Small Business Storage
Steady escalating gas and fuel costs are wreaking havoc on small business owners in Northern Virginia and the Washington, DC Metro area. Fox News reports today that a survey by the Small Business & Entrepreneur Council found that 72% of small business owners are “feeling the pain” from rising prices at the gas pump. According to the Energy Information Administration, the weekly average price for regular gasoline grew from $3.64 per gallon as of February 27 to $3.75 per gallon as of March 12 nationwide, and around $4.00 per gallon for regular inNorthern Virginia.
Few businesses are immune from rising fuel costs, but local area contractors who have to hit the roads each day to the jobsite or service area may be able to avoid the pain at pump by reducing the scope of travel each day with close-in storage and parking solutions. For small businesses that rely on daily transportation of key vehicles, employees and materials to and from the jobsite or service area, a secure storage and parking facility that allows for controlled employee access and parking can save your bottom line from rising gas prices. Consider the savings in this example of a roofing contractor with jobs in Alexandria, VA: Before relocating to Gateway Storage, the contractor, who lives in a heavily regulated parking district in Springfield, was parking his work truck at his brother’s residence in Stafford, VA, a distance of just over 30 miles from two of his regular service areas in Alexandria and warehousing tools and materials in a shared workspace in Manassas (western Prince William County), which he accessed or sent employees to access 2-3 times per a week (an additional 15 miles round trip per visit).
At Gateway Storage, the roofing contractor rented a combination parking and storage space that allowed for parking of the work truck and included an 8’ x 20’ storage container for tools, materials and supplies kept previously in the Manassas warehouse. Total cost for parking the work truck and access to the secure storage container came to $259/month on a month to month basis. The average distance from Gateway’s Lorton facility to his Alexandria service areas is 12 miles (instead of 30+) and he had eliminated the trip to the Manassas warehouse, a total savings of 90 miles from the parking location to the service area for a typical 5 day work week, and a total savings of 135 miles including warehouse consolidation. Adding in the savings from the roofer’s commute from home to Gateway Storage instead of the Stafford parking location (17 miles), and you have a total of 220 miles saved per week. At $4 per gallon, approximating 15 miles per gallon that is almost $60 per week savings, or $240 per month! Factoring in windshield time, wear-and-tear on the work vehicle, and logistical efficiency increases the savings to exceed the cost of the parking and storage solution.
At Gateway Storage, we offer a variety of short term and long term small business storage and parking options convenient to Springfield, Arlington, Alexandria and other prime Fairfax County business locations. We can accommodate many sizes and types of commercial vehicles and our facility is professionally designed and maintained. Give us a call today to discuss storage options that can save your small business from rising fuel costs.