The search for what to rent next continues and the possibilities appear limitless - by Ron Lanzo

Those of you who have followed my articles have come to know that I’m always on the lookout for what products and services to rent even when I’m not actually at work. Recently while on vacation and touring the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Bryce Canyon in Utah, I noticed a lot of RV’s or recreational vehicles from a company called Cruise America (www.cruiseamerica.com). These Winnebago type self-driving RV units were white with detailed graphics wrapped scenes of the great outdoors. It seemed like these vehicles were all over the National Parks, and there were other competing models, that were equally as eye catching. One in particular was called JUCY Rentals, www.jucyusa.com and they featured a smaller more compact camper styled vehicle more like a modified car van. The JUCY brand was bright green in color with a purple camper (pop-up) top. You couldn’t miss these RV units as they too could be found throughout the park. Clever little graphics on the back with comments, like, “Don’t look now but this actually has a stove inside!” Upon returning from vacation, I did some additional research online, and discovered that there is yet a third competitor operating within the U.S. called Road Bear. They offer a product similar in scope and features to the Cruise America products. 

It turns out that you can rent these types of vehicles and they sleep from two to four people, includes a two burner cooktop stove, a five-gallon water storage tank, and the kitchen sink. They rent for around $2,000, including mileage and liability charges for an entire week. 

I also discovered, that there is a large company based in Denver, CO, that rents tents, and specializes in what’s known as an “Outfitters Tents,” specifically designed for the hunter and fisherman who wants to set-up camp high up on the mountains. They’re called Outdoors Geek, (www.outdoorsgeek.com). According to their website, “We ship camping gear nationwide!” They offer various sizes of these walled canvass tents with options that includes a floor, camp stove and cots. I’m planning a fall elk hunt in November in Pagosa Springs, CO., at the San Juan National Forest, and I’ve looked into renting one myself from Outdoors Geek. Their website also states that they can rent from one to 500 tents and they’ve done many corporate group functions that have literally housed a village! From one of their BLOGS, they mentioned “glamping” or adding glamorous accessories to your camp site, “You can never have enough glamorous accessories!”

So, here at AFR Furniture Rental & Event Furnishings, you also know that we rent a complete line of commercial office furniture for rental lengths from one month to two years. Some of my corporate customers, especially major law firms have rented for short term events and meetings to mid-term legal trial preparation and longer term needs for their summer intern programs. Our Federal Government accounts, like the U.S. Department of Justice have rented for multiple years, although the majority of our customers tend to rent for a year or less. We can accommodate just about any rental term length from one month to two years and beyond. We recently supplied 275 dining chairs for Seton Hall University in West Orange, N.J., for their newly built student center. Their dining tables arrived on time, but not their chairs, so they turned to AFR to help them get opened on time for the fall semester. Last month we also helped Cornell University at their Roosevelt Island campus with dining tables so they too could open on time. 

We continue to offer a wide variety of rental options for our commercial customers whose needs include “swing space” construction. Our legal customers continue to turn to us for pre-trial document reviews, actual legal team mock courtroom trial preparation and summer intern program rentals. Many of our legal customers have recently used us for both trade show and conferences as well. 

As our company continues to grow and make new acquisitions in the area of trade show and special events, we continue to provide residential furnishing options as well to corporate housing communities, apartment complexes, direct customers and home stagers. On the commercial side, desks, chairs, files, tables and cubicles too. We look forward to helping you with a rental furniture solution in the coming months. 

Ron Lanzo is the commercial account executive for AFR Furniture, Inc., New York, N.Y.