It’s been a busy summer here at Boxman HQ. We’re always looking to push the limits of what we offer, and we started by listening to you. We wanted to understand what’s really important so that we can focus on the issues that actually matter. It’s often the case that the simpler the service, the more effort and work has gone into providing it – and that’s certainly true of our new and improved on-demand storage. We think the results are worth it. Here’s a summary of the main changes and why they make our on-demand storage service the best you’ll find in London.

Life in plastic – it’s fantastic

Cardboard boxes are fine for light jobs, but they’re a bit of a faff if you’ve got any serious storing to do. It takes time for us to pack them and for you to tape them into a perfect cube that won’t fall apart as soon as you delicately place a book in the bottom. Not to mention that when you unpack, all you’re left with is a big, sad pile of ripped-up cardboard.

So what’s the answer? Simple – plastic crates. Ours are not like the ones you may have seen in office moves, which appear flimsy yet impossibly massive – clearly designed by somebody who had no intention of actually moving one. Ours are the perfect combination of cavernous (each can hold 25 pairs of shoes or 200 DVDs), but still modest enough to be carried comfortably by one person.

Plastic crates are the reason we can deliver to your door within just a few hours, and they arrive ready to be filled. The crates nest when empty and are stackable when full, so you can pack loads at a time without them totally taking over your space. While we’ve never stacked boxes when they’re in storage, we do need to get them from you to the racks, so in the van they do get stacked. That’s just unavoidable – but with our boxes it’s not a problem, even if some of them aren’t totally full.

Speaking of vans and unavoidable, we also need to move your boxes from your door to our van. We’re London’s biggest fans, but even we have to admit we get more than our fair share of rain. And when it’s raining, no matter how fast we run, the boxes get a bit wet. But unlike cardboard, plastic is waterproof, so everything inside stays nice and dry.

When you’re finally done with the boxes, you just give them back to us to be used again. So not only are they easier for you, they’re better for the planet. Hooray for plastic boxes!

What’s in the box?

For those of you who really like to keep things organised – sometimes a quick catch-all description of ‘miscellaneous’ simply won’t do – we’ve launched item view. Now you can specify, item by item, exactly what’s in each of your boxes. Just click on a box to open it, and then hit ‘Add item’ to get started. It’s all fully searchable and you can add tags and upload photos for each item individually… but more on that below.

Where did I put the…?

Making things easy to find as well as easy to store was one of the main reasons we started Boxman. Maybe it’s just us, but it always seemed like whatever you needed was inevitably at the back of the room. So we made sure that everything in Boxman is easily searchable.

But it doesn’t stop there. We all know the feeling – you give things nice names and descriptions, but when you come back six months later you can’t remember what you wrote so you have no idea what to look for – and that’s where tags come in. Using broad terms like ‘clothes’, ’winter’ or ‘sports’ gives you a quick way to find what you’re looking for, no matter which box it’s in.

Take a photo – it’ll last longer

Some of us are naturally visual people. Words on a page – or, worse, a screen – can blur into one, so just upload a photo and you can browse to find what you’re looking for. Boxman allows you to upload photos of individual items as well, so you can be sure the dress you’re calling back is the one you think it is. Nobody wants a last-minute wardrobe emergency before the party!

Got any ideas for what else we can do to make your life easier? Let us know in the comments section below. The Box Room is brought to you by the Boxman team, the UK’s leading on-demand storage people.