Some students stored their belongings in friends’ apartments this summer. Others took them home and drove back up with them. And a few students had their things delivered to their dorms and apartments – using a company started by Northwestern students.
Weinberg juniors Casey Liang and Qingshuo Wang along with David Juo, an Amherst College junior, started The Boxing Co. last year.
The Boxing Co. offers summer storage and sells moving supplies such as boxes and tape. It picks up possessions for storage during finals week, keeps them in a climate-controlled facility and delivers them when students return.
The Boxing Co. joins UPS and Collegeboxes among other companies on the Evanston storage market. Collegeboxes Vice President Josh Kowitt said his company does not discount new rivals, no matter who’s in charge.
“All competition is very serious whether it’s student-run, regional or national competition,” he said. “Our organization started out as a student-run company.”The company is co-owned by Juo and Liang. Because they still have to figure out their taxes and pay for some services, Liang said he doesn’t know The Boxing Co.’s profits.
Liang, Wang and Juo started the company to gain business experience while serving students, said Liang. Juo took a semester off from his studies at Amherst to work on the company, Liang said.
“It was incredibly tough to juggle school and The Boxing Co. at the same time,” Liang wrote in an e-mail. “During finals week spring quarter, there were three days of move-out and I had four finals to attend.”
This year, 96 students used The Boxing Co.’s storage services, and others bought moving materials, Liang said. The Boxing Co. is still storing boxes for some students studying abroad.
Weinberg junior Teresa Jue, who used the Boxing Co. this summer, said pickup and delivery days were limited but the benefits outweighed the inconveniences.
“I had used Collegeboxes the year before and it caused some problems,” she said. “The Boxing Co. was also cheaper.”
This year The Boxing Co.’s schedule ran two hours late on the first day because they did not expect so many upperclassmen to move in on the first day of New Student Week, Liang said. They had no problems with lost items.
In addition to posting flyers around campus, The Boxing Co. advertised by selling boxing materials from tents in June. Next year organizers plan to add a 1-800 number, offer more pick-up days and ship boxes to students’ homes.
Liang said he doesn’t know what they will do with the company after graduating, but they’re considering passing it down to other students.
Being current students factored into their business philosophy. The Boxing Co. will store a large box for $29; Collegeboxes charges at least $35 to store a box.
“We really try to be less expensive than our competitors because as college students, we know that the extra $6 saved per box translates to a triple whopper at (Burger King) at 2 a.m.,” Liang said in his e-mail.
Reach Ketul Patel at [email protected].
