Can you ship to a storage facility?
June 3, 2010 8:22 AM   Subscribe

Does this exist: a storage unit that one can ship boxes to and the staff will put the boxes in the unit for you? (Like, I don't live there yet but want to move some stuff there before I move.) If so what is this called? And do you know of any in the DC area?
posted by k8t to Home & Garden (11 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Would something P.O.D.S. this be useful? I've never tried it myself.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:30 AM on June 3, 2010


I googled "ship to storage washington dc" and got numerous hits that seem promising. There are a lot of little storage facilities with on-site management; I don't know why they couldn't handle this. I do a lot of small package shipping - UPS stores do a little bit of everything. If it's not too much stuff, you might try one of them as well.

If it's a truckload of household goods, moving companies are typically equipped to store household goods for a period of time, albeit not necessarily climate-controlled, so don't ship the records and 8-tracks. Just hire one of the nationally known companies, not the Sanford and Sons budget companies that change their "estimate" 3000% percent after they get your stuff under lock and key.
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:30 AM on June 3, 2010


Response by poster: More details:

It is probably going to be a full small storage locker. It will mostly be books.

It will be for 6-10 months.

PODs are super expensive.
posted by k8t at 8:45 AM on June 3, 2010


If it's just a small locker, could you just send it to a friend in the city? I've used U-box for larger quantities fo stuff - but affordably storing smaller items like yours could be tricky.
posted by Mr. Excellent at 8:47 AM on June 3, 2010 [1 favorite]


I did this with ABF a few years ago, but it was a studio apartment sized container. I'd second shipping to a friend in the city if you can, since container shipping is probably more than what you need.
posted by mewithoutyou at 8:53 AM on June 3, 2010


Response by poster: By small unit, I mean 5X10, so way more than I think would be fair to ask a friend to hold for many months.

What I want:

An address, not in my city, that I can ship a box of, let's say books or toys, to. Someone at that facility will put my box in a storage unit that is mine. 6-10 months later I can go to the facility, get the key, and get my stuff out.
posted by k8t at 9:05 AM on June 3, 2010


When I was looking for this a few years ago, I was able to do it with Extra Space Storage. I media mailed all of my books off to them, and they stuck them in a storage space for me. However, I found that not all of the ESS franchises would do this for me, as I had to call a few before I found one that would. This seems to be more of a decision made by an individual franchise operator than something any one company reliably did.
posted by girl scientist at 9:26 AM on June 3, 2010 [2 favorites]


I used Matthew Moving. They took my stuff from my house in VA, kept it in storage for me for nine months and then shipped it to the UK. They were always helpful and friendly. Not sure how they compare pricewise with other movers but were recommended by a friend and they did a good job for me.
posted by TheRaven at 9:54 AM on June 3, 2010 [1 favorite]


I did this while I was overseas. It took a few calls to a few different places to ensure they understood exactly what I wanted, but yeah, it appears to be based entirely on whether the manager of a particular facility feels like doing it. These days, I have a feeling that a lot more places will feel like expending a little extra effort for the income.
posted by Etrigan at 10:07 AM on June 3, 2010


Are you moving there soon? Ask the local post office about it. I don't know if they offer the service still, but when I moved to my current location (19 years ago) the U.S.P.S. let me ship many boxes to be picked up when I arrived. They were very kind about letting me come pick up just a few boxes each day.
posted by wjm at 12:53 PM on June 3, 2010 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Resolution: eXStorage will set up a system where delivery people are authorized to open your locker.
posted by k8t at 8:24 AM on June 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


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