With summer just around the corner, Boston University students are preparing to pack up their possessions and move out of their dorms and apartments.
Students said they are either transporting all their items back home via car or utilizing various summer storage options at BU.
For some, self storage is the only plausible option financially.
“I’m from Washington and it would be too expensive to send everything back,” said Danielle Medina, a College of General Studies freshman who is using the Lazybones storage company for the summer to avoid shipping costs.
She said she chose Lazybones because they pick up from her room in Shelton.
“A lot of other ones you had to go to Towers to pick up,” she said.
Medina said she chose which size boxes to store her possessions in &- she said she purchased three of the company’s largest box sizes for $50 each.
However, Medina said she is worried the liquids she is storing will leak out, but is happy the company provides insurance for the stored items.
Aside from Lazybones, some students use Student Logistic Services, which charges a $50 reservation fee and a per-box fee. The storage company’s Facebook group for BU students has 222 members.
Other options include Collegeboxes &- which also charges per box &- EZ Dorm and UPS Store of Boston.
Students also said summer storage is useful for out-of-state students who can’t take everything home. You can check them out here for commercial or temporary hiring spaces.
“I’m from Florida, so I’m looking into storage for the summer because it’s more convenient,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Gregory Cogswell. “Last year, I used Collegeboxes and it went smoothly.”
Blake Torres, a Metropolitan College freshman, agreed that storage can be a useful alternative to packing up everything.
“It’s a really useful option for those who can’t drive their stuff home,” he said. “You pay for a certain amount of boxes and the company in question will generally come to your dorm to pick it up and drop it off at a place of your choosing the next year.”
However, he said there are cons.
“Sadly, the size of what you can store is limited,” he said. “For example, I have a bike but I have no idea what I’m going to do with it over the summer. Chances are that I’ll have to sell it or something. So that part is slightly inconvenient.”
Some students, like CAS sophomore Megan Garland, split the storage costs to save money.
“We had one unit which we split among five people, all for $70,” she said.
For other students, alternatives to summer storage are preferable.
CAS freshman and Canada native Justin Courtnall said he considered storage but decided against it.
“I think it’s cheaper to send stuff home than pay rent, but I think it depends on how much stuff you have,” he said.
CAS sophomore Tesla Abrego never felt the need to use storage because she has stayed in Boston for the past two summers to work.
However, she said she thinks storage has disadvantages.
“[I fear] something will break, they lose my box or someone steals something,” she said.
Staff Writers Jaime Lutz and Meaghan Beatley contributed to the reporting of this story.
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