Mobile self storage: bringing self storage to you

So you’ve rented your self storage unit in a self storage facility. Now you have to cart your stuff to your car or van, load it up, drive to the unit and unload it. Is there is an easier way? Yes! With mobile self storage your unit comes to you.

A transport solution

With classic self storage, the customer rents space in a self storage facility. The “self” part of self storage is a significant part of the definition: you do the loading, unloading and the stacking ‒ and you have access to your possessions while it is in storage.

With mobile self storage, your storage company sends a storage container to your address on a trailer, and parks it outside your house so you can load it there. Then the company comes back and carts the full container off to its storage facility ‒ where you can still visit your possessions, in their container, as in any other self storage facility.

You may find, however, the interior of the mobile self storage facility is not quite the same as that of the typical purpose-built one: instead of corridors of units, with their metal roller-doors, the mobile storage containers are often stacked one on top of the other (using fork-lift trucks) in a large warehouse. For this reason, visiting your container may require 24-hours’ notice, so the company can fish it out and place it in an access zone before you arrive.

When you want your possessions back, the self storage company will load your container onto a trailer again, and transport it back to your house ‒ or to your new address.

In effect, mobile self storage brings transport – a key area of traditional self storage – one step closer to the customer.

“You Load, We Collect”

Kelly’s Self Storage, one of the first to introduce mobile self storage in the UK, has a service called “You Load, We Collect”, which neatly sums up the process.

They also offer “We Load, We Collect” ‒ so you can get them to load your container for you, in the same way as a removals company might load their van.

And they do “Store At Home”: they bring the container and leave it with you for as long as you want it ‒ useful, for instance, if you are refitting a kitchen, and have the space for a container in the garden.

Kelly’s operates self storage facilities in Guildford (where the company was founded in 1937), East London, St Albans and Haydock (near Liverpool and Manchester). Their “collection areas” form rings around these centres, effectively covering most of southeast England, and the Liverpool/Manchester region.

Their weatherproof self storage units have a floorplan of 35 sq ft, and full-height ones are 7’6” tall (7’6” x 7’ x 5’), producing about the same loading space, they say, as that of a transit van ‒ which should be big enough for the contents of a lightly furnished bedroom.

Flexible self storage and PODs

Another company that provides a similar self storage service is called Flexistore. A franchise business established in 2002, it now has centres in Aberdeen, Blackpool, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lancaster, London, Manchester, Paisley and Preston.

Flexistore’s “mobile storage vaults” are virtually the same size as Kelly’s ‒ but six inches taller.

A further company in this field has arrived in the UK from the USA: called PODS, and originally founded in 1998, it provides bigger containers than either Kelly’s or Flexistore. One size has a footprint of 96 sq ft (8’ x 12’ x 8’), and another 128 sq ft (8’ x 16’ x 8’). Needless to say; these larger sizes demand a more substantial flat-bed truck to ship them around on.

PODS has storage facilities at Leeds and Manchester, and is due to open two further sites, at Liverpool and London, soon.

One Response to “Mobile self storage: bringing self storage to you”

1. Alan Stephenson says:

   February 23, 2011 at 10:05 pm

   Hi Antony
   Good description of the Mobile Self Storage system. There are many advantages of this system as generally speaking the operators are established removers and as such have a wealth of experience in the sector, and as such are well positioned to offer additional services that customers may find useful. For example on our trailers we have a ‘mini bar’ which is an up selling opportunity and a valuable service for customers. In addition to this throughout the group http://www.simplystore.com has members that offer ‘Simply Store’ traditional self storage sites , van hire, packing material sales, removal and shredding services.
   Although there are many advantages of the mobile self storage system over traditional self storage, it is not widely understood by the general public. This is partly due to marketing but also because self store sites are usually well positioned and are seen to be the natural choice.
   Simply Store have over 40 branches in the UK they have also opened branches abroad in places like South Africa.
   I would love to be included in your list of suppliers and I’m sure the other members would agree with me on this.
   Thanks. Alan