What Can You Use Self Storage Units For?

What Can You Use Self Storage Units For?

Self Storage units seem to be all about one thing – keeping things that you have no space for in your own home. However, is that really all self storage units are good for? After all, what self storage companies do is provide a space to people. It’s advertised in a way to give people ideas of what to keep within the four walls and security of the warehouses, but we’d like to show you that there’s more that you can do!

Keep Things

It would not be a self storage unit if you didn’t use it to (guess what?!) STORE THINGS! Yes! But besides the commonly kept clothes and books and documents, did you know that we have all sorts of other amazing things that have come through our hallways? We’ve had customers that have stored boats and vintage bikes and all sorts of interesting and rare items. In fact, a small handful of our units are being used to store vast collections too!

If you follow docu-dramas on the television, you may have heard of Storage Wars and Auction hunters. The premise of the show is that when people miss payments on their self storage units, the items within are auctioned away to the highest bidder after the grace period for late payments are up. Not to give away any spoilers to the show, but you’d really be shocked at what weird and fantastic things some people have kept in their self storage units!

Make-shift music studio

Our self storage unit spaces are also good for budding musicians. Generally in the self storage warehouse, we’ve got quiet surroundings as we rarely see customers coming by to pick up their items directly at our facility. The acoustics of a container are wonderful for holding a jam session or practice session with your friends so that you can get your group ready for a musical performance

Make-shift office space

For the same reason that the self storage unit makes a good music studio, it is true also for business owners too! if you have a small headcount or work as a sole proprietor of a business. The serenity helps you to concentrate on what you need to do with daily operations and it makes a perfect environment for doing work. Of course we would advise that you check with the self storage managers to allocate you to a quiet corner away from those budding musicians we were just talking about.

Exercise and Equipment Hold

There are a lot of community exercise groups springing up, least of all is the Cross Fit phenomenon that has groups of people congregating to egg each other on and keep exercising and staying fit. Many a times, these fitness groups combine their resources to take rent out on a space to exercise and also the exercise equipment and paraphernalia that they use (such as weight, medicine balls, mats, etc). The larger self storage units are perfect solutions to the dilemma of finding that exercise space for groups like these.

Super Cheap Self Storage Sydney doesn’t offer storage in fixed units, ours are portable units. Providing solutions for people in need of storage is what we do best.

Things You Need To Know About Self Storage

Things You Need To Know About Self Storage

What is up with the self storage industry these days? What are all these new services that are being added on and are they really of any use to me? In the good old days, people were absolutely contented with how their traditional self storage companies were serving them. Why did things have to go and change?

The “old school” of self storage used to be able to provide a pretty fantastic way of doing things, people were just interested in getting their things moved out into a safe and secure space and that is exactly what the big companies of the days of yore would provide. Now, self storage companies are starting to step it up and provide you lots of add-on services to make things that much simpler for you! We highlight them here…

Packing and Loading Services

Perhaps the biggest hassle with moving things into a self storage unit is having to lug things around, especially if you’ve got big and bulky items like an old refrigerator or even a worn out couch. Not everybody has the muscle power and headcount to carry all these things out of their house and to the storage warehouses, so self storage companies have gathered teams that are able to help you “move in” to your storage unit with their help!

Climate Control

Some items going into storage can be quite valuable. In our experience, we have customers that sometimes keep art and good quality wine in their storage units. Some people even keep their winter clothes or costumes inside the self storage units and are worried about what the weather and environment may do to their things if they were kept inside the unit for a long period of time. Climate Controlled units will be able to help regulate temperatures and will help to minimise if not eliminate the impact of humidity and microorganisms on the items within.

Insurance

Instead of having to source for external vendors for insurance some self storage companies have started underwriting their own insurance plans. This is so important for the worried self storage renter who wonders if his items will be safe, not only for the period of storage, but throughout the transit and loading to get their items there! Providing in-house insurance is a good way for self storage companies to put a seal of reliability on their brand and let people know that they take their responsibility over the items in their care seriously!

Portability

And best feature of it all, is that with Super Cheap Self Storage in Sydney, you no longer have to worry about making a long journey to the self storage facilities, braving traffic and unfamiliar terrain. These special companies have discovered the beauty of making things convenient for their customers and have undertaken the job of traveling themselves! It’s a great boon to all the customers who are short on time and are worried about how they’re going to get the right vehicle to make the trip with all their things! With this feature, you can make use of self storage units right from your doorstep!

And if you’ve thought that you’ve seen it all, we’ll have you know that the industry keeps evolving! Every day, the self storage companies are thinking up better ways to serve their customers and to bring the benefit self storage to average man in a simpler way. And Super Cheap Self Storage is no different! We offer the above at our facilities all across Australia and hope to make it easy for you to make use of our self storage services too!

Ten Reasons Why One Needs To Consider Self Storage

Ten Reasons Why One Needs To Consider Self Storage

More and more individuals and families are getting self storage. Gone are the days when self storage is equated to unnecessary spending. Nowadays, people realize the need for storage in their lives. Here are 10 of the many reasons why people get self storage:

1)    Limited space at home for regular daily items

If you have some items at home that you would need from time to time, even if these daily items, you might need to consider temporary self storage. Items like gardening tools, or even furniture that you would only use when family members are around, etc

2)    Temporary move

If you are required to move for work for only a few months, and you would like to have your current space rented out during that period, you might want to out your personal items in a self storage facility. These are items, which can include some clothing, that you don’t want leave at home while someone is renting it out.

3)    Traveling for extended period of time

Just like a temporary move, when you are traveling for an extended period of time, you might want to rent out your space in order to pay the rent or earn some money to pay for your travel.

4)     Downsizing your home

Most of the time, you would be discarding unused pieces of furniture but there are times that you would need these later on when circumstances at home would change like reinstalling these pieces of furniture if these still fit your current home design.

5)    Renovations at home

Definitely this requires temporary self storage while you are doing renovations at home. You can’t just leave the piece sod furniture lying around and accumulating dust. You might end up damaging these  too.

6)    Storage for bulky seasonal items

Winter clothes can be bulky and take a lot of space at home. Also, you only need these once a year, hence, it is best to make some space for your regular daily items and clothing and keep winter clothing or seasonal clothing in general Ina temporary self storage facility. If these only occupy a small space, you might want to consider getting mobile pod storage.

7)    Temporary movement of family members

When family members move in temporarily with you, you might want to increase your living space and this might involve storing temporary some pieces of furniture that you or they might not need during their stay.

8)    Offsite storage for valuable items

Family heirlooms and valuables that you will need to pass to generations would need self storage especially if these need some humidity and temperature control. Most self storage facilities offer such feature, thus, it pays to know what you need and ask the provider for such service.

9)    Storage of hobby items

Winter sports can take up some space and just like winter clothing, you will only need these one e a year. Thus, it is best to get some temporary storage for such seasonal items.

10)    Storage of recreational vehicles

Jet skis, fishing boats, canoes, etc. These are just a few recreational seasonal vehicles that take up a lot of space at home, thus, you can store in an accessible self storage facility when not in use.

Technology Advances in Modern Self Storage

Technology Advances in Modern Self Storage

Most people have a pretty strong preconceived notion of what self storage options are available. However these days there are many more options then ever before, and the concept of storage has changed radically from even a decade ago. Advances in technology have allowed self storage companies to become diverse and specialised. Options for storage that were unimaginable just a few years ago are now commonplace. Allowing consumers to store items they might not have considered appropriate for storage previously.

Below we will list a few of the modern advances in the self storage industry and how they are helping consumers think of storage in a whole new way.

Climate control

Climate control technology has advanced to the point where it is not only ecologically efficient but affordable for almost every self storage customer. Previous concepts of the storage unit which is blazing hot in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter are woefully out of date. With new electronic advancements in climate control your self storage unit can be kept not only at a constant temperature but also at a controlled level of humidity. This allows storage of delicate items which you might have never considered previously. And don’t have qualms about the impact on the environment, new technology has made self storage climate control even more efficient Then environmental systems used in homes and office buildings.

Security innovations

Advances in self storage security have accrued rapidly in the past few years. Long gone are the days of relying on sturdy chain and hefty padlock alone to guarantee the security of your storage unit. Modern storage facilities utilise numerous technically advanced security systems to guarantee the safety of their customers belongings. Video surveillance has always been a core component of storage site security but advances in technology have led to more widespread monitoring, while decreases in the expense of technology allows for a greater Investment in cameras and motion detection systems. While previously only a few key areas may have been monitored by video now it is affordable for almost every section of the facility to be kept under video surveillance.

While the keyless, keypad entry system as long than a standard of self storage modern systems allow for biometric identification, and or wireless access. Many sites also employ a two-tier verification system. Tying in a cell phone notification step before granting access with matching key card. Similar systems are in place for secure access to individual units, in addition to access to the overall facility.Such radical advances in security allow customers to store expensive and important items with a sense of total security.

Storage Automation

While it seems like something out of science-fiction a prevailing trend in modern self storage is a move toward robotic automation. Many modern storage facilities now rely on automated mechanical systems to retrieve and store storage containers of almost any size. From a car down to a shoebox many facilities now offer a service where a robot takes your items to be stored from a receiving area and places it gently and automatically in a secure warehouse far from human hands. The benefit to the customer – apart from the obvious security advantages – is being able to organise and deliver items to be stored to a single central location. Instead of having to wind your way through a maze of storage units and warehouse lockers, each customer now only has to visit one area and their storage unit is brought to them.

Expanding The Sydney Storage Facility

Expanding The Sydney Storage Facility

Having been with Super Cheap Self Storage from the very beginning, there have been lots of moments for the pioneer team of us when we started out. Lots of ups and downs for sure but one of the best moments that has stuck with me vividly until now must be the moment when we moved into and signed the lease for our current facility in Sydney.

We were really excited because we had come so far from our humble beginnings and were really making a name for ourselves across Australia. Our clients loved what we were doing for them in terms of the services that we were providing and we were finally in the black – enough to upgrade our facilities and equipment and go all the way in proving to everyone what we are able to do for the self storage industry!

We have really been blessed with good patronage over the years that we have been in operation. Our clients have been very loyal, sometimes taking out a second or third storage unit for their items, and definitely without their generous referrals to their friends, we would not have been able to come as far as we have today. That being said, we were really starting to get over run with our old location and needed to source for a bigger place fast! And when we finally moved into our new premises, we were really just so excited to push forward in our work – the place just had so much capacity and it was so big!

With our new floor space, we knew we could fit in so many more of our plywood storage units, so after a quick inventory, we aggregated that we could fit in at least another 60 to 80 more storage containers and that’s because we also stack them high. We discovered that there’s just so much opportunity in being careful and frugal with the space that we have at our warehouses and even with such high density storage, we’ve been able to come up with a system that makes it efficient and effective for all our customers. With our new additional units, you’ll definitely see us pushing to maximise occupancy and make the most of this new land that we have!

Together with our new storage units, we also bought a couple of new vehicles as demands for the portable part of our services increased. The head of our transport team at that moment was a chap named Riley who lived in the outskirts of the city and he had a tough time saying goodbye to our old truck which he was exclusively driving. It was big enough to take 3 storage modules on its own and he had some good times making drop offs and deliveries with that old truck. But it was time to move on and soon enough, he fell in love with our new fleet of vehicles!

We’re really looking forward to continue expanding and sharing with more people across Australia and the world about our storage services and hope that we’ll have more of these stories about how we built this company to share with you in time to come!

Seasonal self storage more popular with homeowners.

Seasonal self storage more popular with homeowners.

These days it is not uncommon for a homeowner to maintain storage of items in a facility away from his or her home. Those people with long-term rental of storage location have found that as the seasons change so do their storage needs. Why clutter up your garage or attic seasonal only use a few times a year?

Self storage facilities see a spike in activity by customers when seasons change. In January customers will arrive with their unneeded Christmas and holiday decorations. Fake trees, boxes of ornaments and sparkly lights all locked away until the fall when they are needed again. This is also the time of year when people put into storage obsolete items they find around the house after receiving replacements as gifts over the holidays. Other people simply take advantage of sale prices in the holiday season to invest in large items such as new appliances, or furniture. All, replaced items often going to storage. People also buy things such as barbecues and lawn care equipment they will not need to use for several months — instead of keeping these things around the home people find putting them in storage units until they’re needed is the right solution.

When spring rolls around many people visit their storage space to switch their wardrobe, retrieving warm weather items which were stored in the fall and carefully putting away items which will not be needed until next winter. This is also a time of year when people will exchange sports equipment in the same manner. Why keep your snow skis in the trunk of the car when you are at least nine months away from using them again? Of course no one wants to that, or carry their golf clubs around all winter.

Storage spaces are the perfect repository for your seasonal sporting goods. This holds true into the advent of summer, when water sports become popular. Bulky items such as flotation devices can easily be stacked in an accessible location on top of heavier items without fear of damage to either item. This is also the time of year when homeowners truly appreciate the various size availabilities of storage units. After all as many people have learned it is much easier and convenient to store even watercraft such as jet skis, canoes and rowboats and even larger watercraft such as speedboats or even trawlers!

Self storage is growing in popularity as a climate controlled option for the storage of delicate machinery such as vehicles that are sensitive to changes in weather. Summer is also the time when people retrieved from storage warm weather road vehicles such as motorcycles and four-wheel-drive buggies. Why clutter your garage or backyard with vehicles better cared for in a climate controlled storage facility?

When the fall rolls around homeowners visit their storage unit again. School is starting so items for students are often hot on the list to retrieve from storage. This is doubly true for homes with children moving away to attend school. Old furniture is retrieved for the decorating of dorm rooms and off-campus apartments, luggage is brought out and dusted off for the long trip away from home. This is also the time when people put away their summer toys and retrieve their holiday ornaments. As the peak of the holiday season grows closer storage units also serve another, secretive purpose. Storage facility operators report homeowners sneakily using their units as a temporary hiding place for children’s surprise holiday presents.

Saving the world ecological diversity – a storage space more important than the rest.

Saving the world ecological diversity – a storage space more important than the rest.

The end of the last century geneticists began to raise the alarm that storage facilities for the planets biological diversity were under very real threat from ecological or sociological disaster. These various and widespread seed vaults are facilities form with the intention of protecting the Earth’s genetic plant diversity from biological or ecological disaster. In the event that an entire plant line was accidentally (or intentionally) wiped out seeds from these scientific institutions could be used to re-create entire biological gene lines. It was noted however that many of the storage facilities were exclusively regional in nature and therefore under very real threat. Should one individual facility be wiped out, the genetic plant diversity of an entire region could be lost.

A storage facility for genetic plant material that would be located in a remote location far from both ecological and political activity. A global seed backup plan if you will. The remote Norwegian island of Spitsbergen was chosen due to its near constant cold temperature perfect for the preservation of seeds in the event of a refrigeration failure. The local permafrost can keep the facility adequately chilled should the electoral system fail. The island is also highly tectonically stable, so the vault is protected from the threat of earthquakes. The remote location makes the vault easy to secure and far from any social instability or political violence. The vault itself is designed to last without human intervention for hundreds or even thousands of years. The location is 430 m above sea level, ensuring that the important seed stocks will be kept high and dry even if the global icecaps were to melt completely. Buried in the sandstone of Spitsbergen Island this important storage facility is not manned full-time by employees but rather it is monitored by robust security systems.

The storage facility was paid for and constructed by the Norwegian government but its maintenance and operation is funded through a consortium of scientific groups and charitable organizations. Most notably a large endowment from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation helps to keep the facility running. Not that there is any threat of funding shortfalls due to scientific indifference. In fact the seed vault is a well recognized necessity for the continued ecological well-being of the planet.

Over 770,000 seeds are secured in four ply envelopes and stored in tens of thousands of plastic containers. Seeds arrive daily from around the world but the vault itself is far from full having been designed to comfortably store the entire planets global seed diversity collection which is estimated at over 1.5 million seed samples. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault has been designed to handle 4.5 million samples in anticipation of expansion in the future.

Recognizing the global importance of the storage facility artists from around the world at contributed to the design and decoration of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault making it not only a repository for genetic samples but also an ersatz art museum in a way only 1300 km from the North Pole. The entrance to the storage facility was specially designed to reflect and mimic the unique lighting conditions of this far north location. During long periods of darkness it is illuminated by thousands of fiber optic lights while in the long days of summer the reflective materials used to construct and decorate the entrance sparkle in the Arctic sunshine.

Large corporations are seeing the benefit of temporary self storage.

Large corporations are seeing the benefit of temporary self storage.

When people think about temporary self storage there is always an understandable tendency to think the service is mainly used by families and individuals for the storage of household items. In fact modern trends in storage point to a growing utilization of self storage facilities by businesses and corporations both large and small.

Storage companies are beginning to see an appreciation by larger corporations of the many high quality benefits self storage provides. Corporations around the world have begun to form contractual agreements with a variety of self storage companies for both large and small spaces as well as long and short-term storage periods.

Unlike individual consumers and corporations may have interests in multiple cities around the globe by forming contractual partnerships with large self storage networks or even individual self storage facilities makes for a good long-term economic sense. By being able to guarantee the economic reliability of on-time payments or in many cases upfront fulfillment of contractual obligations corporations and take advantage of special offers and discounts offered by self storage facilities.

With the flexibility of contracted self storage a corporation can take advantage of storage options in a variety of locations either near or far to their business interests. Some corporations use contracted self storage solely for the benefit of their employees. A globe spanning company may be required to relocate employees across the country or even across the world. In order to spare their employees the convenience of having to arrange their own storage and moving expenses corporations frequently they in-house contracts with storage and moving companies. Employees of modern corporations at home to expect some benefits to be included with employment that involves frequent travel.

Being able to provide an employee who travels to many different locations frequently the ability to store not only personal items, but business materials as well will ultimately save the company money in innumerable ways. It not only saves time for the employee, therefore translating into savings expense for the company it also reduces the requirement to ship materials frequently to different locations. These storage facility can also serve a multi-use purpose as it is under contractual agreement to the Corporation, not the individual employee. This means that while the self storage unit may continue to be of use to the individual traveling employee, employees who work local to this self storage facility and also utilize the space.

Businesses around the world have long recognized the many advantages of temporary self storage. The secure, climate controlled location that is off site for your business means less commercial real estate required. Excess inventory, temporary marketing materials, or not in use seasonal items do not need to be stored in a company maintained storage facility when a long-term contractual rental of temporary self storage insert the same purpose at a much reduced expense. These same benefits can be enjoyed by a large corporation. Even a corporation that does not have an office in the area near the self storage facility. If employees frequently travel to certain locations where a corporation does not have a permanent operating facility temporary self storage can serve as a holding facility for corporate materials and inventory that only needs to be accessed infrequently. This allows employees to travel with less expense, not having to pay extra for freight shipment on commercial air travel.

Subtropolis offers more storage space than you could ever need!

Subtropolis offers more storage space than you could ever need!

Hundreds of feet below suburban Kansas City lies “the world’s largest underground business storage facility” or as it’s more commonly known, Subtropolis. A former limestone mine that has been excavated to open an underground space of 55,000,000 ft.² Subtropolis has been on offer for storage and business use since the 1940s. The weatherproof storage facility has a constant climate of dry and temperate weather perfect for long-term storage of everything from green coffee beans (the only facility of its kind in the United States) to fleets of vehicles as large as tractor-trailers and double-decker buses. Clients include the US Postal Service which stores it’s collection of millions of stamps and major film studios, who use the climate controlled storage to preserve classic films in their original format.

With over 1000 acres of storage space Subtropolis is far from full. Huge pillars of limestone support the many tons of rock that serve as the facilities roof. By constructing walls between pillars rooms are formed for individual clients. Some clients have installed underground factories and production lines for which the facility provides uninterruptible power service. It is hard to fathom the two sides of this massive storage facility. It only comes into perspective when you consider that the site has 2 miles of railroad tracks serving it and 6 miles of underground roadways. Despite having dozens of clients taking up hundreds of acres of space Subtropolis still has massive areas yet to be developed.

And of course you can’t beat an underground vault for storage security. With 24 hour video surveillance and walls hundreds of feet thick it is the perfect place to squirrel away your most precious possessions. The entire facility is also protected by a state of the art fire suppression systems and serviced by a 24 hour maintenance crew. While the company is reluctant to give any details you can rest assured that many of these hard to access and well protected secure storage spaces are used for holding valuable items in a place offering the greatest peace of mind.

It’s not just storage safety that attracts customers, but it is the location nearly in the center of the contiguous United States that appeals to many businesses looking to Keep large amounts of inventory close at hand. Proximity to major freeways and an international airport make this location a perfect choice for even international corporations with large storage needs.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect of keeping inventory or running a business out of Subtropolis is the low level of environmental impact it creates. Not only do businesses not need to create extra ways for the production of construction materials required for a normal business storage facility, the constant temperature and humidity means no large overhead costs for heating and cooling or humidity control. Workers employed by businesses in Subtropolis seem to greatly appreciate this predictability in internal weather. By being able to drive from home straight into the business facility workers never have to worry about getting wet in the rain or freezing In the dead of winter on that long walk from the car to the office.

Keeping your Items Safe in Storage

Keeping your Items Safe in Storage

There’s something to be said about having your items located in a different location from where you are. Most people prefer to keep their belongings close to their person or within their own property. Such is the nature of having possessions and probably what drove people to need to own their own houses – so they could keep things that belonged only to them within.

Moving your things out to storage takes a great deal of trust. Trust in the Storage Company and the reliability of their services to keep your things away from harm and secure from other less scrupulous people.

So what should you look for when you’ve made that decision to entrust your items to someone else, some place that may not be exactly within arm’s reach? We’d like to highlight some basic requirements and precautions that the storage company you’re looking at should take.

First things first is to have a look-see around the storage facility and warehouse. Ask to view the storage area for existing container contracts so that you can assess the environment for cleanliness and to generally see how dry the surrounding areas are. Because it may be a difficult gauge – not being able to see inside other people’s containers, do check with the staff about climate control options and any extra precautions they are taking to help your items stay fresh over the years.

The facility should also be well staffed, with security guys most importantly. Security monitoring or on hand staff lessen the chances of unwanted thieves and other opportunists skulking around. There are some Storage Units which are located further out in the boonies and these might be a bit more susceptible to theft despite the remote location. This is due to the fact that people take it for granted that the facilities need to be monitored even out in the suburbs.

Your Storage unit should also have some isolated form of protection. Latch, lock and key are all good ideas to have to ensure that there is a final line of defense between the outside and your items within.

On the off-chance that the storage company doesn’t provide these reassurances, but you still choose to go with them for whatever reasons such as location or personal relationship with the business owner that will increase your confidence levels in their service, you can always take some precautions on your own.

One thing you can look at are moisture absorbers. If there aren’t precautions taken for climate control, then you can make sure that there are some moisture absorbers packed with your items that are more susceptible to moisture and mildew. This would include items like upholstery and other textiles. Just make sure that you have sufficient access to your items so that you can replace the absorbers within the storage unit every once in a while and keep the interior environment fresh.

Play smart! Don’t put your heirlooms and priceless items in there! If you are guaranteed by insurance and have an adequate security plan at the storage facility then by all means, but we still wouldn’t advice it. Some things just are irreplaceable and there are proper places to keep the items which run into the thousands and hundreds of thousands. Pick a bank for these and please continue to make sure that your items are insured.