"What do you Mean It Does not Fit!" - Public Storage
Oct 15 '00
What do you do when you are moving into a new city and not ready to buy a house but have a full house of furniture and appliances that have to fit into a two-bedroom apartment? The first thought is to always see if you have friends that can store the miscellaneous extra pieces in their garage. If that is not an option, then the only recourse is to either live in a maze or get a separate storage facility.
Here in northern California, the storage company of choice appears to be PS Public Storage that is throughout the Bay area. They have a central number: 800-44-STORE
Services Provided
* clean, climate-controlled storage facilities
* truck rental available: Penske truck with radio, A/C, and Isuzu motor
* access to storage between 7:00am to 7:00pm daily (except holidays) by unique access code
* storage supplies can be bought on-site
* have people that can do the move for you but only in their service area
* can deliver weather-protected storage containers right to home or office, then you can pack yourself, and call them for pick up
* provide insurance for your belongings
What I got
I ended up with a 7' x 8' storage room for $75/month. Since I rented a truck from them for $29.95/day (with 100 free miles), the first month was only $1.00. Miles over 100 were charged @ .31/mile.
One thing that surprised me is that the storage is in a multi-floor building and we had to move furniture up an elevator and down a long hall which was a pain.
Another surprise was that the locks need to be short-linked because the long-link locks will not fit on the sliding bar.
Also, be sure you call ahead of time to make sure that have a hand-truck available for the major appliances.
My Disappointments
Customer Service
Their customer service is terrible. The central number that I called at the time I made my reservation told me that I could start moving in my stuff at 7:00am in the morning. My buddy and I got there then but to our surprise the office does not open until 9:30am to give us our first access to the facility.
The central number also told me that the local facility would call to solidify everything. This, of course, never happened..
You also have to pick up the truck by 3:30pm since they close their office at 5:00pm.
Limited Service Area
I was moving my belongings from Santa Cruz to the San Mateo area, which was outside of the service area that they move you. Therefore, I ended up having to drive a big truck myself. Just watch out for those crazy, wealthy dot.com women that drive BMW's that love to cut off trucks. One tried to race me to the gas pump.
Concluding Remarks
For short term storage, this is a cost-effective solution. Just make sure that your storage costs do not extend past the cost of the belongings you are storing. If there is a risk of that, it is better that you sell those items and buy replacements at the time you get a more permanent location to live.
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doglover
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