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Old 04-11-2009, 12:33 AM   #21
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for whatever reason, it does seem to be that it is unreasonably hard to find a suitable company to rent these things from - even here in commercial ridden southern california, my friends and i had a much harder time than we imagined trying to rent the darn jumper.

so i think you're def ahead of the curve. another idea, the local farmer's market always had at least two jumpies (and the co had huge signs) and issued tickets for one turn in each jumpy - which was eq to one slide down the big slide and prob 5 or so minutes jumping with dozens of kids waiting in line and going back for more...every weekend. good publicity and lots some income too.

have you looked into the waivers that pump it up has parents sign before entering? whatever the liabilities, they seem to have it figured out. a recent party we atternded did have a sprained knee, bloody nose and a few bumped heads from the jumpy...

i'd be more worried with the proper care, cleaning and storage of these things. a friend had a water slide version (massive not like one you'd buy for personal use at target or even costco) and i wondered how they would get the thing dry enough to fold back up and store without a bunch of mold?

only down side is that you and your wife have just signed away all your weekends for family time? well, at least the morning drop off and nite pick up parts...
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Old 04-11-2009, 08:56 AM   #22
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How do you get the air out? I even struggle with my inflatable kayak, rolling around on it trying to squeeze out the air. I have this image of The Fed Family rolling around on top of the bouncer as the air slow leaks out.
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Old 04-11-2009, 09:27 AM   #23
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There are vents in the thing that allow air to escape quickly. So quickly in fact that the blower is on all the time just to keep it inflated. If the blower gets unplugged, the thing deflates and falls down within seconds.....at least it did with the one I rented a while a while back.
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Old 05-18-2009, 07:21 PM   #24
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UPDATE:

She now has 70 bookings...signed 5 today alone. Just got credit card machine up and running...90% of customers pay by cc which allows us to put a security deposit 'hold' on the card.

We have 4 bouncers, 1 slide, and 1 40 ft slip n slide!

This is AMAZING to me. Seems like we already found our niche. And next year, even if we get a dismal 20% return customer rate, we are going to be jumpin' (no pun intended)

And at this point, our advertising is actually bottlenecked (google pay ads) because we dont have enough bouncers to keep up with demand...imagine when we let it loose! Or when we set some up on a main road with signs. Or when we start to do fairs/festivals. etc etc LOTS of potential here....
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Old 05-18-2009, 10:29 PM   #25
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Hopefully you have this in an LLC to firewall the liability from your personal assets. Not entirelly bullet proof but it does provide a barrier through which someone would have to penetrate in a court case to make a claim.
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Old 05-19-2009, 09:24 AM   #26
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Fed that is so great! I'm very happy for you.

You could do a full package deal - mow their lawns upon pick up and clean out their ducts too?
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Old 05-20-2009, 09:56 AM   #27
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Fed that is so great! I'm very happy for you.

You could do a full package deal - mow their lawns upon pick up and clean out their ducts too?
yeah, a "Party Package", cut the lawn, trim the grass, and set up the inflatables, for ONE price.........
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Old 05-20-2009, 09:58 AM   #28
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Old 05-21-2009, 10:12 AM   #29
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Congrats... I thought of you when I saw an inflatable playset at costco recently. The cost was just a little bit higher than what I'd expect the rental to cost.
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Old 05-21-2009, 08:58 PM   #30
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Congrats... I thought of you when I saw an inflatable playset at costco recently. The cost was just a little bit higher than what I'd expect the rental to cost.
It's amazing that these things are sold so cheaply. The workmanship and materials are sub-par at best, and they easily collapse when you get close to the weight limit. I thought of buying several cheap-o's from sams club, but after investigating i determined they would NOT stand up to regular use. They often dont stand up to at-home use by toddlers!

thanks for thinking about me though...i guess?!?!?
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Old 06-15-2009, 10:31 PM   #31
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Just bought a box van to haul these things around. Total investment is now above 20k
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Old 07-08-2009, 09:40 PM   #32
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wow...things are progressing at an alarming rate. we've booked 22 new reservations in the last 10 days, bringing completed and booked reservations to 130 for the year. We are looking for 38 more reservations to break even (about a 24k investment, plus labor, gas, advertising, etc etc)
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