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Manhattan visitors' paradise

New York City's 50 million visitors each year have almost no access to bathrooms or storage lockers when they are walking the streets...until NOW!

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Manhattan visitors' paradise

Manhattan visitors' paradise

Manhattan visitors' paradise

Manhattan visitors' paradise

Manhattan visitors' paradise

New York City's 50 million visitors each year have almost no access to bathrooms or storage lockers when they are walking the streets...until NOW!

New York City's 50 million visitors each year have almost no access to bathrooms or storage lockers when they are walking the streets...until NOW!

New York City's 50 million visitors each year have almost no access to bathrooms or storage lockers when they are walking the streets...until NOW!

New York City's 50 million visitors each year have almost no access to bathrooms or storage lockers when they are walking the streets...until NOW!

Wayne Parks
Wayne Parks
Wayne Parks
Wayne Parks
1 Campaign |
Manhattan, United States
$1,557 USD 53 backers
31% of $5,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

 

Congratulations on being one of the Lucky Few who will find their way to this "crowd funding" site where Posh Stow & Go is saving our most dedicated Early Birds a lot of money! I look forward to serving you. Thank you!  --Wayne


www.PoshStowAndGo.com



                      

                     The Summary

I'm Wayne Parks and I created Posh Stow and Go because although I have been a frequent visitor to New York City for decades, there are two hurdles that my family and I just got tired of jumping:  Manhattan's lack of day-lockers and toilets.

My family lived in Hell's Kitchen after they arrived at Ellis Island over a century ago and I still have family in Manhattan, but I know that when you don't live or work in Manhattan, you don't have a home base to stow your "stuff", to take a break from a long day, to change if you get caught in some bad weather, to freshen up after sightseeing and before dinner or the theater, and you sure don't have a clean bathroom. Even if you rent a hotel for the day, that's only one location in a huge city!

I don't like dirty bathrooms. Do YOU Agree?  I don't like having to search for one and not be allowed to use it unless I'm patronizing the establishment and I really don't like to carry bags, coats, briefcases, diaper bags, etc. around all day and try to find places to stash it.  Do YOU Agree?

NYC removed the public day-lockers from the major train stations a decade ago and that, along with the ever-present bathroom hunts forced me to help the multitudes of visitors (and quite a few residents) who felt the same way. 

O.K., we're not necessarily talking about issues of life and death here, but the bathroom situation is really important to those who are germ-o-phobes and bathroom-shy like me.  Especially when the call of nature comes upon you swiftly.  And, finding baby changing stations can be like trying to hail a cab at rush hour in Midtown! These topics can be funny at times, but it isn't always funny to the disabled, or to those traveling with children, the elderly, or the infirmed.

While Posh Stow and Go will give many desperate visitors an oasis when they are tired and wearily walking around The Big Apple, as you will see by the PERKS I am offering, the MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS CAMPAIGN is to reward the Early Bird Supporters for their help. 

There were a lot of recent news stories that misrepresented the prices and services Posh will be providing. I understand. The stories were funny and this is a totally unique concept.  However, we need to clarify the Posh message if we are to accomplish our goal of providing the New York City visitor these royal amenities at peasant prices!  (You can't get a taxi ride too far for the cost of all day access to every Posh location that will be built!) 

Posh will not charge for memberships through the business website for a few more months until after the leases are signed and construction is underway.  However, I want to reward those that will help me prove that this is a business that meets such a dire need.    A need not only for the tourist, day-tripper, or business person, but also for the wheelchair bound or otherwise medically afflicted that make the limited bathroom options in Manhattan so much more scarce, that many of them don't even risk coming into the city for fear of the worst case scenarios when they can't quickly get to a bathroom.   

These are people who need storage the most. They need it because they cannot carry things around when walking alone is a struggle or an impossibility.  Many people have ventilators and other apparatus that rely on batteries. Posh will have charging stations that are secure so not only can you safely lock up your phone, computer, or camera to charge, those with certain disabilities can feel comforted that their spare batteries, which are their life line, will be in a climate controlled environment and ready at a moment's notice rather than in a van tucked away in a distant garage or in the extreme hot or cold temperatures.

Some people SAY they help people because they can, I believe in helping people because I SHOULD.  Do YOU Agree?

These are a few issues that 50 million visitors each year to New York are painfully aware of:

·  Venues that don't allow bags inside,

·  No storage lockers in the city,

·  Long lines for the few public bathrooms you can find, 

·  Stores that only allow paying customers to use their toilets, and when you do find one, it's most often a cramped, dirty little toilet without paper! 

·  Not enough ADA facilities for the handicapped.

·  Nowhere to conveniently change or shower without renting a hotel room or joining an expensive gym or private club.


For as little as $6.00, visitors to a Posh Stow and Go location can have:

  •   All-Day Access to spacious lockers and private bathrooms,
  •   Private Bathrooms that are upscale, spacious, modern and sanitized BEFORE each use!
  • Touchless faucets and fixtures, Wheel-Chair accessible showers
  •  Baby Changing Stations
  •  Comfortable, Private Breast Feeding Lounges in our larger locations
  •  Secure Charging Stations for most devices
                                                   

                

                                 Spacious Lockers for your…

  •   change of clothes,
  •   your shopping bags,
  •   your luggage before and after your hotel stay,
  •   your foul weather gear,
  •   your business presentation materials,
  •   Anything you don’t want to lug around the city!



 Marketing Survey. Jan. 2014:

Over 80% of those residing in the Greater N.Y. Metro Area desire clean, private, spacious bathrooms and secure day-storage lockers when they visit Manhattan. (and more than 1/2 of the other 20% responding still think it is a good idea and value, but have their homes and offices in Manhattan and don't think they need our service...but they hadn't even seen the architect renderings at the time of the survey. Wait until they see the real place!

Travelers who visit Manhattan are often shocked at the lack of bathroom amenities in NYC as compared to other global cities. They aren’t too pleased with the quality of these limited public restrooms either. This is understandable as NYC is so unique in its geographic mass (much bigger than other walking cities) and relatively small population of around 2 million compared to the 50 million yearly visitors it must absorb. To provide the proper number and quality of public restrooms would be a tremendous burden on the NYC taxpayer.  NYC does a lot of things great.  Posh Stow and Go will happily help start to take care of this one! 


                     Cost of a Posh Stow And Go Membership

Even if you join a gym club or some single-location private club, they could cost you thousands each year. Posh Stow and Go only has a $15/year membership cost and then YOU ONLY PAY FOR THE DAYS YOU USE our lockers, bathrooms, charging stations, etc.... Posh's prices for a full day's use is regularly between $6 and $8.

Posh is similar to a gym in that there are lockers and showers and bathrooms there, but instead of working out, you come to Posh to relax for a moment...and it is MUCH cheaper and, at times, MORE NECESSARY! 

I wanted to provide this service for FREE, but that's impossible to do on this scale, so I made it as affordable as possible. Many survey respondents were willing to pay much more.

WITH YOUR HELP, I plan on building hundreds of bathrooms and thousands of lockers in the highest foot-trafficked areas of Manhattan before we expand to other cities.  Our Flagship Location will be built and operational by Summer of 2014 with more locations to follow. 

Posh is not Exclusive, but membership will be limited based on number of locations. We want the experience to be awesome and we can't do our best if we oversell the memberships!

(For security reasons, all Members and their Guests must have a valid ID and Credit/Debit Card. There is NO cash transacted at Posh Stow and Go.)

Note: Must be age 18 or older to purchase memberships. See details on Posh website regarding up to 3 of member's children under 18 being free when accompanying the member.  All applicable New York Sales Tax is included in your Perk and will be paid by Posh Stow and Go.

REFUNDS: Aside from the Indiegogo refund policy, if any unforeseen or unintended event prevents Posh Stow and Go from delivering your chosen Perk, you will be refunded your contribution(s) minus any processing fees charged by Indiegogo or the payment provider as allowed by applicable laws.

                                 

              

                                           The Impact

Our business may seem a bit humorous and there are no shortage of potty jokes to be made, but access to bathrooms all around the city are no joke for the thousands who have medical disorders (IBS, Crohn’s, Colitis, etc.) or are wheelchair bound. 

While Posh Stow And Go is for everyone, I have a special empathy for the disabled who have such a difficult time enjoying New York City sights as I do.  It’s hard enough for me to find these conveniences around the city…My goal for Posh Stow And Go is that NO ONE will be more than 5 blocks from a bathroom or storage locker in case of an “emergency.”

Even if you are an Indiegogo contributor who doesn’t live in New York, odds are you will visit someday or know someone else who will (give it as a gift in their name!).  AND/OR…when we grow and expand to other cities, you will have an even greater chance to use our services personally. 

Either way, you will be helping countless neighbors who shouldn’t be denied access to places because they have bags that aren’t allowed inside, or...their mobility apparatus doesn't fit, or…they suddenly have a “bathroom emergency” but the nearby restrooms are disgusting or unavailable! 


                                 A Little About the Team:

Founder:   (Wayne Parks) I love to solve problems and create things. During my years in residential design and construction, I also built and ran a Laundromat, a Party-Tent business, a Residential Carting and Dumpster Business, and….. my FAVORITE venture of all was the non-profit organization I created just to provide FREE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION to anyone who wanted it. The purpose was to foster better relationships between the high volume of non-English speaking workers and their English-only speaking bosses and customers The goal was to increase the wage and thereby the quality of life for these workers to help them climb out of the bottom of the economic cellar while at the same time allowing business owners to be more productive.

Web Design Team:  Infinite Web Designs.  Fairfield, CT. Amy Delardi.   http://infinitewebdesigns.com/

Publicity Team:  CC Communications. Manhattan, NY.  Celia Atassi http://www.collective-communications.com/

Social Media:  Amanda Walkley & Nick Parks

Architect:  Peter Cummings

Construction Supervisor:  Steve Audet


              Some Posh in The Press

http://www.today.com/video/today/54505951/#54505951

http://on.aol.com/video/members-only-luxury-toilets-to-hit-nyc-518131023?hp=1&playlist=127167&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl20%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D445771

http://gothamist.com/2014/02/20/clean_bathroom_nyc.php

http://observer.com/2014/02/new-commode-ities-posh-private-potties-coming-to-midtown/

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24782384/luxury-restroom-for-8-a-day

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video/#!/on-air/as-seen-on/Where-Do-You-Go-When-You-Have-to-Go-/246427041

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/flush-with-cash-posh-pay-toilets-in-the-big-apple-2014-02-19

Can listen here: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/luxury-pay-toilets-heading-to-nyc-2014-02-19

http://on.aol.com/video/members-only-luxury-toilets-to-hit-nyc-518131023?hp=1&playlist=127167&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl20%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D445771

http://wcbsfm.cbslocal.com/2014/02/20/8-luxury-toilets-coming-to-midtown-this-summer / (aired on WCBSFM 101.1) 

http://www.core77.com/blog/urbanism/membership-only_streetside_bathrooms_coming_to_nyc_26475.asp


           Other Ways You Can Help:

  1. Send your friends to check out this campaign!!
  2. Please follow Posh Stow and Go on Twitter and share our story with your friends!!
  3. Liking Posh on Facebook or...
  4. Going to www.PoshStowAndGo.com and signing up for our Newsletter will let you know of any future major events that you may be interested in!

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Choose your Perk

Try it, you’ll like it!

$10 USD
TWO “Day Passes” PLUS one yearly membership fee. (a $31.00 value) Use both days yourself or share one with a friend. Experience the comforts you’ve been missing. And…your name on our “Acknowledgment” website page. Friend must accompany you. No Expiration Date for the Days. Membership requires renewal 12 months after Grand Opening.
21 claimed

Triple your Pleasure

$25 USD
SIX “Day Passes” PLUS one yearly membership fee. (a $57.00 value) Use all 6 days yourself or share some of them with friends. Experience the comforts you’ve been missing. And…your name on our “Acknowledgment” website page. Friends must accompany you. No Expiration Date for the Days. Membership requires renewal 12 months after Grand Opening.
19 claimed

What a great Gift

$45 USD
A 1-year membership and TWELVE “Day Passes” (over $87 value) for you or you can assign it to a friend**. What a great gift to give someone who is about to visit! Expiration of Membership and Days is 12 months after Grand Opening. **Assignees must have valid ID and credit/debit card.
6 claimed

A Serious Gift

$75 USD
TWO 1-year memberships and TWENTY “Day Passes” (over $150 value) Assign it to one person who can use it for two years or give it to two of your friends!** Expiration of each Membership and Days is 12 months after Grand Opening. **Assignees must have valid ID and credit/debit card.
0 claimed

It keeps getting better

$100 USD
A 3-year membership and THIRTY “Day Passes” (NON-Transferable…valued at over $225)…AND…From this level and up, Contributors will be listed on A Plaque displayed in our Flagship Location in New York City as “Those With Whom This Business Is Eternally Grateful ” Expiration of Membership and Days is 36 months after Grand Opening.
5 claimed

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