WHAT IS SELF STORAGE ?

Self Storage

Traditionally, should you wish to store any of your personal belongings away from your home, an operator of a warehouse would receive them and place them in the warehouse, possibly in wooden containers know as lift vans. Your items would be loaded in these lift vans and the lift vans would then be nailed shut.

These are designed to be moveable by forklift, and the warehouse operator would place them in a location within the warehouse and track that location, in case retrieval was required. The liftvans are also designed to be stacked on top of each other, and usually a few deep. This is done to maximise the use of the available space by reducing the number of aisles. This means that your belongings may be moved from time to in order for the operator to access other lift vans in the warehouse.

Self Storage

Traditionally, should you wish to store any of your personal belongings away from your home, an operator of a warehouse would receive them and place them in the warehouse, possibly in wooden containers know as lift vans. Your items would be loaded in these lift vans and the lift vans would then be nailed shut.

These are designed to be moveable by forklift, and the warehouse operator would place them in a location within the warehouse and track that location, in case retrieval was required. The liftvans are also designed to be stacked on top of each other, and usually a few deep. This is done to maximise the use of the available space by reducing the number of aisles. This means that your belongings may be moved from time to in order for the operator to access other lift vans in the warehouse.

One of the biggest problems here, is that you would only have access to your own possessions, during the operating hours of the warehouse. You would have to make an appointment to visit, so the operator could have manpower and equipment available to retrieve your belongings. There would also be a sizeable cost for this, even if you only wanted to retrieve a single item from your liftvan.

The Self storage industry is an industry which rents individual storage containers or units, within a facility, to customers for any period of time. These are usually permanent structures, and cannot be moved.

These storage units are, essentially, extensions of the storeroom or storage areas in your home and can be used for both your personal and family belongings. You would padlock the storage unit yourself and you would retain complete control over your unit and belongings. No one else, including the facility operator, will have access.

In most cases, the storage facility is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through some form of electronic screening like entry cards or Personal Identification Numbers. This means that there would be no restriction as to when you can access your belongings, and there would, also, be no cost involved.

There is, therefore, a much higher level of security and safety, as no one is able to access your personal storage unit, and or move your storage container.

These storage units can also be used for businesses who may need offsite storage facilities, and this is especially true with the rising costs of rents for commercial properties. More and more companies are downsizing their office space due to cost and moving non-essentials offsite. Companies may use this offsite space for storing non-current documents which they are required to retain for legal reasons, or for keeping inventory prior to delivery, or even for equipment and furniture which they are not presently using but may in future.