Finally it has happened. Freetrailer USA is a reality. The business got its US corporation established July 15th 2015.
It’s been a long time in the making and the waiting period for some of us – me in particular – has been very, very long indeed. But alas, we now have our US entity established and that means also that we can now actually commence real pursuit of partners and business in the United States for our hugely popular business model and service offering.
For those not familiar with our service, here’s a quick introduction:
We Rent Out Small Cargo Trailers For FREE!!
That’s right. We offer small cargo trailer for rental for free.
These are small closed box trailers that you latch onto your vehicle using a hitch and can use in connection with moving “stuff”.
The stuff can be more or less anything, as long as the size and weight can fit within the limitations of the cargo trailer.
Our history for Freetrailer began in 2004.
The idea maker and one of the founders had rented a small cargo trailer from a gas station (the typical place of rental of trailers in Denmark) and was a bit put off with the hassle it had proved to be along with the relative steep cost of rental (typically no less than US$80 per 24 hours). He thought there had to be a better way.
Thinking it through further, he had the brilliant idea that perhaps there would be a great match between businesses who would be willing to pay for advertising on the trailer so that this could fund the availability of the trailer, so that users could borrow the trailer for free. In addition it would make sense if such advertiser was a place of business that sold items that had a certain size, that would perhaps challenge its customers on how they would bring home the purchases.
He discussed the idea with his friend, who liked the idea so much that he eventually quit his job in order to work on this concept full time – and soon Freetrailer (Denmark) was a reality.
IKEA was the first retailer that embraced the concept and by September 2004, the first 34 trailers were available at an IKEA outlet in Taastrup in Denmark.
From there is has grown steadily at an incredible rate.
I personally became a partner of the company in 2007, by which we established a partnership consisting of 3 equal partners and equity holders.
In 2006, Freetrailer opened up in Sweden and became there as well an instant success.
Today that means that we are operating throughout Denmark and throughout Sweden – covering extremely well the entirety of the two countries, yet with more growth possible as well as taken place.
Earlier this year, Freetrailer also opened up its first Norwegian operation and at the time of writing this we even have the contract for Norwegian’s second location. Many, many more are expected to follow in near future.
Germany is also hot on its trail and I wouldn’t be surprised if we will see our first German operation(s) in effect this year. More countries are in pursuit too, so keep your eyes and ears open for more news on our progression.
Meanwhile, across the pond, we have, as I started off with, finally established our US entity, which I will personally be spearheading.
I am truly super excited about it. It’s been long in the making with our initial ideas about the US prospect being discussed all the way back to my entering the business in the partnership.
It was in 2008 that I moved to the United States. The idea was that I would more or less try to get Freetrailer started straight away, but just a few months following my entry to the US and we (the world) entered into the terrible financial crisis and we immediately decided to put the brakes on and hold off on the idea.
A year ago, we then once again renewed the vow to get us started in the US and now it’s finally happening.
Naturally, as you would expect, it may be a while before we get retailers committed and before we get the many various components settled for a US operation, but I am confident that we shall see our first physical operation opened up this year and I am also certain that we shall soon see many, many more locations follow in its footsteps.
I suspect that I will post many more updates on this matter from time to time, so stay with me and follow along this super exciting journey.
Meanwhile, should you have any great connections with great retailers or self storage spaces for whom our concept may be a great fit, I would welcome an introduction. So please feel free to reach out to me and let’s get connected or let’s discuss the possibilities.
Till then, be sure you connect with us on our new Facebook page, Instagram, Linkedin and Google Plus. Love to see you there too.
