Most moving companies – A-1 Freeman Moving Group is assuredly one of them – offer their customers a number of short-term and long-term storage options. The industry term for this is “vanline” storage. Its cost is dependent on the company and the options you pick, of course.
But a lot of San Antonio people prefer to arrange their own storage solutions, rather than those of their moving company. It’s wise to compare|contrast|juxtapose|correlate]59] what vanline storage offers with what self storage provides. The chart below should help you do that.
| VANLINE STORAGE |
| SELF STORAGE |
| · The van line has total responsibility for your move from start to finish. · You have the convenience of one-stop shopping for [[each of your moving and storage needs. · You engage with but one point of contact. · You have peace of mind knowing everything is being managed for you professionally by one company. |
| · The burden of researching a moving company, plus a separate mini-storage facility, plus a firm to move your household goods out of storage falls squarely on your shoulders and no one else’s79]. · You must pass your belongings off to strangers from multiple companies – a new company with new people at each phase of the transit-storage-delivery out process. |
| · “Delivery out” is reflected in the van line’s storage fee. |
| · You have to hitch up with a local mover to move your household goods out of mini storage or do it yourself. |
| · All your items – particularly your more valued furniture pieces and equipment – remain pad-wrapped and safeguarded while they’re in vanline storage. |
| · Once a driver delivers your possessions to the independent storage warehouse you’ve picked, he needs to remove all furniture pads because they’re his property or the property of the company for whom he works; you can’t hold onto them. You’ll find it necessary to^ must}112} find something else to drape over your stuff if you want it sufficiently shielded in storage. |
| · Your personal items are kept safe, secure, and free of pests inside the vanline’s commercial warehouse. |
| · While it’s true they can be safe and secure, many mini-storage units are way too accessible to the public at large and subject to break-ins. · insects and critters tend to have a field day for their condition while stored or when they’re taken out of storage. |
| · Vanline storage does have one possible downside: While your possessions are in storage, you have extremely restricted access to them. They can be gotten to, but that calls for vanline labor and will cost you an additional fee. |
| · Mini storage, by comparison, gives you full control of your personal items and access to them at any time. |
| · All vanline warehouses are designed with tractor-trailor units in mind and can accommodate a moving van. |
| · aren’t made for a tractor-trailer. That means the driver must offload your possessions onto a smaller truck to get them into storage. The upshot? Your possessions have to be handled one more time than would otherwise be expedient – which raises the potential for damage and may add to your costs. |
Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of vanline storage versus self storage, one has to give the advantage to vanline storage. Your situation, though, may lead you to some other conclusion. But the choice is yours. And it’s well worth thinking about early on in your move planning. Need some guidance deciding? Talk with us at A-1 Freeman Moving Group. We think you’ll appreciate the storage alternatives we offer you.
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