Self-storage box

Last updated

Self-storage boxes, also known as self-storage bins, are storage containers often rented by individuals and businesses in metropolitan areas. [1] The storage box service offers on-demand pick-up and drop-off services to storage facilities; the self storage service does not. [2]

Contents

Description

Self-storage rental bins are primarily lockable boxes made from hard plastic suitable for household goods, clothing, shoes, electronics, documents and books. They typically have a capacity of at least 80 liters and a weight limit of approximately 45 kg (100 lb). [3] [4]

The storage bins are usually picked up from the tenants' location. Some operators offer a photographic inventory of bins and tracking system using the pictures as reference; apps to view, add or request storage returns. [5] Self-storage becomes transparent with its virtual visual catalogue from which single items can be ordered back. Tenants are usually charged a fine for pickup and delivery, as well as a monthly fee for the storage at self-storage facilities. As prices for the small storage bins range between $5 and $10 per unit, they are increasingly becoming a popular storage option in both consumer and commercial applications. [6] Bloomberg News cites the dramatic increase in demand over supply as being the primary reason for the bin storage option becoming so popular in cities like New York.

Unlike traditional self-storage facilities whereby tenants actually go to the store to view their items, the self-storage industry simplifies the storage process by providing clients with more transparency and on-demand services. [7]

Challenges to traditional self-storage industry

As major cities run short of living space, self-storage boxes are now becoming a relevant service in many parts of the world. The service is particularly attractive to clients because its pick-up services save time and effort for the inhabitants of metropolitan areas such as Hong Kong, New York City, [8] London,[ citation needed ] and Berlin, but in particular in the Asian world. [9]

Business analysts continue to monitor the space closely to follow the possible intrusion into the self-storage market. [10] Key Banc identifies the major NYC startups as: RedBin, MakeSpace and Clutter. Although only RedBin keeps to the original bin storage model, the others have pivoted to offer full service moving and storage services.

Design

Storage compartments can range in size from 1 m² to 100-200 m² or more. These can be either modular containers or individual storage bays. These "storage bays" are called boxes - they are enclosed areas of sheet metal with a door.

The main differences between a service and a self-storage warehouse are:

While cloud storage services are more responsive than traditional warehousing to society's need to save time, they have a number of limitations that are unacceptable to some customers. In particular, the lack of access to belongings makes it difficult for those who need to use individual storage services on a regular basis, such as online shop owners who need access to an item after it has been sold. Traditional self-storage facilities are more suitable in such cases.

Using Shipping Containers for Storage and Moving

Preparing the Site for Your Shipping Container

Before utilizing a shipping container for storage or moving, adequate site preparation is essential. Proper ground conditions, accessibility for delivery trucks, suitable support mechanisms, and the elevation of the container from the ground are some of the critical considerations. Here are the necessary steps for site preparation:

Benefits of Using a Shipping Container for Self Storage

Shipping containers provide a robust, cost-effective, and convenient storage solution, suitable for both residential and commercial purposes. Their key advantages include:

Advantages of Using a Shipping Container for Moving

Shipping containers simplify the moving process, offering an efficient alternative to traditional methods. Their benefits for moving include:

All the above information is sourced from: [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Containerization</span> Intermodal freight transport system

Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers. Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of unitization of cargoes in exports. Containerization is the predominant form of unitization of export cargoes, as opposed to other systems such as the barge system or palletization. The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, and semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The handling system is mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked using computerized systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intermodal container</span> Standardized reusable steel box used for transporting goods

An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or cargo container, (or simply “container”) is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – such as from ships to trains to trucks – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. It is like a boxcar that does not have wheels. Based on size alone, up to 95% of intermodal containers comply with ISO standards, and can officially be called ISO containers. These containers are known by many names: freight container, sea container, ocean container, container van or sea van, sea can or C can, or MILVAN, or SEAVAN. The term CONEX (Box) is a technically incorrect carry-over usage of the name of an important predecessor of the ISO containers: the much smaller steel CONEX boxes used by the U.S. Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Package delivery</span> Type of delivery service

Package delivery or parcel delivery is the delivery of shipping containers, parcels, or high-value mail as single shipments. The service is provided by most postal systems, express mail, private courier companies, and less-than-truckload shipping carriers. Package delivery is different in each country, and how packages are delivered is closely connected with the cost for delivering to that country as well as population. In 2019, China, The United States, and Japan were the leaders in package delivery while Latvia, Macau, and Iceland were the bottom three. The population of the bottom three barely totals 2 million while the population of the top three tops totals more than 2 billion. Package delivery is an every day occurrence in the US while many other countries do not have this luxury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Box</span> Type of container

A box is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small or very large and can be used for a variety of purposes, from functional to decorative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office supplies</span> Consumables and equipment regularly used in offices

Office supplies are consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, by individuals engaged in written communications, recordkeeping or bookkeeping, janitorial and cleaning, and for storage of supplies or data. The range of items classified as office supplies varies, and typically includes small, expendable, daily use items, consumable products, small machines, higher cost equipment such as computers, as well as office furniture and art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Distribution center</span> Building stocked with goods for delivery

A distribution center for a set of products is a warehouse or other specialized building, often with refrigeration or air conditioning, which is stocked with products (goods) to be redistributed to retailers, to wholesalers, or directly to consumers. A distribution center is a principal part, the order processing element, of the entire order fulfillment process. Distribution centers are usually thought of as being demand driven. A distribution center can also be called a warehouse, a DC, a fulfillment center, a cross-dock facility, a bulk break center, and a package handling center. The name by which the distribution center is known is commonly based on the purpose of the operation. For example, a "retail distribution center" normally distributes goods to retail stores, an "order fulfillment center" commonly distributes goods directly to consumers, and a cross-dock facility stores little or no product but distributes goods to other destinations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moving company</span> Business that provides packing and moving services for relocation

A moving company, removalist or van line is a company that helps people and businesses move their goods from one place to another. Moving companies may offer additional or all-inclusive services for relocations, like packing, loading, moving, unloading, unpacking, and arranging of items to be shifted. Additional services may include cleaning services for houses, offices or warehousing facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self storage</span> Industry that rents storage space

Self storage is an industry that rents storage space, also known as "storage units," to tenants, usually on a short-term basis. Self-storage tenants include businesses and individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulk box</span> Pallet-size shipping box

A bulk box, also known as a bulk bin, skid box, pallet box, bin box, gaylord, or octabin, is a pallet-size box used for storage and shipping of bulk or packaged goods. Bulk boxes can be designed to hold many different types of items such as plastic pellets, watermelons, electronic components, and even liquids; some bulk boxes are stackable.

Evidence management is the administration and control of evidence related to an event so that it can be used to prove the circumstances of the event, and so that this proof can be tested by independent parties with confidence that the evidence provided is the evidence collected related to the event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud computing</span> Form of shared internet-based computing

Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multiple locations, each of which is a data center. Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and typically uses a pay-as-you-go model, which can help in reducing capital expenses but may also lead to unexpected operating expenses for users.

A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of international shipping trade, "container" or "shipping container" is virtually synonymous with "intermodal freight container", a container designed to be moved from one mode of transport to another without unloading and reloading.

PODS, or Portable On Demand Storage, is a moving and storage company. It was founded in 1998 and is based in Clearwater, Florida.

The Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) is a SNIA standard that specifies a protocol for self-provisioning, administering and accessing cloud storage.

Bitcasa, Inc. was an American cloud storage company founded in 2011 in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was later based in Mountain View, California until it shut down in 2017.

Mail storage is a type of on-demand self storage whereby customers send items by mail or delivery service to be stored at a central location. It may be a viable option for people who prefer 'pay-as-you-go' storage, in which only items that are stored are charged storage fees, rather than renting a larger storage unit that may not be fully utilized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpareFoot</span> American self-storage listings company

SpareFoot is an Austin-based company that provides listings for self-storage units. The company was originally a person-to-person model, similar to Airbnb, that later developed into a marketplace for self-storage. The company now facilitates self-storage rentals between consumers and storage operators. The company was profiled as one of America's Most Promising Startups by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DigitalOcean</span> American cloud infrastructure provider

DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational technology company and cloud service provider. The company is headquartered in New York City, New York, US, with 15 globally distributed data centers. DigitalOcean provides developers, startups, and SMBs with cloud infrastructure-as-a-service platforms.

Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider allocates machine resources on demand, taking care of the servers on behalf of their customers. "Serverless" is a misnomer in the sense that servers are still used by cloud service providers to execute code for developers. However, developers of serverless applications are not concerned with capacity planning, configuration, management, maintenance, fault tolerance, or scaling of containers, VMs, or physical servers. When an app is not in use, there are no computing resources allocated to the app. Pricing is based on the actual amount of resources consumed by an application. It can be a form of utility computing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omni (company)</span> American storage and rental company

Omni was an American tech-based on-demand storage and rental company based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2014 by Aaron Wiener, Adam Dexter, and CEO Tom McLeod, Omni debuted its service in Fall 2015. Initially, the company focused on storage and space-management: customers would have their items picked up by Omni, which would categorize and photograph them. When the client wanted their item back, they would request to have it dropped off by Omni, possibly at an additional fee. Omni then expanded into offering other services such as the option to lend items to friends and the ability to rent out items for profit. As of July 2018, Omni was only available in the San Francisco Bay area, but had announced plans to expand into Portland, Oregon. Omni had raised around $39 million in investment, with nearly $15 million coming from traditional sources such as venture capital firms and approximately $25 million coming in the form of Ripple.

References

  1. "TechCity Insider "SpaceWays makes room for improvement"". Techcityinsider.net. 2014-08-28. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  2. "TechCrunch "MakeSpace, A Dropbox For Real Life Storage, Launches In New York Today, Having Raised $1.3M"". TechCrunch.com. 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  3. "Reuters "Rocket Internet launches pick-up and storage business in Britain"". Reuters. 2014-07-03. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  4. "TechCrunch "Samwer Brothers' Cloning Rocket Goes to Warp Speed"". Bloomberg. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  5. Duffy, Jill (November 17, 2014). "Organize Your Stuff With These Apps and Services". PCMag. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
  6. Clark, Patrick (4 February 2016). "The Real Life Storage Wars". Bloomberg Businessweek .
  7. "TechCrunch "American Re-Urbanization Drives More On-Demand Innovation"". TechCrunch.com. 2014-12-16. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  8. "New York Times "In a Crowded City, Storage Rooms With Amenities"". The New York Times . 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  9. "Asia One "Boom in self-storage industry"". AsiaOne Business. 2015-03-02. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  10. "Self Storage:On-Demand Storage Looks to Take Space". 11 April 2016.
  11. "How to Set Up and Use a Shipping Container for Storage or Moving". 1800westoreit.com.au. Retrieved 2023-09-12.