How to Lessen Your Storage Costs

Even while using warehouse facilities for your storage needs can save your company a lot of money, there are still several other ways to save even more. This is particularly important when your company stores a lot of goods with high turnovers and those that come from other parts of the country/world. With perennially rising oil prices and shipping costs, the smart entrepreneur needs to find ways to minimize his storage expenses without compromising the lifeblood of his business.

Tip #1: Consider sourcing your goods from somewhere closer to home.

There's a lot of hype going around that sourcing from other countries, particularly those less developed than your own, is more economical than sourcing your goods from another part of your country. But remember that your goods will only be in transit only about 5% of the time - the rest of the time, they'll be sitting around idle in some warehouse space waiting for paperwork.

While a supplier from your own country may sell the same goods for slightly more, the storage time may be much shorter and the shipping costs may be lower. You'll also need to consider travel expenses, especially if you periodically need to send one of your boys to the source location to check on things.

Tip #2: Consolidate your storage needs into one location.

When you have multiple suppliers from a single location, it's often best to store all your goods in one location instead of using multiple storage facilities. This will also save you some money when you decide to ship all your goods at once instead of paying for multiple smaller shipments. Find storage facilities whose management can save you some of the trouble by doing some of the work themselves.

Tip #3: Check your insurance.

Sometimes storage and shipping costs include some measure of insurance, which can be quite expensive. If you check your company for insurance it already has, you might find that storage and shipping is already covered. If and when you do, then you can save money by opting not to pay for additional (redundant) insurance from the storage and shipping companies.

Tip #4: Finally, make some informed decision-making.

Much of the money-saving you can do with storage is done before you actually get the storage space. You'll need to accurately decide what and how much of your items you plan to store, and for how long. When you know exactly what you need storage for, you can then easily find the storage facility that best suits your needs at the most competitive cost.

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