Be aware of the following (long term renter). Owner says he can't (won't) negotiate…read more 1. Changing Prices National self-storage companies use a system called "revenue management" to set their prices. At the national storage conventions, owners take classes about how to use this software to increase revenue by raising prices on customers. What is revenue management? This practice is what airlines and hotels use when they quote you a different rate for the same flight or room based on demand. Big storage companies do the same thing, reassessing their prices hourly. This means if they only have one 10 x 10 unit at the moment you check, it might be priced at $200 a month (compared to $100 last week). You can get the same unit at a company that is not using this software for much less. Why are they doing this? To make sure they are charging you the highest price they can get away with to maximize their revenue. 2. Increasing Rent All the Time When you sign a contract with one of these companies, you think that you've locked in a price for the rest of your lease, right? Not true. Almost all contracts in the self-storage industry are month-to-month. This means they can increase your rent at any time with a 30-day notice. National companies increase rent for current customers frequently, oftentimes twice a year. So, a unit you thought would be $70 per month suddenly costs you $115 per month. If you stay a year with that new rate, you'll be dishing out an extra $540 you hadn't budgeted for originally. 3. Charging High Fees National self-storage companies often reel you in with attractive pricing or a special but get you with fees. You may think you're paying only $70 per month, but wait, there's more: Admin fee ($20-$30) Lock charge ($20-$30) Late fees ($50-$60 for more than 30 days late) Deposit fee ($25-$45) Those fees add up, especially if you stay in your unit for a long time. Your bill inevitably ends up being much larger than you initially planned. 4. Ripping You Off with Insurance The big storage companies try to squeeze every possible penny out of you. One of the ways they do this is by requiring you to buy their storage insurance. While it seems like it adds value for customers, storage insurance is just an additional revenue stream for storage companies. Often, the insurance provider is the self-storage company. Other times, it's a third-party provider that gives the storage company a monthly kickback for selling policies. Public Storage automatically enrolls you in its insurance program, and you have to opt-out later to get out of it. They don't even offer good coverage. When you try to make a claim, you'll find the policy is selective in what it covers. Storage insurance is just an easy way for national storage chains to make an extra $15 to $25 per month from you. In fact, most renters have homeowners or renters' insurance that automatically covers items they've put in storage without additional cost. Our experience in managing 5,000 storage units is that it is very rare -- under 1% -- for something to happen that affects the contents of a storage unit. If you wrap your furniture in thick plastic wrap available on Amazon, and pack all your other items in plastic crates with tight lids, you will avoid almost all of the possible incidents that can affect your contents. That effort would eliminate rodent damage, mildew, and water damage, plus protect against absorbing the smell of the unit. The only thing left that could happen is theft. You have dropped your risk to .1%. Let's look at what would happen if you somehow incurred a loss: If you buy their insurance and stay for two years paying $25 extra a month, and if their policy covers the damage you incur, you have paid $600 for the insurance plus the $100 deductible. So you would have to experience over $700 in damage for it to help you. Do yourself a favor and spend $100 on packing supplies and rely on your homeowners or renters policy. 5. Making You Buy Their Expensive Lock Unfortunately, most national storage companies require you to buy their lock for $15-$20 (or more) instead of providing one to you free of charge. You can get the same lock at the local hardware store for $6.

So easy to register online. Spotless 5x7x8 unit, perfect for OOS student at UMD-CP to store larger…read moreitems for summer. Made our end of year move so much easier! Thank you!

Pick-up on a Friday, gave us a truck with a broke side mirror, got a 2nd one told us it was full of…read moregas. It wasn't. Returning the truck, was a nightmare. Couldn't get into the lot. They are cleaning the trucks where you return the trucks and they were behind. So returning on Saturday creates a backup onto Rte 1. My husband made a way into the lot. Gave the keys to someone and they gave him a receipt. We got charged for 2 days not one and we returned it full of gas-no credit. Won't use this location again.

Outstanding! I went for an unscheduled pre-check and Jerome checked my F150 and Jerome spent time…read moreusing the system ensuring it would pull a Dolly with a Corolla on it and how it all worked. He put a quote in the system for me and they'll ensure everything is setup on their lot before I take off for the west coast.

We have had Zip Moving and Storage now for two moves and have two more scheduled with them. We've…read morehad nothing but excellent customer service and support throughout both moves. They were flexible with us as we had to reschedule due to weather, and had several complicated moves that were handled very well. As with any move, we took care ourselves to wrap things, communicate our needs and expectations, but I would do that with any mover. Ask questions, clarify and explain what you want. All furniture was wrapped carefully with moving blankets and secured and all breakables were treated with care. I've never seen a team of people work so hard!

If you'd like to hire a company that triples your price at the most critical moment of selling your…read morehome, hire Zip. From the moment they arrived, this move was a disaster. They backed their truck into my retaining wall, immediately pissing off my neighbors before a single box was moved. They then showed up with half the crew promised, which should have been my first clue about what was coming next. What should have been a straightforward move from a 3-bedroom home took 13 hours, and they still couldn't finish--forcing them to come back the next morning, while I was under extreme pressure due to a pending home sale. With 18 hours to be out of my house, Zip used the situation to triple the price, leaving me completely cornered. At one point, the police showed up at my door to question one of the movers for 30 minutes. Later, they left a single worker alone for SIX HOURS to finish the job. Completely unprofessional and unsafe. Once my belongings were picked up, I received zero updates for six weeks. No proactive communication. No tracking. No accountability. I had to escalate through three different people just to get basic help or information. And when all was said and done, Zip did absolutely nothing to make it right--no refund, no meaningful apology, no remediation--other than claiming they fired the person who originally quoted me, which does nothing for the damage, stress, or financial harm they caused. This was easily one of the most stressful and mishandled service experiences I've ever had, at a time when reliability mattered most. If you value transparency, professionalism, or basic human decency during a move--look elsewhere.

This is the only shipping store that I use. Ms. Kamal is so amazingly nice. She invariably gives…read moreme something free every time I go in there. The store itself is packed with wonderful knickknacks, cards, all kinds of stuff. A whole host of packing supplies too. There is always something in there that I love. I started going here because it was convenient for me at the time, but even though I live a bit out of the way, I still come here. It's wonderful to go to a place where she already has all of my frequently-shipped-to addresses. Ms. Kamal is so warm and friendly. She always has a ready smile for me when I come in. Loyalty is rare these days, but she's made a loyal customer out of me. I can't say enough about this Parcel Plus location.

I have visited Parcel Plus twice in the past few months to have documents notarized, faxed and…read moreemailed. The owner of Parcel Plus was present and took care of my needed items right away. Their prices for services are competitive. The staff are always friendly and professional. Parcel Plus is a neighborhood jewel.

I had put a post on reddit asking for suggestions for movers in the area and Bookstore Movers was…read morerecommended by almost every person who responded. Patrick and his crew, Renaldo, Nitua, Gerand and Kevin, exceeded the already high expectations I had based upon the reviews. I will happily recommend Bookstore to family and friends and will never use another moving company. Their strength, kindness, commitment and pride in their job and the company, organization, efficiency as a crew (this was amazing to watch- they just flowed as a team of 5 and Patrick was an excellent leader!), was consitent and apparent throughout the entire time they spent with us. I really can't say enough good things about the experience and hope to work with them again when we hopefully buy a place and move in the next couple of years. The price was also incredibly fair, worth every penny for their first-rate and professional work and incredibly pleasant dispositions, just a really great group of guys!

I moved this past weekend and hired Bookstore Movers for the job. I can honestly say I was blown…read moreaway by the professionalism, efficiency, and expertise of the moving crew. I worked with a different moving company 2 years ago that left me scarred for life with how rude and unprofessional they were. I ended up having to finish the job myself (moving my giant couch up four flights of stairs), so when I knew I was moving again, I did my due diligence and sought out a few quotes. Another company quoted me almost $800 and required a 3 hour minimum for the job!! $800 seemed steep and I knew the job wouldn't take that long... Along came Bookstore Movers who quoted me a reasonable $470 minimum for two hours of work and a maximum of $680 for 3.5 hours of work (price breakdown: $140 per hour with 2 hour min. plus a $190 truck fee). I received a quote within a few hours of requesting it. There was no deposit required and the date was booked. I received detailed emails leading up to the move about FAQs, tips for a seamless move, and the names of my crew including contact info for the crew lead. Abdul (crew lead), Niiwayo "Y.O", and Milly were SO fast and friendly. They wrapped every single item with care in drop cloths and got to moving immediately. Despite the 90 degree heat and a total of five flights of stairs, the job was finished in 2 hours. I was SO impressed. I was so traumatized by my last move that I literally had to walk away while they moved the couch in but before I knew it, I got a text from my boyfriend telling me they had fit it through the door and our living room was all set up. I was so relieved and happy to work with them. If and when we move again, (hopefully not anytime soon, lol), I will 100% be contacting Bookstore Movers... and you should too!