Providing your customers with the products and services they need is one of the keys to running a successful business. For U-Haul Dealers, that means ensuring your location is stocked with the most in-demand products available. To help you make sure your location continues to meet your customer’s needs, these are the top 10 products sold at U-Haul Stores across the nation.

1. Moving boxes 
   U-Haul part number(s): SM, MED, LG, XLG It may not be a surprise that U-Haul Stores sell more moving boxes—from small to extra-large—than anything else. We’re the moving experts, after all!
2. Specialty moving boxes
   U-Haul part number(s): MB, SB12, SW, LMB U-Haul offers a variety of specialty boxes, but the Mirror Box, Book Box, the Shorty Wardrobe Box and the Large Mirror and Picture Box are the best sellers.  
3. Tape Varieties U-Haul part number(s): 55T, 40001, 55T When customers buy boxes, they often need tape as well. These are the three top tape varieties among U-Haul customers: Box / Packaging Paper Tape Packaging / Mailing Tape Packaging / Mailing Tape (55-yard with dispenser; two pack)
4. Queen mattress bag 
   U-Haul part number: MBQ It’s best to have mattress bags of all sizes on hand, but did you know queen mattresses are the most commonly used nationwide? Keep that in mind when purchasing supplies for resale.
5. Packing Paper U-Haul part number: WP Although we offer a variety of packing paper sizes, the 200 sheet set (or 10 lb.) is the most popular variety.
   
   
6. 15’ Enviro-Bubble® Roll 
   U-Haul part number: BP1615 Popular among customers that want to protect their fragile items, like artwork, home décor, electronics and more during a move or while in storage.
7. Glass Pack Kit
   U-Haul part number: GP The Glass Pack Kit protects different sizes of glassware, crystal, porcelain and stemware. The kit comes with 18 reusable pouches, one box and a sevenpiece cell-divider. 8. Packing peanuts 
   
   
8. Packing Peanuts
   U-Haul part number: 49015 U-Haul Company’s packing peanuts are 100% biodegradable, making them a hit among customers looking to ‘go green.’
9. 2¾” Discus security lock
   U-Haul part number: 2870 Commonly used in conjunction with self-storage units, though this stainless steel lock has many household applications as well.
10. Furniture pad
    U-Haul part number: FP Typically, customers find these to be a useful resource for keeping their furniture from being scratched and dented, but they serve as great space-fillers as well when packing.

How many of these items do you have available at your location? If you’re missing something, you can find all these items and more on the Buyer’s Club, a wholesale program available exclusively to U-Haul Dealers. Learn more about the Buyer’s Club by going to uhauldealer.com or calling 866-277-6855.

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Consumers today can be flexible in their purchasing needs, but one thing they will not bend on is convenience & One-Stop-Shopping. Big Box retailers figured out long ago that if they provided all of things their customers needed all in one place, they’ll frequent that business more often; even if it costs them a little more.

Storage customers are the same way. Since we know that two out of every ten storage customers requires a truck rental, many savvy operators have added truck rentals to their business; simply because they’ll be able to provide the one-stop-shopping that there competitor might not. That and it provides an additional income stream for their primary storage business and a way to offset some additional overhead costs.

The best part of all of this, is U-Haul assumes all of the liability, repair and maintenance costs so it’s ZERO RISK, and since it’s not a franchise there is absolutely no cost for storage operators to enter in and participate. Your only commitment is what U-Haul refers to as “your unused land and labor” which means a place to park a few trucks, and someone to perform the five minute rental contract on our free Point Of Sale software.

Since most operators today don’t have the parking spaces to park large quantities of trucks, U-Haul requires no minimums or maximums as it relates to rental inventory. Whatever space you can allocate will always work for U-Haul. Only want to rent trucks and no trailers? No problem! Want to rent everything? No Problem!

There is also no trade protected areas, and since truck rental customers demand convenience it’s not uncommon to see U-Haul Dealerships a mile from one another. U-Hauls reservation referral program allows you to make money on a piece of rental equipment you might not have which makes this concept work out for both Dealers and the customer!

We see storage customer’s everyday inquiring about where to buy boxes and moving supplies for their goods in storage. When you’re a U-Haul Dealer, you can use U-Haul’s purchasing power through box vendors to purchase boxes and moving supplies and sell them for what you decide is the appropriate retail rate. You can even have the costs of these supplies deducted directly from your truck rental commission, so there is no direct out of pocket costs.

If your choose to use U-Haul’s business platform you are entitled to many other features well over and above what most storage software companies use including receiving storage reservations from uhaul.com. This is why U-Haul’s storage software is clearly an all-encompassing business platform.

U-Haul has additional programs to help advertise your storage business by putting your name on a truck and a program that allows the customer to use the truck at a limited or zero cost if they rent your storage room.

The U-Haul Dealership contract is a 30 day notice to terminate, so there is nothing that locks you in for the long term. Trying it out to see how your customers respond just make sound business sense.

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You have probably heard of Moving Help® powered by U-Haul®, but are you aware of all the ways this service can benefit you and your self-storage facility? In this article we are going to breakdown how you can give yourself an edge in the highly competitive storage industry and enhance your customers’ moving and storing experience.

What is it?

Moving Help® is an online marketplace powered by U-Haul® offering loading and unloading, packing and unpacking, U-Box container delivery, cleaning, and specialty moving services (piano, safe, etc.).

How can your customers benefit?

Take the stress out of moving for your clients by offering a service to your customers that is no additional cost to you. Additional services can add value and increase overall customer satisfaction.

How can you benefit by referring customers to MovingHelp.com?

When referring customers to Movinghelp.com, you are referring them to a platform where they can choose their Moving Help® Service Providers based on real customer reviews so you do not have to worry about the liability you feel when referring a specific company. You get all the credit for referring them to a great provider without having to do any of the physically demanding work.

Having your customers hire professional movers can lower damages, and lessen the time spent at your facility while moving in or out.

How does it work?

We can provide you with free brochures to hand out at your facility. If interested in having brochures sent to you please reach out to partnerships@movinghelp.com with the address you would like these to be sent to.

1. Have your customer go to MovingHelp.com where they can enter the address where their services are needed.
2. They can review the available providers and select the date, time, and provider based on their customer reviews.
3. The Moving Help® Service Provider will then reach out to the customer to work out all the scheduling details.
4. When the job is done to their satisfaction, they will give the provider a payment code that was emailed to them at the time of checkout.
5. Then they can provide the next family with all the details of how outstanding their Moving Help® Service Provider(s) performed in a review.

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The Self-Storage industry is all the buzz about providing customers with convenience, automation and improved experience.  While technology is growing by leaps and bounds, facilities are struggling to find cost effective solutions to provide the best possible customer experience.  It is important to recognize that most times, the best solutions are often the simplest solution.  WebSelfStorage provides Affiliates a host of simple, cost effective, and efficient tools to stay competitive.

One of those solutions is the Storage Affiliate Contact Center which is fully integrated with WebSelfStorage software, allowing phone agents to become an extension of the facilities team.  With phone coverage 24/7, customers are sure to recognize the value that your facility puts on their time.  Agents are able to perform most tasks for the locations customers at any time of the day.  If your existing customers need to make a payment by phone or discuss the account status, the agents are able to assist them and provide your facility team with information about their call.  Additionally, new or prospective customers are provided with full service and even able to perform a move in by phone.  Locations who participate in the U-Haul Dealer program receive the additional support with their truck reservations no additional cost.

The Storage Affiliate Contact Center is provided at a low monthly cost, and determined by the unit count on the property.  This includes unlimited phone coverage, unlimited transactions and full support.     The cost structure is as follows:

Less than 100 units                          $175.00

101-251 units                                     $225.00

251-500 units                                     $265.00

501 + units                                          $325.00

Affiliates using the service have found that they are increasing their occupancy by capturing calls that they would have otherwise missed.  Customer are able to make payments and manage their accounts on their time which increases the customer’s satisfaction and increases their length of stay.  Additionally, Dealers are finding that their commissions are offsetting what they pay for the service because they are able to increase their reservations.  Cost effectiveness is evident when you consider the cost of hiring addition staff members or missing even one new customer call.

If you are looking for a cost effective solution to improving your customer experience, capture lost leads or even providing your existing staff some support, take a closer look at the Storage Affiliate Contact Center.  The service offers real time, cost effective solutions to any size facility.  But don’t just take our word for it.  Here is what some of our existing affiliates and their customers have to say.

Feedback

“Thank you for all of your help and we appreciate the call center and the way they handle all of our customer needs. As a manager it is nice to have that peace of mind that a missed call will be taken care of as I would handle it. It is great knowing after hour calls are answered and addressed. We appreciate the messages that are sent to us letting us know what transpired with each call and if we need to follow up or not.”

 -Nancy Allred – Bridgeview Self Storage

Fernandina Beach, FL

“I would also like to compliment the call center employees I spoke with who were also friendly & professional.”

-Julia R. – Storage Customer

The U-Haul affiliate call center has been a great addition to our storage facility. Management motivates and challenges call center agents to care about the details of our facility. The communication with upper management has been excellent, making it easy to iron the many nuisances of our facility. This service frees up the facility managers time, allowing them to really focus on improving and increasing storage sales performance.

-Robert Irwin – Hillsborough Self Storage

Hillsborough, NC

My experience with the U-Haul Contact Center is that they are an arm and or extension of our storage and U-Haul operation.

We get very busy here and when our people leave the office and the phone rings it is great that the contact center is able to respond to the customers and do all of the transactions that we do here in the office.

We get the messages promptly on the instant messenger and our staff checks the instant messenger every time they get back into the office, multiple times per day.

I am pleased with the service.

-David Fisher – Imperial Storage Solutions

Sugar Land, TX

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