[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Offsite storage



I'm coming into this thread midstream, but we looked at Iron Mountain for
our audio & video masters before building our own vault.  They were
charging $.25 per tape per month just to store (in boxes that can leech
acidic elements).  Given the material we have, we were looking at $40,000
per year to store, & more if (which we would) we wanted to pull some every
now & then.  The vault we built, with construction, motorized shelving & a
pro HVAC/humidity controlled unit, cost around $250,000.  It wouldn't have
taken more than a little over 6 years to pay for the vault if we had
rented.  Plus, we have full control & access to our stuff any time we want
it.  We pulled one company's stuff from Iron Mountain after purchasing that
company, & were not impressed with IM's system.  They put returned tapes in
miscellaneous boxes with post-it notes as to which box it is supposed to be
in, instead of putting it in the correct box to begin with.  Their climate
control consisted of a typical commercial HVAC system with little home
dehumidifiers for humidity control in some rooms.  Not all rooms were
vaults in the professional sense, either.  Of course, I am only speaking of
the Iron Mountain in my area.  What I am saying, is they will do everything
to appear professional, & to convince you that you cannot afford to take
care of your own masters better than they can.  The reality is that there
is a very good chance you can not only do your own vault, but you can save
money & headaches not having to deal with someone else for your materials.
 Shop around, make sure you know what they are really offering before you
rule out your own vault.  Big or small, the savings should still be there
to have your own facility.  Our first vault was just 20ft x 30ft.  The new
one is 50ft x 65ft.  Of course, the motorized mobile shelving helps keep
the room size to a minimum?Just my two cents!  ;-)

Thomas Roderick
Troderick@providentmusicgroup.com



--------------------original message-----------------------

From:   Daniel Sokolow@MCGRAW-HILL on 02/28/2000 10:36 AM
To:     archives@listserv.muohio.edu
Subject:        Offsite storage

I had some materials sent to offsite climate controlled storage at Iron
Mountain (who now own every ^*&%^%$^ storage company on the planet) about
two years ago.  I believe (though I might be misremembering) that we are
paying $1 per cubic foot per _month_.  I think it's in a vault, but we're
probably sharing space with someone else in the vault  - we'd have had to
pay much more to get our own private vault, and I don't think we had enough
to make it worth getting private space.
The one thing to think about when going offsite is that the charges aren't
necessarily huge.
Unless.
Unless you actually need to call things back from them; the handling
charges can get expensive, and if you need to get to your files regularly,
it can be uneconomical to send things offsite.
Daniel

Daniel Sokolow
Corporate Archivist
The McGraw-Hill Companies
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
daniel_sokolow@mcgraw-hill.com

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>