Hire Things – things for hire!

No I’m not talking about the fondue fountains again or even the new Strip-o-gram boys, though they do look very fine…

We girls all know what really makes us drool – a designer handbag!

Do we care that they are worth several thousands of dollars? YES!

Are we thrilled that we can hire it for a fraction of that? Absolutely!

Do we want all our friend to know? of course – theres nothing like a little “handbag” envy.

Whats great is that you can just keep swapping for a new style, a new look and never get bored.

If you don’t have quite the right outfit to go with your bag you can hire that on hire things too, with dresses from a range of international designers such as Vera Wang, Dolce and Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Versace , to name just a few

.

A girl doesn’t have to limit her choices on Hire Things!!

Iona

Hire Things got profiled recently in an article in El Pais, the Spanish national newspaper, where they looked into the growing trend of hire and rental marketplaces around the world.

Check out http://www.hirethings.co.nz/resources/elpaisnewspaper_july2008.pdf for the article in english…  it’s a good overview of the trend, the isssues, and the opportunity.

El Pais on hire and rental marketplaces

Part of my job is checking what’s been searched for on Hire Things so I can see that we do have everything everyone might need to hire. This helps me see what we need to look to add to our site, how we are searched and gives me a feel for who might be using Hire things for their hire needs.

Usually I get the run of bad spellers, annoying techy types testing the system (go for it guys) and sometimes things we don’t have on that I can immediately source for our customers.

Wednesday took the cake – literally. It started with searches for “stag do” – OK I get this – party, bring your friends – went to “recliner chair” viewing platform? and then to “woman in cake”!!!

“What sort of site do they think this is” I said to my husband. ” He looked at me and said “I wonder where you get something like that”.

Well that shut me up. Where do you go to hire something a little bit different, plan your party, do all your hiring in one place? Well, to Hire Things of course and thats exactly where he came.

So I’m sorry we don’t have a “woman in a cake” (yet), I am trying to find a cake large enough to jump out of but, you would have to supply your own woman.

Whilst we are always listing new and interesting items and services on Hire Things, this week has been even more diverse than usual.

As well as some great Dj’s and bands, wedding cars, office furniture and costumes, the week got off to an fabulous start when we listed a Formula 1 simulator!

“These vehicles are all life like, life-size and allow you to enter the world of virtual reality. Create your own in-house A1 Grand Prix”

You get suits and can actually drive and service the cars too, how cool is that! Forget getting cold and wet working our how to cross a river, this is my kind of team building.

(note to self: send info to boss)

Then we have my personal favourite of the week, 50 glorious ostrich plumes. Stunning as decorations or centerpieces, I just immediately think of the Fan dance and the Windmill Theater.

Maybe I should just hire them for decoration, I think my fan dance days are over, and more worryingly, not sure 50 is enough…

Any way, I wonder what next week will bring?

We are very pleased to have listed this week a 1965 Bedford TK Fire Engine, the Wellington Fire Museums fundraising fire engine. They offer very exciting Children’s Birthday packages which includes pick up from school by a uniformed fireman – how cool is that!

They are also available for Children’s Parties, Charter tours, School Balls, Weddings, Hens nights, Film work, special events, advertising or promotional work.

I also have inside information that they are planning to offer $99 specials, airport transfers, surprise your boyfriend or your girlfriend, lunch out, bosses shout! Contact Matt Silver at the Wellington Fire Museum Trust for more info. These guys are happy to help and can come up with a package for you.

All proceeds are donated to The Wellington Fire Museum Trust.

The Wellington Fire Museum Trust was established in March 2003 as a not for profit charitable trust to develop a Fire Museum and Education center to preserve Wellington’s firefighting history and honour the thousands of paid and volunteer Fire fighters that have protected their community and city, whilst also educating the public about the dangers of fire.

Hire Things believe in supporting our community and think this is a great cause. We have been happy to list these guys and donate all success fees back to the Fire Museum Trust.

So think who you can surprise with a trip around town in a fire engine – did I mention the siren and lights?

We are all kids at heart and its not just for the boys!

Iona

Rob and Lorelle of

The Toy Box

have a 2^nd birthday celebration and opening party coming up

for their new shop at 121 Manukau road Pukekohe on

Saturday June 14th

They have Fairy Katrina doing a show and there’ll be free sausages, ice cream and coffee too.

Rob is one of our founding members, one of those brave and pioneering businesses and individuals that took the plunge to list their things for hire on Hire Things in the first year of us being live.

We at Hire Things thank them for taking the lead, for giving us feedback on how to improve the service and sticking with us through some of the early bugs & problems on the site, and for being part of the reason that Hire Things is growing like it is.

So head down to see their new store and check out all the cool stuff they have for hire, think about the cold indoor months ahead (“mum I’m bored…”) or that next kids party you might be planning.

We like to know whats going on in the community so if you have an interesting event or just have something to say, drop me a line, iona@hirethings.com

Stay warm,

Iona.

Our amazing Developers just built us some cool new features to help searching in your area.

At a glance you can now see not only where an item/service is based, its ‘Location’ (often a pickup/store location), but also where it can be delivered to, its ‘Service Areas‘

Clicking on our new ‘local only’ button

will show you items in the area closest

to your chosen location first, then you

can click ‘All’ to extend the search to

those suppliers that will deliver to

your area.

This is going to make finding what you need

when you need it even easier.

Great job Team!

Theres never been a better time for a party on the Kapiti Coast.

Tim from Kapiti Hire has recently listed lots of cool party stuff. From candy floss machines to portable loos to party lights and cocktail glasses. Grab a costume from cosmic costumes or get one delivered from Wear it out …. you can be anyone you like!

Rockbox can provide some funky DJ hosting and Mike from Air castles can

keep the kids happy with bouncy castles and jeeps to ride in.

…. I feel a party coming on!