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Choosing the right self-storage company in Kent

Self-storage as a service is relatively quite new. There is clearly a demand for it from both business and residential customers. It can help organisations store assets and archive material and equipment, that if left on their own premises would waste space and may prevent real company growth. Because self-storage can be so adaptable and competitively priced it can provide a factor in a business’s processes which perhaps would not be affordable through other channels.

But how do you know you have found a self-storage centre you can trust? What are the kind of things you need to look out for?

This list is not exhaustive but it gives a good idea as to the kind of things a self-storage centre should be offering to ensure you have privacy, security, and accessibility.

Security

Perhaps the most important aspect is the security of precious valuables. Don’t be afraid to ask what security factors are in place 24/7. Here at Need A Space we offer CCTV, high-security infra-red beams, state of the art alarm systems and perimeter fencing.

Access

You may want to store in the long -term but it is highly likely there will be individual objects, or documents which you will need to have access to on a regular basis. For instance, you may wish to archive old tax receipts. 99% of the time they are going to be behind locked doors but there may well be a time – especially when doing the books – when you need to retrieve data. It is therefore important that the storage company has access as close to 24/7 7 days a week as possible.

Storage units

You don’t want to be paying for a huge unit when you will be only storing bits and bobs. So a good storage company will offer different sized units for various needs. This also gives you the flexibility to increase or decrease space when you need to.

Privacy

The units may well need to be exactly suited to what you are storing. For instance, you may need absolute confidentiality. In which cas,e you would not want a unit with windows. Again, the more choice you have the better.

Climate control

Some items will need special attention as far as air conditioning is concerned. For instan, if you store furniture or business documents in damp storage you could find yourself having to deal with a lot of damage.

Hygiene

In the same way, you want to know your storage unit is free from pests (is there pest control in force?) and the units are kept tidy and clean.

Access for vehicles

If you’re planning on storing a large amount, check that the self-storage facility has adequate access for the removal vehicle you’ve chosen. Many self-storage sites don’t have the space or access for large removal trucks.

Need A Space are based in Canterbury Kent and offer self-storage facilities to all surrounding areas such as Faversham and Herne Bay and including London. Talk to us. To learn more click here

Need more space at home? How’s this for the perfect answer?

Remember the first time you proudly moved into your new family home? You had three or four truckloads of furniture sitting outside and in front of you was a sight that would be a blueprint for a new era in your life. This was a new era – a time to start building your dreams for the future. As you walked through your new house it looked bare and a little barren, but in your mind you are strategically deciding how your visions and goals will fit into this new world. There may be a lot of cold empty spaces, but this space would be the glove in which your dreams would neatly fit…

Fast forward 15 years and so much has changed. That house has now become your home, you know every nook and cranny. It is frustrating and tiring that you are forever keeping it clean, but now it is like another member of the family. You love it because it not only holds your aspirations but wonderful memories to – it is worth the time. Sure it would make it easier if your children did their bit, but sometimes it’s simpler to do it yourself than shout all the time….

And your home has grown. There is decking out the back for everyone to enjoy, when you hold those cool BBQ’s for the great friends you have made down the street; a conservatory to catch the sun in the summer and hold the warmth in the winter; and the attic has been turned into a cool study especially for the kids homework.

But even though your home is now bigger it is a little like a reverse version of the Tardis. It is larger on the outside but even smaller on the inside. Dr. Who wouldn’t be impressed. Where has all that space gone? Your family has increased in number and the earlier ones have all got a lot bigger. And don’t forget the dog, the cat and the two hamsters…

And the cupboards – once this had more storage space than you had ever seen. Now, wardrobes are so full they won’t shut probably. Tools, clothes, and whatever are left strewn across the floor, not just because of laziness or lack of cleaning time – there is just nowhere for it to go. And all those things that bring a tear to your eye, because they bring back so many memories will never be thrown away…

Things are getting tough. There is no room to move, you are all getting on top of each other and there is no space to put the new things anymore. The only answer is to move out to a bigger, more expensive home.

Hold it! Think twice. Look at what you are letting go of. The family home you have built, the memories in the very bricks and plaster, the wonderful friends and neighbours. Can you afford to pay out more on a bigger house when your children may in fact be leaving the nest soon?

There is another way. Organising your space much better and finding temporary space you can rent for the stuff you want to keep but perhaps do not need around you all the time. Self-storage could be the perfect answer. It allows you to keep your valuables securely and accessible at a very reasonable rate. At the same time you hang on to your unique world, your past and your future.

Need A Space are based in Canterbury Kent and offer self-storage facilities to all surrounding areas such as Faversham and Herne Bay and including London. Talk to us. To learn more click here

Space is an asset that should be used appropriately in business

When stating a business, deciding on the right amount of stock is always a dilemma. You need supply to meet demand as far as possible, but if you spend too much on stock you can waste your budget on assets which just won’t budge so early in the organisations growth.

The one commodity any retail or online business will definitely need, is space. Space, itself may be a pretty dull subject on the surface, but the fact is, companies often thrive or die on how well they manipulate it.

We are of course talking more than just stock here. When a growing company needs to house machinery, people and offices, the cost of housing those assets need to be analysed so all falls within the budget and you are getting the best for your money at the same time.

Space really is serious…

Sometimes, the issue of space is not taken seriously enough and processes and systems can be blown apart by ill use of space. Take for instance an office block where a room is filled to the rafters with archive documents. Is this good use of space? Or where meeting rooms are not used to their full potential. Cancellations take place, but no-one is notified so the room goes unused. Then too much pressure is placed on meeting rooms which are used too often.

Stock will always be dependent upon demand at any one time and in certain industries there will be a need to make room for seasonal stock. Online and ecommerce companies, because they are often providing a wide display and variety of stock need to ensure there is space at certain times of the year which does not impinge on the smooth running and processes of the workforce.

So let’s look at some of the ways you can find that extra space you are looking for:

Space Utilisation

This is about looking at the space you have and determining whether the capacity is being used to its maximum. For instance, supposing you have a mixture of 20cm high and 30 cm high boxes and you have a storage space with floor space and 20 cm high shelving. To maximise space in the room you need to consider increasing shelving space by 10 cm or taking away the shelving. This is about considering space in relation to what you wish to store.

What is the best way to store your unique products?

This again comes back to adapting your storage space to the products you sell. Don’t forget there are great accessories on the market which allow much more freedom in how you arrange your products. For instance, a mobile shelving system can offer more capacity and increases of up to an incredible 95 per cent compared with a static shelving alternative.

Are you using that ceiling space?

Think vertically. Too often managers do not consider the enormous amount of space they have above shoulder height until they start getting in the really tall products. Use you shelving cleverly to maximise storage capacity.

And don’t forget us! Based in Canterbury we service all surrounding areas such as Faversham, Sittingbourne, and Herne Bay. We provide self-storage services for businesses and residential clients. Great security and access to your valuables when you need them, we can really streamline your business systems. To learn more click here

Secure mailbox company in Canterbury Kent

Even in the digital age of instant communications through social media, texts, video contact and email, we still rely heavily on our letterboxes. In fact, rather than them eventually becoming totally redundant, as some people believe, snail-mail, as it is often referred to, provides a service that digital communications often cannot. There will always be a need for signed contracts, legal documents, messages of celebration, business letters and assorted mails that need to be received and stored in paper form. Also, as much as we can attach small read-only documents to emails, packages are a totally different matter.

Don’t give up on snail-mail yet…

We tend to take the old letterbox very much for granted and almost as a relic from a prehistoric age. But that mailbox is essential for those parcels and important documents. The sad fact is – just like the digital world – they are not always safe. Businesses also need to be able to feel safe they can communicate within their industry networks and with their clients.

The problem of theft from mailboxes

If mail gets stolen you may not even know about it if it has been taken from your own front doorstep. In flats where there are many mailboxes for all the residents in the block there is always the fear that some of the mail will mysteriously go missing.

Need a secondary business mailbox?

Sometimes residents or businesses just need a secondary mailbox where they can redirect specialist post for whatever reason. For instance, it maybe that your business base does not lend itself to receive secure post. The solution to this is a separate mailbox in a specific location where you can pick up your mail on a regular basis.

With the onset of the recession and the rise in property rents, business now often share the same premises. This can cause confusion and chaos when mail is being delivered. A great solution for this is a secure mailbox at a secondary address. If we are within your location we can offer absolute security where you no longer have to wonder whether mail was delivered or not.

Need A Space secure mailboxes in Kent

At Need A Space in Canterbury we provide a service for both residential customers and businesses with our secure mailboxes. As a storage company offering space to individuals and businesses, we can provide services to anyone nationally and globally. Locally we can assist businesses throughout Canterbury, Faversham and Whitstable.

To contact us and learn more about our services, call us on 01227 751673 or fill in our contact form by clicking here

Getting rid of office clutter by Need A Space self-storage

I don’t look forward to facing my desk on a Friday morning. The first thing I will see is the in-box which has gradually expanded to overload over the past week, while the outbox slowly spreads itself menacingly over available space. If I am honest with myself, there is probably a few months of stuff hiding at the bottom of the pile which has gone from urgent to useless because it hasn’t been touched.

As much as this is about work overload on my part, it is also about how, even in a world where we should be keeping a keen eye on our uses of paper for the sake of sustainability issues, our processes and systems still seemed to get clogged up with read or unread material.

Online vs paper copy

Now, we are blessed with the internet and online communications, the need to put all documentation on paper is greatly reduced. If you receive an attachment by email, you can read it online. If you need to keep it for corporate reasons then it can also be stored on your computer or in the cloud.

However, we are still troubled with masses of paper on our desks. Some of it is meant to be owned in the form of a package. This would apply to information about a company perhaps, training manuals, or reports. It may be information that needs to be taken to and read at, up- and-coming conferences. It may be promotional materials which are better viewed physically than on the web.

The outbox is more important than you think

Some of it you need to keep and some of it could do with shredding. But as my outbox often signifies (all the documents will need to be filtered as to where they go next), that part of the process, because it is low on the must do list, often gets left and never happens.

Perhaps it’s the outbox that is the problem? In a sense, the outbox has no urgency, and sometimes it seems like the stuff within it does not really have anywhere to go. We need it because it just gives us a warm feeling of all the work we have done!

Bin the outbox!

Let’s get rid of the outbox. When we deal with documents from the inbox we should send them on their way there and then. Either they are going to filing or they are going to shredding. Simple. A cleaner desk – streamlined processes.

So, then we come to the filing. Even though we have now reached the stage where you can sign documents online they are not officially accepted in most circles as official, legal documents. Also, there always will be documents which need to be kept in paper form such as Tax documents, financial documents, contracts, client files, certificates and legal documents.

Filing, archive and office storage space

So when documents are needed to be kept for many years, we come to archive. Both these factors – filing and archive – can have a massive impact on office space. We are obviously not just referring to your out-box here. We are talking about losing whole rooms to filing and archive. Clearly the work space you have in your company is one of your company’s greatest assets and it could be going to waste as we speak.

At Need A Space self-storage, we offer secure units where you can save your business archive at highly competitive rates. Based near Canterbury we service areas such as Faversham, Herne Bay and Sittingbourne. We also have companies from London using our storage sapce as they find storing outside of London is great deal cheaper. To find out more about what we offer click here