The self-storage industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy. Unfortunately, they have led Americans to believe many incorrect assertions about the difference between self-storage and professional storage like Arpin of RI. Here is the truth.
Professional storage is the same price as self-storage
Comparing Arpin of RI’s professional warehouse storage to self-storage is like comparing a fancy restaurant to a vending machine. One offers extensive menu choices, various seating/comfort choices, technology peripherals like Wi-Fi and music, and full person-to-person service. The other offers very limited choices, no comfort, no technology, and virtually no person-to-person service.
Self-storage facilities just rent you metal and concrete “garage” space, and you have to do everything else…load, drive, unload, wrap (or not), organize, and secure…literally everything!
Arpin of RI White Glove moving services include an in-home sales visit, customer care contacts, full itemized inventory, insurance, security, fully wrapped and protected items, easy access to your things, and much more. Even though Arpin of RI adds enormous value, and self-storage offers just a metal building, self-storage is about the same price as Arpin’s professional storage.
Unlike self-storage which rents by the full month and does not prorate if you leave early, Arpin of RI’s storage charges are by the day so if you are only there for 15 days in the month, you only pay for the 15 days.
Professional storage offers better round-the-clock protection as self-storage
Arpin of RI provides intense protection of your items in storage. Our protection begins the moment our crews arrive and start to work. All of your upholstered furniture is stretch-wrapped. All of your non-carton items are wrapped in thick quilted moving pads. Each item is given its own numbered tag, it is described, its condition documented, and a picture taken of the item. We do all of the lifting, organizing, and administrative work to monitor your items.
Arpin of RI stores your items in virtually air-tight wooden vaults and then stores these in areas inaccessible to anyone but employees. We offer specialized areas to properly store upholstered furniture, rolled rugs, ladders, gas-powered vehicles, oversized items, and many other unique possessions. We closely monitor all items that are brought into our facility to ensure your items are not endangered by another tenant storing dangerous or deadly materials. Arpin of RI’s warehouse is regulated and inspected continuously by the Department of Defense to authorize its use of storage for Military family’s HHG. We are professional movers and as such, we are licensed and regulated by the State of RI Public Utilities Commission.
Arpin has 24/7 protection with sealed vaults, alarms tied directly to the West Warwick police, fire suppression systems, dozens of cameras, and limited access to the warehouse. If by chance something does get damaged along the way, we offer insurance and a process to repair or replace those items.
In contrast, self-storage facilities do not provide any materials to wrap or protect your items from scratches, dirt, or vermin; you have to provide everything. You do all of the physical work and assume all of the injury risks. They do not provide an inventory or manage your shipment items in any way.
Self-storage facilities are just basically interconnected garages that are accessible to virtually anyone with a passcode and a set of lock cutters. Your items have to be made to conform to the self-storage dimensions whether that is appropriate or not. The contents of units are not monitored or managed by the self-storage unit so they cannot eliminate contraband items. Self-storage facilities have no license and are not regulated by any state agency.
Indoor self-storage units provide minimal security for the facility, but almost none for individual units. If your items are damaged while they are stored in a self-storage unit by a leaky roof, moisture, mice, bugs, or theft, self-storage facilities are exempt from any liability.
Professional storage offers better accessibility than self-storage
Arpin of RI offers full access to your goods while they are stored. With Arpin’s Easy Access Plan, customers receive a picture inventory of all of their storage items and we keep track of the location of those items in our warehouse with our software. All you have to do is request the items, we’ll do all of the heavy lifting and remove them from storage. We can deliver them or you can pick them up…whichever you prefer.
To be perfectly honest, professional mover’s storage facilities are not set up to accommodate very frequent visits to sort through your goods so if you require constant access to your belongings, then self-storage is the most appropriate choice. However, for most customers that require only occasional visits; Arpin makes sense.
While it may appear that you have full “access” to your items with self-storage units, in reality, you only have access to a small number of items that have been strategically positioned near the front. To be cost-effective, your items have to be loaded in a very concentrated way to maximize this very expensive space. As a result, you may have to move many, many items every time you need to access items in the back of the unit.
An often-overlooked access problem with self-storage facilities is that large trucks have difficulty negotiating the turns. For customers moving long distances, this will mean hundreds of dollars of extra costs to put your items on a smaller truck and move the items a short distance out to the road truck. This cannot happen at Arpin of RI’s warehouse since it was custom-designed to accommodate tractor-trailers.
