Supply chain volatility has impacted nearly every industry, throughout the throes of the pandemic and beyond, casting lingering effects on business. Stockpiling efforts, combined with thwarted backlogged shipments, have led organizations to scramble for storage space when fulfillment finally delivers.

Across the country, U.S. warehousing space is becoming increasingly scarce. RetailWire cites historically low vacancies of 1-3%, according to WarehouseQuote’s “Market Report: Q1’23 Warehouse Pricing Index Report.”

With drastically limited space at a premium, RetailWire also reports that warehouse rent levels have spiked 20%, shrinking margin potential. The U.S. Census Bureau reports construction costs to build new self-storage facilities have skyrocketed 584% in 5 years to create more space.

Flexible warehousing offers a strategic solution, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report, allowing local businesses, organizations, and facilities to scale to their own needs. On-site portable storage containers provide the flexibility to customize strategic storage solutions. 

Customized Containers for Health Care
With health care at the heart of the pandemic, medical facilities have been universally hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only was it essential to manage necessary supplies, but space to safely store personal protective equipment (PPE), life-saving ventilators, and other high demand equipment impeded on desperately needed patient treatment space. Health care facilities turned to on-site portable storage containers to expand their capacities, while securely protecting the devices needed to save lives.

As COVID-19 testing & vaccination efforts expanded exponentially, on-site portable storage containers offered healthcare facilities the flexibility to test and treat large numbers of patients outside their traditional four walls. Containers were customized to become testing sites across the country, offering the convenience of greater health care access in more locations, as well as a strategic way to serve public needs.  

Recent CNN analysis indicated that hospitals remain “more full” than at the height of the pandemic, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. With the country’s health care system already strained in every direction, on-site portable storage containers offer flexibility to welcome innovation and space to allow new solutions for public health.

Stretching Storage for Schools

School systems have been constantly fluxed for space, long before the start of the pandemic. As student enrollments have markedly increased over the years, schools have required flexible classroom space to avoid the detrimental effects of overcrowding, which can impact student attention, behavior, and absenteeism, according to a recent report from the National School Boards Association.

As students transitioned from COVID-19 remote schooling to in-person classroom settings, social distancing policies mandated that more space was required between students in classrooms, in the cafeteria, and in the gym. For schools facing limited space challenges, on-site portable storage offered customized solutions. From storing excess classroom furniture and cafeteria dining tables to individual physical education gear and surplus PPE, container storage provided the flexible space needed to maintain functionality while creating safe space amongst students.

As learning environments assume an altered version of pre-COVID conditions, space remains constantly at a premium in most schools. On-site portable storage containers provide a dedicated space to store surplus school supplies, janitorial supplies, cleaning, landscaping, and snow removal equipment, and much more, allowing more functional space for student use. 

Athletic departments are strategically storing bulky sports equipment, like goal nets and batting cages, game gear, field maintenance machines, field lighting/public address equipment, and more, in on-site portable storage containers for greater convenience and access to their playing fields.

On-site portable storage containers allow school systems to stretch and customize their space to accommodate more, without significantly changing their physical footprint, which taxpayers should appreciate.

Brian Quick is president of Mini Warehousing, Inc., Mansfield, Mass.

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