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Portable shelter in PODS a snug fit

The units will sleep four and have the amenities of a home.

By Scott Barancik, Times Staff Writer
Published July 4, 2007

If you've ever lugged your furniture into a PODS portable container and thought "Gee, I could live in here," now may be your chance.

Clearwater-based PODS Inc. plans to unveil a prototype shelter this month that can sleep up to four people for 30 days at a time. Equipped with a working bathroom, kitchenette, bunk beds and an air conditioning unit, the portable shelters will be marketed primarily to emergency agencies, insurance companies and other entities that send personnel to respond to natural disasters.

Just in time for Florida's hurricane season.

"This is nicer than where I lived at college," PODS spokeswoman Susan Green said Tuesday. "It has kitchen cabinets and everything."

To be sure, it's a snug fit. The PODS shelter employs the same dimensions as a regular PODS - 16 feet long by 8 feet wide, or 128 square feet in total. Co-workers with a history of conflict may want to opt for separate rooms at the nearest Best Western.

But the prototype has all the essentials, including a separate bathroom with toilet and shower, and a kitchen with microwave, refrigerator and sink. Three of the beds pull down from the wall, while a table converts to a fourth. The shelter can run on conventional power or a generator.

It's not the first time PODS Inc. has tried to revolutionize an industry. When former Largo firefighter Peter Warhurst founded the company a decade ago, temporary storage options were few. A family that wanted to remove furniture during a home renovation had little choice but to cart it to an off-site storage facility. A small business that was moving to a new location could either call a professional mover or rent a U-Haul truck.

Today, nearly 120, 000 PODS containers across the United States, Canada and Australia sit in family driveways, on construction sites or atop highway-bound PODS trucks. A legion of competitors have since emerged to grab a piece of the company's market share.

The company recently announced another innovation: a container that folds down to just 18 inches high. Green said the new model will be perfect for trans-Atlantic voyages; Europe is the next market on PODS' hit list.

Green did not disclose how much it will cost to buy or rent the new PODS shelter. That information is expected to be revealed at PODS headquarters July 25 during an invitation-only unveiling of the prototype.

Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

[Last modified July 3, 2007, 23:07:36]