• The Box Butler

  888-881-0810; boxbutler.com

  The Box Butler’s business model could not be more appealing: You pack up whatever it is you want stored. You call in the request, any day of the week. At a predetermined hour-long slot within the next 36 hours, BB’s truck takes it all away. When you want it back, same process. No schlepping to Twelfth Avenue and digging through a storage unit, no borrowing your in-laws’ minivan to get it home, no hauling it back upstairs. At $21 per one-way trip plus monthly storage fees figured by the cubic foot, it hits the sweet spot on the easier-versus-cheaper calculation New Yorkers do every day. The Box Butler also says it’ll beat any current storage deal you have by 25 percent if you bring them your monthly statement. Bonus: They’ll haul your unwanted extras to Housing Works for free, and get a receipt for tax season.

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine