are folks who are not very outdoorsy but going for the first time and not interested in spending a ton of money upfront.

I know there are a lot of businesses sprouting in this arena, many of which are focused on the p2p aspect. One of the reasons we've so shied away from that is because we're worried that the very underlying behavior we're incentivizing is buying more stuff--once you figure out you can monetize it and make a profit. Not everyone can buy an apartment as an income generating property, but everyone can buy a tent.

At some point it might equilibriate out and have a net impact of lower consumption anyway, but it's harder to go this route when our mission is purely focused on reducing unnecessary consumption and changing cultural perception of need to buy.

Thanks for your thoughts!

ngoel36• 11 years ago

Site is down for me

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Sorry about that, I just tried it and it works, can you try again?

RokStdy2• 11 years ago

Design nitpick: The alert every time you add something to your cart is really annoying. What if I want to add 4 backpacks and 3 water purifiers, etc... I click add, get a pop-up, click ok, then add again, rinse repeat....

Maybe instead just use a floating div to appear, say xyz has been added, and then fade away after a second.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Great point, we had added that as a stop gap measure, because not all users realized they had to scroll down to checkout the cart. From an overall design perspective we kind of need to revamp the entire first part of the flow, so this is great feedback. Thanks!

weaksauce2• 11 years ago

Instead of an alert popup use a on screen popup in the upper right corner that shows that something was added and then fades away after a few seconds.

RokStdy2• 11 years ago

Upon re-reading my comment, it sounds more critical than I had intended. I really like your site's clean design aesthetic. Great work.

p.s.

Please never come to Arizona. That will remove my last excuse for not going camping (purchasing a bunch of stuff, that I may never use more than once).

VLM• 11 years ago

Might I humbly suggest recreational items like fishing rod? In CA something that dangerous might have a seven day waiting period or need a permit so donno.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Great suggestion thanks! People are always fishing out on the piers here. Yes we want to expand in other categories, for outdoors gear and even beyond! Our vision is to make renting anything as viable as buying it, in order to try to reduce unnecessary consumption and make our lives less cluttered.

Thrymr• 11 years ago

Q: If I wait until the last minute, will you have items available?
A: It's never happened yet!

I don't think that says what you mean it to say.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Oh my you're totally right. Supposed to say, "We've never run out of items yet, because we are a last minute business and having inventory is our job." Something like that. I'm always hesitant to make 100% promises on stuff like this because if a big corporate event happens then literally we might run out regardless of what back-ups we have in place.

fleitz• 11 years ago

Sometimes it's better to make promises and run out of inventory than not make promises and not run out of inventory.

Promising unlimited internet certainly never put most ISPs out of business, and having a business so wildly successful that you're out of stock is a great way to attract investment.

djloche• 11 years ago

Make a 100% guarantee. Something like "we'll have the gear you want, delivered when you want, or your money back AND we'll give you credit to rent the gear on us at a later point to make up for it."

Internally, make it your policy to go above and beyond to make sure even if there's a huge corporate event, that you still have the necessary gear for everyone else that has paid. Your job is to deliver and have the gear. Making it happen in unusual circumstances is part of the business.

wayanon• 11 years ago

I like it, my thoughts while using the site:

1. How about a shopping cart or something to show what's in your order across the top?

2. Something that gives an idea of cost much earlier on for each item, even if it's just suggested.

3. How do you manage hygiene?, e.g. if a sleeping is delivered and it's musty/whatever - what happens, do I still have to pay? How are things cleaned after use? Is there a deposit?

4. Other items for sale as well as hire, like charged power packs, a magazine or two?

5. Random game/sport items - frisbee, inflatable beach ball etc.

6. Jerky?

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

1) This is part of our big design UX/UI challenge and we're still thinking about how to fix it. So this could be part of it. Thanks for the suggestion!

2) This one is hard. Ultimately we have a pay what you want model, so I worry that having suggested prices up front turn people away before they get to the final page and realize it's pay what you want. Will test further

3) There's no deposit because we want as a side goal to not hinder access, and deposits do that (especially for our gear, since it can be quite high). That said if you return something in bad condition, you are liable for repair and/or replacement cost, depending on how bad it is. We will have BIG warnings up for Burning Man =) (and may do deposits then...) Generally speaking for hygiene, all of our gear that you might actually have an "inner" part of your body up against is well shielded. For example: sleeping bags we have liners that we can wash. For snowsports gloves, we only carry the kinds that have liners and outer layers.

4) We actually include this whenever you rent something that needs it! For example, the grill has a propane, the headlamps have batteries

5) Yes definitely! We want to start with bigger ticket items first and then hopefully expand to lots of other goods even in other categories. Right now these items are too "cheap" for many people to consider renting. As in, they'll feel awkward renting it.

6) Like... free jerky for every rental? We do surprise some customers randomly with free chocolate =) But jerky might be too limiting since there might be vegetarians. (I guess, sorry vegans about the chocolate)

jpetersonmn2• 11 years ago

As others have mentioned the UI needs some work. Pop-up messages, not knowing what stuff costs as I'm adding, etc... Honestly if I was in the market for something like this (overall I like the idea) I wouldn't use this service since the UI is clunky. I would think if their website is this clunky, how clunky is the overall service going to be. Is my stuff going to be on time, will the order be correct, etc... IMO, building the website should be the simplest part of the operation overall. Nice idea, keep working on it. :)

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Totally fair and we're working on it. I think part of the challenge for us is that we're not really an e-commerce business in the traditional sense. And so, while we may want to preserve some of those elements (pricing, pop up messages, etc.), we're also trying to do it in the context of optimizing for, very fast requests (no sign up, no sign in, <60 seconds to request something... last minute business and all), pay what you want model, etc.

If you don't mind, I'd like to ask, do you think having customer testimonials eases some of your fears of clunkiness? Or do you tend to think, well anyone can "make up" a testimonial? I ask because what you're pointing out is a very real concern of mine. Once people have tried our service, they LOVE it (we have near perfect 10s on NPS across the board), but there is a bit of hesitancy at the beginning, which could be caused by many different factors I'm trying to isolate.

jack-r-abbit5• 11 years ago

Having been tasked (in a former life) with adding questionable "customer" testimonials to a company site, I now place exactly ZERO faith in customer testimonials on sites. YMMV

jpetersonmn2• 11 years ago

I don't even read testimonials, even if they aren't totally fake, they are likely skewed because they were asked to write them or offered some discount, etc...

I also kind of wonder how many people out there are making these last minute camping trip where they need to be able to get things requested in less than 60 seconds, etc... I've went camping many times and it's always something that's been planned out at least a few days in advance. My suggestion would be to focus less <60 seconds and make the site more informative, user friendly, etc...

nether2• 11 years ago

I find the visual styling just very busy. Superfluous outlines, color fills, typefaces seem very 00s.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Ah I'm a 00s child =)

Great feedback thanks so much!

joelhaus• 11 years ago

Loved shopping at Campmor growing up, but definitely appreciate this concept. Scouting trips were typically once a year, but need reduced over time as did camping trips.

May also want to check out growth opportunities with other charities. Used to participate in an annual event called Kayak for a Cause with a couple of hundred people. 85% of them needed a kayak for one day... not exactly something everyone is going to purchase.

Good luck!

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Wow have definitely never heard of outdoor events for a cause but that's a great partnership model. Will definitely look into it, thanks!

Re: kayaks, if we expand there, we're loving this folding kayak http://www.orukayak.com/ (no affiliation in any way, and we're not getting kick backs! =P)

kstrauser2• 11 years ago

Like most campers, I already have an REI account. If I'm leaving town, I have a car lined up that I can drive to REI to pick up rental gear. Why should I choose you?

(I think this is a really cool idea! You're going to be asked the above, though, so this might be a good time to practice your answer among friends.)

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Get this question all the time (same deal with Sports Basement). 3 things:

1) Would you rather spend an extra 60 minutes renting gear from REI or having gear arrive at your place when all your friends do and then leave all together?

2) We're cheaper than REI

3) REI is not open 24/7 like we are. This is actually why we're so focused on being a last minute business, because people today are really really last minute. There are numerous instances where this happens:

Coworker A: "Hey really psyched about Tahoe trip this weekend!"

Coworker B: "Oh crap, can't go, and forgot to tell you earlier, I'm the worst!"

Coworker A: "What?! We're leaving in 2 hours!!"

Coworker B: "Yeah, don't worry I'll find my replacement, hey Coworker C, want to go on this trip? It'll be super fun and I already paid!"

Coworker C: "Yeah sure!"

Coworker C: ~oh... don't have any gear~

Also, if you're calling yourself a "camper" already and have an REI account, we're probably not right for you because you probably go frequently enough to make buying gear worth it. Check out this calculator we built on that: www.lastmingear.com/protips/buy_vs_rent

kstrauser2• 11 years ago

1) Good point (although 60 minutes at REI seems a bit on the long side).

2) Make your pricing model more obvious. When I can't see prices before checkout, and you're heavily marketing last minute delivery, I assume I'm about to be sticker shocked.

3) That's a great point! You should emphasize that up front, because that use case hadn't occurred to me. My first thought was "they cater to poor planners", not "they'll help me be the spontaneous guy I want to be!"

rootedbox• 11 years ago

So you're building a camping company that is for people who don't camp much.

anonbanker• 11 years ago

Leave this stuff on reddit. Many of us initially came to HN to avoid things like this.

davidw• 11 years ago

You might consider having packages like "family of 4 with two kids package", which includes the tents, sleeping bags, and everything else.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Great point! We will test this concept in the future, some people want the convenience of a total package, others want to customize so they can "make do" and shave off some money somewhere.

jack-r-abbit5• 11 years ago

Maybe make it so that adding the package to your cart actually just adds all the items. Customization then takes place by deciding which of those items to remove from the cart. It might work as a good "upsell" as people realize they need more things than they first thought.

Edit: Case in point. I was looking to get a Sparkfun Kit[1] but they were out of one item that made the whole "kit" out of stock. Down at the bottom they have a link to a "wish list"[2] that lists all the individual items in the kit. And a big button at the bottom of that page that says "add it all."

[1] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12060

[2] https://www.sparkfun.com/wish_lists/96686

mbrownnyc• 11 years ago

But will it work in the zombie apocalypse?

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

jhwhite• 11 years ago

It seems like there's customization options that should be present. Like for backpacks, there's different sizes. What if I'm going out for a 3 day trip as oppose to a week long trip?

And for sleeping bags, different bags are rated to different temperatures. I've got two bags, one for warm weather camping and one for cold weather camping.

Is all of this suppose to go in Optional Specifications?

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

At the moment yes. Most of our customers are new to outdoor sports and don't know what specifications they want. They're also generally going car camping and only in the summer, so it's usually not a big deal at all. Putting it up front will freak them out and make choosing harder. The way it works now, if you are experienced enough to know exactly what you want, you can tell us.

I do agree though that this part of the flow isn't perfect, so we'll work on this. Perhaps for different items, giving examples of what optional specifications people COULD write in? E.g., temperature for sleeping bags, capacity for backpacks, etc.

jack-r-abbit5• 11 years ago

In some ways you do want to freak people out a little. There are people that are a danger to themselves because they haven't the first clue what they are doing. They don't know that they need a good cold weather sleeping bag and not just some "sleepover sack" from Walmart. People can die when they don't know what they are doing or what they need. The stories I've heard from a couple SAR friends of mine... shudder

yellowapple• 11 years ago

Three things:

First, the pop-up dialogs are annoying. Just show the number next to the + button (and add '-' and 'x' buttons to decrement and delete, respectively), and update it whenever I + or -. That's all the feedback I need.

Second, there's mention of product images, but they're not showing up for me on the latest Firefox.

Third, there should be a price estimate for each product I add in the product selection screen.

jmzbond27• 11 years ago

Thanks! Re your first point, do you think it would be annoying to you to see some items with an increment of 1 and others with an increment of 0? I.e., is it better to have separation between items that you can select vs. which specific items you have selected?

Hmm... will test the images problem.

Third point is one we're thinking about how to address in the context of our pay what you want model.

Show HN: Rent camping gear and get it delivered up to 1 hour before the trip

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