College Students Turn a Dorm Move Gone Wrong Into RVATotes, Central Virginia’s Answer to the Cardboard Chaos

JMU and CNU students self-funded and built the reusable moving box rental company, which has grown through partnerships with local movers and Realtors

HANOVER, VA, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — When James Madison University student Hudson Williams moved out of his freshman dorm, the bottom of a cardboard box gave out while he was carrying it down a flight of stairs, and he fell. He wasn’t hurt, but he kept thinking about it. He called his friend Evan Scearce, a student at Christopher Newport University, and the two started working on a better way to move.

That idea became RVATotes, a Hanover-based company that rents reusable plastic moving totes across Richmond and Central Virginia. Williams and Scearce raised their startup funding from family and launched in spring 2026. After a strong first moving season and a five-star rating on Google, the company has continued to grow through the summer and fall.

The founders built the business themselves, including the online booking system, website, inventory operation and marketing. With both back at school in Harrisonburg and Newport News this fall, they have hired local students to handle deliveries and pickups in the Richmond area.

“I was halfway down the stairs when the bottom of the box gave out, and I went down with it,” said Williams. “I was fine, but I remember thinking there has to be a better way to do this. Nobody should be trusting their stuff, or their safety, to a cardboard box and some tape.”

“We built every piece of this ourselves, from the booking system to the inventory,” said Scearce. “Hiring local students means customers get the same service whether we’re in Richmond or on campus.”

RVATotes delivers heavy-duty, stackable totes to a customer’s door before moving day and picks them up afterward. Each tote holds up to 65 pounds and has an attached lid, so there’s no assembly and no tape. Every tote is cleaned and disinfected before each rental. Packages include at least one dolly designed to fit the totes, so customers can stack several full totes and roll them to the truck in one trip instead of carrying boxes one at a time and hoping the cardboard holds. Families moving a parent into assisted living have found that especially helpful.

Local moving companies have become one of the company’s biggest sources of business. Because the totes are a uniform size and stack securely, crews can load trucks faster and pack them tighter than they can with mixed cardboard boxes, and many movers now recommend RVATotes to their customers. Realtors use the company’s subscription program to give buyers and sellers a closing gift, and its referral program to send clients directly.

The company also handles commercial work. RVATotes recently supplied 600 totes for a single business relocation. Businesses also use the totes for moves inside the same building, such as shifting departments between floors, clearing space for renovations or reorganizing file and storage rooms.

RVATotes is not a moving company. It does not pack, load or transport belongings. Customers move themselves or hire the mover of their choice, and RVATotes supplies the totes and dollies.

Because the totes are reused from one move to the next, customers avoid buying boxes that typically get used once or twice and thrown out, along with the tape and cleanup that come with them.

Rentals run two or four weeks. Two-week packages start at $115 for a studio (15 totes) and go up to $279 for a four-bedroom home (75 totes and two dollies), with custom packages for larger residential and commercial moves. Delivery and pickup are free within 45 driving miles of Hanover, which covers Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, Glen Allen, Mechanicsville, Midlothian, Short Pump, Ashland and Petersburg. The company also serves Williamsburg, Charlottesville and Fredericksburg, with a mileage fee beyond 45 miles.

Customers can check their address and book at rvatotes.com.

About RVATotes

RVATotes is a locally owned moving box rental company based in Hanover, Virginia, founded by college students Hudson Williams (James Madison University) and Evan Scearce (Christopher Newport University). The

Kevin Williams
RVATotes
+ +1 8049660040
sales@rvatotes.com
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