Over the past few months, we have seen how the storage industry is a great example of where adaptability is strong. All over the world, you see portable storage solutions being used in their normal, useful ways: in people’s yards for home construction, in driveways for on-site storage or relocation, at worksites for equipment storage, at homes damaged by water, fire or mold, and as either relocatable self-storage units or portable storage containers. But portables have become so much more, and people are getting creative with how they use them! Self-storage operators, for example, are keen on using portables at their facilities to fill unused space, and with the new COVID-19 challenges, needs and requirements, it is increasingly easy to see why these storage solutions can bring ease of mind with online booking and payment, contact-free delivery, and cleaning in-between customers.
Contactless Transactions
With online booking, delivery and relocation of portables, for example, there’s little-to-no contact with anyone else. These easy, no-hassle transactions have become very desirable. Customers can conveniently set up and pay for service online, pack their own belongings individually into a portable unit that is delivered directly to their home, and have it picked up and delivered to its new location. The customer may also choose to bring their belongings to a self-storage facility to store inside of a drive-up, relocatable storage unit. Of course, each storage option has been cleaned and sanitized in-between customers.
Steel Construction and Ultra Secure Locks
Portables are safe, secure, flexible, and customers can make them exclusively their own. Plus, they are fully customizable with many features modified to personal specifications and can be moved where needed and placed almost anywhere — including locations away from other people. With updated, secure locking systems, portables are safe and free from contamination, and only your customer will have access to it. Relocatable self-storage units and portable storage containers are constructed from steel and withstand moisture, temperature fluctuations, and other outdoor elements and will typically have vents for airflow and interior anti-condensation coating. Steel is easy to sanitize and can withstand strong disinfectants, providing a clean, safe, secure and weatherproof unit where belongings can be assessed, organized or stowed. Also, the flooring in relocatable self-storage units and portable containers is typically made of easy-to-clean, durable materials.
Innovative Storage
Like pop-up shops and co-working spaces that have been created as a sign-of-the-times, portables are quickly becoming the new out-of-the-box (or, inside the box) way to adapt. These containers can fit equipment and features of a medical facility to address urgent needs within our communities as temperature checkpoint stations, drive-thru testing stations, and morgue/mortuary overflow. Relocatable self-storage units and portable storage containers turned into temporary facilities and treatment rooms are can be placed where they are needed most.
Extra Useable/Workable Space
Businesses and medical facilities have a surplus of cleaning supplies and precautionary materials, and they need somewhere to put it all. It’s a good idea to store cleaning products and extra equipment in portables to keep them out of the way, and out of reach of children. College students are looking for where to keep their belongings for a COVID gap-year or altered living arrangement, and with more and more people working from home, there’s definitely an increased demand for portable offices and meeting spaces. Restaurants, schools, and businesses have to create more room within their existing spaces to meet the CDC requirements, so they need to store unused equipment and furniture. Portable storage containers have all that covered!
The demand for extra storage space is clear — all the extra equipment from offices, schools and daycare facilities needs to go somewhere to make room for the mandated space in-between people. Now, we are also seeing a huge need for extra useable/workable space. Schools and daycare facilities are looking for additional space, portable classrooms, businesses need more room for meetings, employees are working from home and need portable offices, and medical facilities are running out of area and could use additional testing sites and patient rooms. The list goes on… So, while we are in this state of change, our industry is going with the flow.
