Household storage services can be used to store household materials in a safe and secured warehouse. Different types of storage facilities are available like self storage, public storage, industrial and cold storage etc. These storage facilities can be used to store your goods for shorter duration like from a few months to a year or some time even more.
We often receive calls and questions about household storage, self storage and public storage systems hence I am writing this post. In this post, I am going to give you a very good overview of household storage best practices like what to do and don’t do. If you are planning to avail household goods storage and warehousing services then ignore these tips at your own risk.
As I you know there are various types of storage facilities available where one can store different types of goods from household furniture to industrial goods. In this post we will focus only on storage of household goods such as home appliances, furniture, kitchen appliances and other domestic household stuff commonly we use in our daily life.
Best practice tips to avail household goods storage in India
So just before we get in to it, let me tell you about an incident. Last week only I received a call from someone in Jaipur. This gentleman had a booked movers and packers to relocate his household stuff from Jaipur to Indore. He only had a discussion on phone and even paid an advance of Rs. 2500 or something to one of the executive and that too without taking any receipt because the guy forgot to bring the receipt. On the date of packing, that company never turned up and he somehow came across one of our post on our blog and was looking for a solution.
Can you imagine someone could be this innocent? Trust me there are people who don’t even bother to doubt someone, but then one should not forget the basics. I told you about this incident to just let you know how important it is to follow such basics when booking a professional that you hardly know about.
But anyways, let’s get back to the best practices of availing household goods storage and warehousing facilities in India.
Take quotations from a couple of storage companies
Storage as you know is a long term contract – except a few occasions you would need storage and warehousing services for months if not years. And warehousing companies are going to charge you on month basis, so it’s a recurring expense. Even if you can save 10% on rent per month, it will be a huge sum of money assuming you want to avail storage and warehousing facility for 8-9 months. It is important to check rates from a couple of available options. If not much, it will help you know the market rates and help you bargain for better deal.
Visit and inspect the warehouse before finalizing
Ideally, executives of the storage company would come to your house for an inspection and depending on your overall inventory and duration; they will give you an estimate. But don’t yet book a facility unless you go and inspect the warehouse. Isn’t it really important to check the facility where your goods will be kept for months? How would you know if your goods are safe from theft, flood, damp, termites and rats? Safety is important and you can’t take just word for it. Go. Check yourself and when you are satisfied then only consider availing the service.
Check for proper license and permission
In India, storage and warehousing services for household goods are also offered by movers and packers companies. They would offer you storage space in their godown. But it is important to ensure that they have adequate permission and legal license to offer storage services. Even otherwise, you must ensure that the companies you are truing with your goods have all the papers and licenses in place. They should have a local shop and establishment license, service tax, PAN card etc and these are the document you should check for sure.
Check safety measures
We all know storage and warehousing is a long term contract and hence it’s important to ensure that your goods are stored in a safe and secured environment. Safety can’t be and should not be compromised and by safety I mean safety in all respect; safety from theft, damp, fire, water and everything else. Do check if the warehouse is insured and if it is then to what extent they have the liability.
Do bargain for better deal
Not exactly a best practice, but obviously important. There are certain services where rates are more or less fixed, but storage and warehousing is not among those services. Rates and charges totally depends on the company you are dealing with and volume and type of goods you have along with a few other parameters like both ways transportation cost etc. So check if there is anything you can negotiate and this is where checking rates will help you. When you check rates of storage services from a couple of storage companies you get to know the market rates and obviously when you know the rates and have options, you can bargain and get better deal.
Over to you
Not sure if you have availed storage and warehousing services for household goods or not, but these best practice tips can certainly help you in one way or the other. If this is the first time you are hiring storage companies, then you should apply some of these tricks and I am sure it will help you.
If you have prior experience of working with storage and warehousing companies then do let me know about your experience and best practice tips.
