There are a lot of words that are commonly thrown around in the world of storage solutions. Two of the most commonly used phrases are bulk storage solutions and standard storage solutions. What is the difference between these two types of storage?
It can be a little hard to know the difference if your job is somewhere outside of the storage industry. Most companies exist outside of the storage industry, so these kinds of things are typically considered to be inconsequential. That is, until you need to find your own storage solutions and you’re forced to learn all of these new words.
Well, we’re here for you today. We decided to go and find all of the information that you need in order to feel confident that you’ll fully understand what you’re talking about when the time comes that you need to know what you’re talking about.
It can be pretty easy to know, and the definitions are pretty simple. Hopefully, by the time we’re done here, you’ll be prepared for your meeting so you can know exactly what you’re talking about and get things done correctly the first time.
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Standard Storage Solutions
Let’s begin with the thing that you’re probably most familiar with. Odds are, at some point or another, you’ve used standard storage solutions throughout your life. Maybe even during multiple occasions, depending on the kind of life that you live and how much stuff you have.
This kind of storage unit includes the kind that you’d find at your normal, everyday Uhaul. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be installed pretty much anywhere you want them to be, which makes them a great choice for most people. In fact, most people will never deal with bulk storage.
Self-storage facilities aren’t the only kind of place that has this kind of storage in place. Apartment complexes, restaurants, and even some employers have this kind of storage. It’s incredibly common and most people in the world have interacted with it in some way, shape, or form.
In fact, it’s hard to throw a rock without hitting some form of standard storage. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but most people live within half a mile of some sort of standard storage, whether it’s available to the public or not. It’s literally everywhere.
What is Bulk Storage?
Since we’ve already covered what standard storage is, let’s take a look at what bulk storage is. These two things are pretty night and day, and you probably haven’t had to interact with bulk storage unless you work in a few specific industries or you have a lot of things you have to store.
Bulk storage is pretty much what it sounds like, but it’s a little different. Bulk storage is essentially the storage of things en masse where all items are kept in their original packaging. Bulk storage takes up a lot of space and can store a lot of things.
The most common form of bulk storage comes in the form of a warehouse. Warehouses are places where a lot of things are kept because a warehouse is pretty much just a big room. Most warehouses are probably bigger than two of your houses, but there are also some smaller warehouses.
If you live in one of the bigger cities in your state, odds are that you have at least a single district dedicated to warehouses. If you live in one of the smaller cities in your state you still might have a warehouse district.
Typically, if a city or town has at least 50,000 people there will be a warehouse district unless that city or town happens to be big into manufacturing. This kind of storage is especially common in coastal areas that have ports to receive international goods so that things can be stored before being distributed.
Which is Better for You?
After reading over the description of these two kinds of storage solutions, you might be wondering which is better for you. You also might already know, but for the sake of this article let’s pretend that you don’t so we can explain.
The two types of storage solutions are really good for different things, but using the wrong thing for the wrong task isn’t going to end up working out very well for you. Let’s start off by looking at what standard storage solutions are good for:
- If you have a few things that you want to store.
- Setting up storage for employees.
- Adding something to your investment property.
There are a lot more times when you would want to use the standard storage solutions over bulk storage, but there’s a pretty easy rule of thumb that you can follow. If what you plan on storing is stuff that could reasonably fit into a space as large as a garage, you should probably go with the standard option.
Bulk storage is an entirely different beast, and most of the time the only people that are using it are companies that have a need for that much stuff. Like, even just imagine a space as large as your home filled up with stuff. That’s a lot of stuff to have to store, and warehouses are really good for that.
If you’re a retailer and want to keep things in order, that’s going to be your best bet. You won’t be able to build enough storage lockers to hold all of that stuff, and it would just be complicated to try and get things in and out of the lockers with that much stuff, unlike in warehouses where you just need the right equipment.
As a rule of thumb, if you have a very large amount of things that need to be stored in their original packaging, you’ll want to go with bulk storage. In any other case, you’ll probably want to go with standard storage in general. It’s just gonna be easier that way.
Finding the Right Storage Solutions
Each type of storage solution comes with its own problems and difficulties ensuring that you’re making the right choice for your situation, so we’re going to cover both in hopes that we can help you make the best choice possible for this particular project.
Getting the right option for your situation can make a huge difference in a lot of ways. The biggest way that this can help is with your budget. The wrong option can turn into a money pit, but the right option can help your company thrive in the long run.
When it comes to standard storage solutions, you want to make sure that you’re picking something that’s going to be sturdy. You don’t want your employees or tenants to have to worry about people breaking in and stealing their things while they’re preoccupied elsewhere. People generally dislike having their things stolen.
You can ensure that you’re picking something that’s going to be good by making sure that you take a look at what the units are actually made of. Different materials have different sturdiness. For example, you wouldn’t want to use a water bottle to hold up your car cause it would get smashed in an instant.
That might not be a great metaphor, but just make sure that you’re looking for something that has solid steel construction as a bare minimum. We have no way of knowing what exactly you need, but the construction of the units will make a difference regardless.
The tougher the materials, the less likely it will be that someone could just break in and take things, and the less likely your employees are to be devastated when they get back to their lockers and find that things are missing when they thought it was secure.
As far as warehouses go, things get a lot more complicated. Warehouses have a lot more moving pieces than storage units do, which means that you’ll need to pay a lot more attention to even the tiniest details in the warehouse to make sure it's worth the money.
A lot of people just find a good commercial real estate agent and make sure that they have a good inspector come through to make sure everything is in order. This might end up costing you a bit extra, but that money is well spent because you have people helping that are experts in their field.
Choosing the Right Option for You
There are a lot of options when it comes to storage solutions, regardless of the size of the storage that you need. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to find all of the information that you need online to make sure that you’re choosing the right one.
Everyone has things they need to store, ranging from your local broke college student all the way up to multinational conglomerates such as Amazon. When you need to store things, you should probably find the right way to do it so you can be sure that you’re getting the most out of your money.
