BungoBox helps with the chore of moving

Published in the Tallahassee Democrat Feb. 10, 2012

By Elizabeth M. Mack 

Democrat staff writer

Local entrepreneur Ken Stevenson understands that moving can be a pain, so when he heard about the new moving concept BungoBox, he thought it would work well in Tallahassee.

"The traditional way to move is use cardboard boxes," he said. "You tape them together and then you can only stack so many before the bottom box becomes squashed."

But BungoBox offers stackable plastic tubs that can be rented.

"We deliver them, they pack, they unpack and then we pick them up," he added, noting that the boxes are weatherproof, durable and less costly than purchasing boxes.

"We have a simple slogan: 'Moving Sucks,'" Stevenson said, "so our mantra is we try to make moving suck less."

Stevenson opened the local franchise Jan. 1 in Midtown, 831 N. Monroe St.

The company was started in Orlando by Tom Cannon in March 2010. Today there are 12 locations — six in Florida, two in Canada and one in Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver and Phoenix, Cannon said. The company's goal is to open 100 more locations in the next five years.

The local business is truly family run, with Stevenson's wife, Connie, taking on the networking and community outreach, his son, Ryan, handling the deliveries, and daughter Sami handling the social media.

"My job is to just keep everything organized," he said. "So far, it's been great."

Local franchise looking to rethink the way we move

Published on innovationgainesville.com Feb. 9, 2012 

{image_3rdbromlocalfranchise} A local entrepreneur hopes he can help cardboard go the way of the dinosaur by rethinking the way people move – with reusable plastic boxes, rather than the cardboard boxes which wind up in the garbage more often than the recycling bin. 

David Stockman, local owner of BungoBox, finds it hard to believe that — until now — there hasn’t really been a good alternative to using cardboard. In fact, “We’ve been using the same environmentally unfriendly materials for the past several hundred years,” he said.

BungoBox, a Florida company that Stockman recently franchised in Gainesville, rents reusable plastic moving boxes as an alternative to the traditional cardboard box, helping to keep that moving waste out of Gainesville landfills.

According to BungoBox, only half of the cardboard Americans use actually gets recycled. The average American moves  every more than 16 times in a lifetime, all the bubble wrap, Styrofoam peanuts and boxes can quickly add up. With our student population, Gainesville sees more people on the move than many other places.

Essentially, customers rent BungoBoxes and other moving equipment from the company, which are then delivered to their doorstep prior to their move. Once you complete your move, the company will drop by the new address to pick up the rented BungoBoxes. The simple concept has been a hit, and BungoBox, which is based in Orlando, has opened 12 franchise locations in the past 11 months.

“It ends up being a no-brainer for customers because not only are you creating a zero-waste move, it’s also cheaper than buying the alternative — cardboard,” Stockman said.

Check out BungoBox here before your next move.