To reduce costs, many businesses cut down on their office space. Unfortunately, this means that they have less room on site for the storage of various business papers that are not currently being used, but cannot be destroyed. These papers may need to be stored for extended periods of time for various reasons, including tax purposes or laws that govern that type of business. Some types of businesses in various parts of the world may actually be required to keep documents for as long as forty years and that can add up to quite a bit of stored paperwork. A solution to this lack of space is to use a self storage unit for off site archiving of the business paperwork.

Business papers, as well as personal documents, should not simply be packed in cardboard boxes and sent to storage. They need special care when being placed in a self storage unit. If special care is not taken to preserve them, then they could end up being illegible or damaged beyond use by the time they are retrieved from the storage unit. If the damaged papers are needed at a later date, the business could have legal issues. 

The first step when archiving business paperwork, documents, and files is to make sure that the self storage unit has a controlled climate. This means that the temperature and the humidity level are kept at a constant. Of course these units will cost a little more than the regular storage units, but it is a necessity to preserve the paperwork.

Most people think of self storage facilities as just offering a place to store personal possessions. Although this is the original and main function of this type of facility, there are more and more self storage companies that are offering storage to businesses as well. Both large and small businesses can find many uses for placing various items in a self storage unit.

Of course, the most obvious use of the storage unit is the additional space that is made available when unused items are removed from the main business location. This is especially true of home based businesses where there is no other option for increasing the space needed for business related items aside from moving to a larger house, which is not usually feasible. Almost any business related item can be placed in a storage unit. This includes such things as seasonal items, extra inventory, business records, and excess furniture. Some storage rental facilities even offer parking spaces where businesses can temporarily store their company vehicles if their business location has limited nearby parking spaces that are free or affordable within the company budget. Renting a vehicle storage space is usually less expensive than parking the vehicles in a paid parking garage. The process of renting a storage unit is the same for both individuals and businesses.