Monday, August 24, 2009

Warehouse - How To Pick A Right One

By Michelle Davies

The space inside houses in cities across the world is declining due to exponential increase in urban population. Whereas, higher levels of expendable income and influence of consumerism has made us get into a spending spree and we are tempted to buy new things for our house. These opposite forces have caused a dearth of space needed to store domestic and office items, and this scenario has set the cash registers ringing for the storage industry.

If you are searching for a warehouse to store your goods you have to exercise some caution. There are several storage service providers in the market and you need to make sure that the one you are choosing has the right facilities and processes to take suitable care of your valuable items. Here are some crucial things that you will need to keep in mind while selecting a warehouse.

Security must be your primary concern during warehouse selection. To protect your valuables against the likelihood of being stolen, there must be sophisticated security systems installed inside the facility. You will generally find good quality security systems like CCTV cameras, door alarms and electronic locks inside a good storage facility.

In addition to security from theft, you also require security from accidents like fire. Fires are quite common in warehouses and it is critical that the company has sufficient fire fighting capacity to protect your items. The warehouse must have alarms that would go off at the slightest sign of a fire, and the storage areas should be made up of fireproof materials.

Your articles must also be protected from the fluctuations of weather. This becomes extremely crucial if you are storing valuables like paintings or antique furniture, which are particularly prone to humidity. If you wish to store medicines or electronic goods, then proper safety from excess heat may also be required. To regulate levels of heat and humidity inside the facility, the storage company must have weather control technology in place so that your articles don't get damaged in any way.

Another problem that you should be protecting your articles against is pests. Pests are hard to find and in a very short period they can fully destroy goods like wooden furniture. Thus the warehouse should have adequate pest control measures like use of pesticides and maintaining cleanliness.

Finally, the staff of the warehouse must be cooperative and willing to assist. However good the storage facility might be, your goods will always remain in danger if they are roughly handled by the warehouse staff during transportation and loading-unloading. Therefore, the staff must be properly trained in these processes and must genuinely care for your goods.

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