Student Storage Terms | A Plain English Glossary

One of our two student services, and the one most of this page is about. There’s nothing for you to load: you pack your boxes, we come to your room and pick them up one item at a time, store them at our warehouse, and bring them back when the next term starts. You’re billed by the item, so you only pay for what we actually pick up. (See student storage.)

If your account closes and, after about 60 days, you still haven’t arranged to get your belongings back — and we’ve tried to reach you — the law lets us treat them as abandoned and clear them out. It almost never reaches this point; we’d much rather hear from you and sort it out.

Getting to your stored belongings while they’re with us. With A la Carte, your boxes are stored at our warehouse; to see them, you give us a couple of business days’ notice and we set up a time. With Self Load, your container comes back to you on redelivery, just like regular Box-n-Go. (See the Access page.)

If something is ever lost or damaged, this is the basis we use to settle: what the item is worth today — taking its age and wear into account — not what a brand-new replacement would cost.

Someone you name who’s allowed to act on your account — schedule a pickup or delivery, hand over or receive your things, or make changes — as if it were you. For students this is usually a parent or a roommate. (It’s different from an emergency contact: an authorized agent can act on the account; an emergency contact is just someone we can reach.)

A formal word for handing your belongings into someone’s care to look after — which is exactly what happens when we store your boxes for you. You don’t rent a room or a unit; you simply trust us with your things and we keep them safe until you want them back.

This is our own box, and it’s the heart of A la Carte. The Box-n-Go U Box is a sturdy made-in-the-USA carton — about 23 by 14 by 17 inches — built so it’s easy to lift and stacks neatly even when it’s full of books. You pack your clothes, linens, and dorm odds and ends into U Boxes; we pick them up, store them, and bring them back. They arrive flat to save space, and you only pay for the ones you use — return any you don’t and we credit your account. (It’s our own box, not U-Haul’s similarly named one.) See our supplies page.

Set dates, lined up with the campus calendar, when we run pickups and deliveries in your area — the easy, low-cost way to get on the schedule. If your timing doesn’t match those dates, you can still book an on-demand pickup or delivery for another day.

Just a precise way of describing the stretch of time your things are actually in our hands — from the moment we pick them up to the moment we deliver them back to you. That’s the window we’re responsible for them.

If something arrives damaged or goes missing, a claim is how you tell us so we can make it right. Let us know in writing within 30 days, and hold on to the item and its packaging so we can take a look.

A term you’ll see from traditional storage companies for units kept at a set temperature and humidity. We do it a little differently: your belongings go inside a breathable, secure vault, and the vault sits inside a commercial-grade warehouse that holds a steady temperature year-round. We call it climate-friendly — the same result, at no extra cost.

The value you place on what you’re storing. There’s a standard limit per box and per account; if your things are worth more than that, just arrange a higher value with us in writing ahead of time.

The term for falling behind — mainly an unpaid balance, but also things like storing items that aren’t allowed. It’s simply the trigger that starts our follow-up process, and it’s usually cleared up with a quick call.

A second person — usually a parent or guardian — we can reach if we can’t get hold of you about your account. They’re someone to contact, which is different from an authorized agent, who can actually act on your account.

Some things aren’t a tidy box. An Extra Care Item — we also call it a Special Care Item — is anything that needs special handling, is an odd size, or is a large piece of furniture that takes more than one person to move: a full-size refrigerator, bicycle, couch, futon, mattress, box spring, table, or a bed frame you’ve taken apart. In A la Carte it’s priced as its own item, separate from a box or a small item, because it takes more care to carry and store.

Just a catch-all word, common in storage paperwork, for your belongings — the boxes and items you hand us to store.

Our enclosed warehouse, where your boxes and items live while they’re with us. It’s breathable and weather-protected — your things are inside, out of the elements, not sitting in an outdoor unit.

The heart of A la Carte: we come right to your dorm room or apartment, carry your packed boxes and items out for you, and bring them back to your room when you return. No hauling things down to a truck or out to a facility.

The list of what we picked up from you. It’s worth checking it over at pickup so the count matches what you handed over — that’s your record of everything in our care.

A small charge that can be added per item if a balance sits unpaid past its due date. It covers the extra account work, and we’ll always reach out before things get there.

A lien is a legal right we have to hold your stored belongings until what you owe is paid — and, if it stays unpaid, to eventually sell them to cover the charges. It’s the same idea behind any storage account, and it’s very much a last resort: we always reach out first, and a quick phone call almost always settles things long before it ever gets that far.

If an account stays unpaid long enough to enter that process, a few fees can be added per item to cover the work involved. They’re avoidable — keeping the account current, or just calling us, heads them off.

There’s a cap on the total value you can store without arranging it with us first. If what you’re storing is worth more, let us know in writing ahead of time so we can set a higher value.

With Self Load, you don’t have to load the container yourself — you can add a crew to load it (or unload it) for you, and everything else works the same. (See Loading help.)

Storage is billed by the month, with a one-month minimum — so even a short stay covers at least that first month.

A Self Load option: keep your container month to month, with no long commitment, instead of prepaying a set term. (See the Storage glossary.)

In A la Carte you pay per item, per month — so the bill follows exactly what you stored. Only pay for what we pick up.

The dates the dorms open and close — what your storage schedule is built around. Don’t know your fall room yet? No problem; you can fill in those details later.

Storage some schools run themselves, often a room or cage on campus. It’s worth knowing the difference: ours is off-campus and full-service — we come to your room, pick up, store, and bring everything back, so you’re not moving it yourself.

Need a pickup or delivery on a day that isn’t one of our set bulk dates? You can book one on demand for the day that works for you, for an added fee.

Each box or item has a weight limit so it stays safe to lift and stack. If something comes in over that limit, an added handling fee may apply — easy to avoid by keeping boxes light.

The kit that brings you Box-n-Go U Boxes and packing supplies before your pickup. It’s optional — but if you’d rather not buy one, a small registration fee applies instead.

An added service for when you’d rather not pack at all: our crew packs your boxes for you. Handy during finals, when time is short.

A la Carte is priced by the item, sorted into a few simple tiers — the U Box, a small item or box, and an extra care item. You pay for what you store, not for a whole unit you might not fill.

A Self Load option: prepay a four- or eight-month term and your rent and delivery are bundled into the one price — a simple way to cover a semester or the school year. (See the Storage glossary.)

A short list of things that can’t go into storage — no liquids, no food or anything perishable, no flammable or hazardous items, and no cash or valuables. It’s there for everyone’s safety. See the full list.

Optional coverage you can add for your belongings while they’re in our care, up to a limit you choose. People often call it “insurance,” but it isn’t insurance — it’s our own coverage plan. You’re also free to rely on your family’s renters or homeowner’s policy instead.

If you’re back on campus early — as an RA, athlete, or orientation leader — it’s worth keeping a few essentials with you (bedding, toiletries) and storing the rest, so you’re set before the rest of your things are delivered.

Bringing your stored belongings back to you when you’re ready for them again — to your room with A la Carte, or your container back to you with Self Load. A little notice helps us schedule it for the day you need.

A small one-time fee that applies if you sign up without buying a packing kit. Buy a kit and it doesn’t apply.

Plain language for who’s responsible for your things at each stage. They’re your responsibility before pickup and after we hand them back; in between, while they’re in our care, they’re on us — and if you ship anything by a carrier, the carrier takes that responsibility once it’s handed off.

One of our two student services. With Self Load you get a Box-n-Go container — an eight-foot-by-five-foot unit — delivered to you; you load it on your own time, and we store it and bring it back, either month to month or on a prepaid four- or eight-month plan. It works exactly like our regular storage, so the container details — sizes, access, how storage works — live in the Storage glossary.

Storage that spans a single semester or the whole school year — for a term abroad, an internship, or simply a year you won’t need certain things on hand.

The day we take your belongings into our care. It’s the date your storage begins and your billing starts from.

Your order summary — the confirmation that lays out the service you picked and the details that apply to your account.

Instead of storing for the summer, you can have your things shipped — home or to your next place — through a carrier. Once we hand the boxes to the carrier, the trip and any claims are handled by them. (See the Moving Terms glossary.)

The middle tier in A la Carte: any box other than a U Box, plus things like a plastic tote, trunk, suitcase, or mini-fridge — under 50 pounds, easy for one person to handle, and not needing any special protection (an un-boxed TV or a lamp shade would).

Our other name for an Extra Care Item — see that entry. Same tier, same idea.

Somewhere to keep your things while you’re overseas for a term or a year, so you’re not paying to store an empty room or hauling everything home and back.

The most common reason students store: somewhere to keep your things over summer break, when the dorms close and you head home or travel, without hauling everything with you or buying it all again in the fall. Box-n-Go handles it either way — Self Load if you’d like a container to fill, or A la Carte Valet if you’d rather we pick your boxes up from your room.

A shipping company we can hand your boxes to if you’re sending things rather than storing them. Once your items are with the carrier, the shipping — and any issue along the way — is handled under the carrier’s terms.

Switching schools? Transfer storage bridges the gap — a place to keep your things between campuses so you’re not moving everything twice.

With A la Carte, this fee applies when you drop items off, pick them up, or visit your things at our warehouse yourself — the handling our staff do on those occasions. It doesn’t apply to Self Load, which works like regular Box-n-Go.

Shorter-term storage over the winter or holiday break — the same idea as summer storage, for the gap between fall and spring terms.