Inside John's Locker

I learned in my years with a big multinational company that every company has a distinct personality.  After a while, I could tell you how Chevron would respond to an issue and it would be different than the way Shell or BP might handle the same set of facts.  The decision by United Airlines to charge for second pieces of luggage and by American Airlines to charge for the first piece has created quite a stir

Here's a glimpse of Owner's Locker's personality.  This is an e-mail I received today:

"Hi......thanks for responding, personally, to my post on INTERCOT.
I think the fact that even though there are recent economic problems, 
you are holding true to your word and not raising prices. Living, 
much less vacationing, has become harder due to the monetary problems 
of this country. And it's nice to know that there is a business that 
isn't 'taking advantage' of the customer.
I look forward to using your business. I've only been to your website 
once or twice,....and I didn't 'investigate in depth'...but I plan on 
doing that this week.
Thanks so much for writing. It meant a lot ----

Carolee"

INTERCOT is an unofficial Disney fan site with discussion forums.  I responded to a question about whether we'd be raising prices like this:

"There are no plans to raise prices. We've been operating a little over a year and while we didn't quite anticipate that diesel would be the price that it is, we built our plan around leaving our prices at the current level for several years.

We're in this business for the long term and while we want to earn an adequate return, we want to have long term happy Members and we always want to treat people the way we would like to be treated.
John"

And here's my response to Carolee's e-mail:

"Thanks for asking your question on the INTERCOT forums and thanks so much for your very kind e-mail!!  You're right...there is so much hassle out there these days, we just want to help cut back on it.  It seems that so few people are as interested in keeping your business as they are in getting your business.  And, to be honest, that's one of the reasons we started Owner's Locker.  I spent most of my career working for a company that constantly looked for ways to raise prices. We certainly want to make a living, but we'd rather use the airline turmoil as a selling point for our service instead of an excuse to raise prices."

This bit of back and forth traffic is not really earth-shattering but it does give you an idea of what makes us tick at Owner's Locker.

JDVM

ww.ownerslocker.com

Posted by JDVM at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Savvy visitors to Orlando have been enjoying the convenience of a service called Owner's Locker that allows them to store their personal items on site between visits rather than hauling them back and forth.

Recent moves by the airlines, including the announcement by American Airlines that it will begin charging for all checked bags, means that using the Owner's Locker service is not just a convenient way to have personal items on hand when visiting Orlando. 

Owner's Locker has become an extremely effective way to avoid the hassle and cost of dealing with luggage on airplanes.

Owner's Locker Members purchase a Locker for their vacation items; it's picked up from their resort when they leave and stored in a climate controlled warehouse until their next trip when it is waiting at the front desk when the Member checks back in to any one of over 200 resorts in Orlando.  There's a one-time fee of $75 for the Locker and the initial delivery and pickup and then it's $99 per year for storage and one free delivery/pickup per year.  And, best of all, there's no weight limit on what you can store in your Locker.

Owner's Locker-the purple place for storing your vacation stuff.

www.ownerslocker.com

Judy Wiley, Fort Worth Texas Star-Telegram Travel Editor wrote an article about what people could do avoid luggage charges and had this to say about Owner's Locker:

- Owner's Locker would probably save money in the long run for frequent travelers to Orlando. The service lets you fill a locker with the items you need on every trip, delivers it to any of more than 200 hotels in Orlando, then picks it up after you leave. While it's wildly convenient, it won't save you money if you don't travel often to Orlando. The initial set-up fee is $75 for the locker and the first delivery and pickup. Then, the basic service starts at $99 a year -- that's for climate-controlled storage and one delivery/pickup a year.
See www.ownerslocker.com for details.

you can read the entire article here.

Posted by JDVM at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

But really, his name is Rob and to say that he has been a good friend of Owner's Locker (and mine) is an understatement. I mentioned Rob's role in our Beta Trial in an earlier post. Not only was he instrumental in making our initial splash, he has also helped us develop an excellent partnership with The DIS. He's always been a phone call or an e-mail away whenever I've needed advice. And he has made himself available on many of his frequent trips to Orlando. Like the morning last week when he joined me in making the delivery rounds at several resorts. Here we are outside of Disney's Old Key West Resort about to head out.

And, boy did we have a great conversation. Rob doesn't own a part of Owner's Locker but I feel like he's one of our directors. Someone I can turn to for advice on where Owner's Locker should go. Rob and his wife Liz own a total of 29 weeks of vacation clubs, timeshares and fractionals. Is he an expert on this market or what? I love bouncing ideas off of Rob. And he's not shy in telling me what he thinks. And he even wears an Owner's Locker t-shirt when he rides shotgun in the purple van.

Brian and I have really been lucky to have so many people be generous with their ideas and support. It doesn't get any better than Rob.

Thanks, Doc!!

JDVM
www.ownerslocker.com

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The other morning on the way to school with my girls, I mentioned that I wouldn't be home for dinner that evening.  One of my twins rolled her eyes and said, "now what?"  

I explained that Brian and I had sent e-mails to all of our Members who were going to be in town asking them to stop by for a glass of wine at the kiosk outside of the France pavillion in EPCOT.  The other twin commented that she had never heard of a company doing so many different things to get established.  She's right, I guess.  But the funny thing is that the kids only hear about the ideas that actually make it to reality.  I don't mention the ones that get shot down!  Ask Brian some time about some of the crazy ideas I've come up with that never see the light of day!

Anyway, we thought we try the glass of wine at France idea since, as a web based business, we rarely get to meet our Members.

So, we hoped some of our Members would stop by and introduce themselves and have a glass of wine.  I was there from 7:30 until when Illuminations started.  I figured that even if I wound up standing there by myself, at least I was at the wine kiosk.

Well, it turned out to be a blast.  Julie and CY, from Seattle had just gotten their Locker the night before for the first time.  She was all excited and CY was wondering what all of the fuss was about.  Gee, where have we heard that before????

Pam and Tom are some of our original Beta Trial Members and have been to Orlando more than either of us can count.

New Members John and Theresa also stopped by.  They joined last December and this was their second trip using Owner's Locker.  Using Owner's Locker was John's idea.  He was the early adopter and Theresa was the skeptic.  While we were chatting, a group of folks in town for a convention stopped by to hear what all of the fuss was about.  I described Owner's Locker, offered to give them a brochure, but they said, "no thanks."

Interestingly, they came back 10 minutes later and asked for brochures. Hmmmmm.

Pretty soon, some more purple T-shirts rolled up.  Laura and her husband Dave, Marilyn and Millie and her husband, Ken (you'll have to trust me that he's on the other end of the glass of red wine on the right!)

What a good idea.  We saw some old friends; met new Members for the first time and got a group of passers by thinking about Owner's Locker.  I think we'll do it again.

I really enjoyed telling my twins that it was a good idea!

JDVM

www.ownerslocker.com

Posted by JDVM at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you missed them, you can read the Prologue to this tale as well as Chapter 1 by clicking on the purple links.

The Miller’s plane touched down at Orlando international Airport at 9:15 am and, ironically, the Talbot’s plane had already pulled up at the gate and they were making their way out of the plane. Tom and Susan Miller had discussed whether to use Disney’s Magical Express and decided they’d rather have a rental car for flexibility.

The Talbot’s had signed up for Disney’s free ride to the resorts but were in a quandary. They were so late checking in that they had no idea whether their luggage even made it on the plane. And, they needed to do a major Target run to stock up on the items they’d need for the trip and replace a lot of the things like swim goggles that they couldn’t find in their rush to pack. So they would need a rental car as well.

It was the best of times…

There’s nothing like seeing the palm trees and smelling the smell of Florida. The Millers—and especially their daughters—had huge smiles on their faces as they strolled off their flight from Chicago. The Orlando airport just says “welcome” when you walk into it. They strolled right past Baggage Claim B since all they had were their carry-on bags and walked across the road to one of the rental agencies that had cars right at the airport. Tom could be frugal and he knew he could get save some money on a cheaper rental car but vacation time was precious and he really didn’t want to deal with shuttles or long lines to get a car. So he had a rental car where all he had to do was show his license as they pulled out of the parking garage. The twins flipped a coin to see who would choose the color of their rental car.

In 10 minutes they were heading out of the airport and 40 minutes later they pulled up at Disney’s Beach Club Villas. It was so nice not to have to stop and buy all of the things they would need for their stay. Being able to go straight to the resort was heaven. There were lots of good aspects about having an Owner’s Locker and not having to spend an hour in a K-Mart as soon as they arrived was one of them. Their room wasn’t ready but that didn’t matter. The front desk staff mentioned that a package had arrived for them (the gifts for the twins Susan had shipped to the resort) as had their purple Locker. They got a card with a number to phone to see when their room would be available and left their carry-ons with bell services. Even though they knew it would be crowded, the twins wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom so off they went. They woke up in Chicago and were in a park before noon. Not bad at all. They got fast passes for Space Mountain and headed over to see the enhancements made to the Haunted Mansion.

It was the worst of times…

Janice Talbot was in a major panic worrying about their luggage. She and Chris had argued about whether they should leave the special yellow Disney luggage tags on since they were now going to be renting a car. Would Disney transport their luggage if they didn’t ride on the Magical Express bus? Chris assured her that they would. But they still had wait in Baggage Claim A, though. Jet Blue had refused to allow them more than one carry on so there were two pieces of luggage that needed to be collected before they could leave. It could have been worse, Janice mused. United and U.S. Air were now charging for extra checked bags. But since they would need to rent a car, it didn’t really matter that they had to wait for some luggage. Chris headed down one level to rent a car.

Not much else had gone right, so Chris Talbot wasn’t surprised at the long lines at the rental car counters. Of course, if he had known he needed to rent a car, he could have reserved one in advance. And if they didn’t have so darned much luggage, they wouldn’t have needed the extra taxi to the airport. And if they didn’t try to carry too many items on the plane, they wouldn’t have had to check extra pieces at the gate. And if they were able to find all of the things they only use while in Orlando, they would need to make a special trip to replace them once they arrived. Which meant they probably wouldn’t have needed a rental car in the first place. Which I guess is what makes this tale interesting. It certainly seemed like the worst of times for the Talbots.

The Talbots woke up that morning on Long Island and were just about to leave the Orlando airport at noon. I guess it was better than driving all the way from New York. Chris finally got a car rented, they hauled all of their luggage down to the rental car shuttle bus, loaded it on the bus, then off the bus and crammed it into the minivan they rented and headed for Walt Disney World. The kids were anxious to get to a park and were arguing over whether they would go to Animal Kingdom first or EPCOT. Chris and Janice just wanted to get to their resort….but unfortunately they needed to make a couple of stops first.

It crossed Janice’s mind to mention to Chris that none of this mess would have happened if he had been more receptive to the idea of using Owner’s Locker. But she thought better of it. Chris was not in a very good mood anyway and it was better to let him come to that conclusion on his own. Maybe one day he would.

JDVM
www.ownerslocker.com

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