This blog was first published on April 29, 2019. This is a December 2021 update to the original posting.
How do we stack up?
When you’re starting a new, family-owned and operated business, you often look to the big guys to see how they’ve done it – and where you can improve. And then it’s your job to make sure you keep measuring yourself to see if you still stand out, because if you’re the little guy, you gotta do better.
So of course we started with PODS® because when you think of portable storage, you think of PODS® – and frankly, we thank them for being the first on the ground and introducing the concept to the marketplace.
Certainly, PODS® is the biggest but as we all know – biggest isn’t necessarily the best. In our ongoing commitment to being best in the areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut that we serve, we did a quick comparison of the local PODS® operation here in Rockland County on three criteria:
- Price
- Service
- Container Construction / Quality
Let’s start with the one most people use as a first comparative criteria: price. Below is a quote from PODS® for delivery/pickup and one-month rental of a 16’ container to Suffern, New York. The total comes out to $467.
And here is something totally not cool – implying that the cost is $378 instead of $467 by saying “You can reserve now and pay later.” Even I thought – wow, that’s a pretty good price until I realized what they did there. Fuzzy math – they conveniently forgot to add the pickup fee to the highlighted total.
As you can see below, the same iCan Storage quote is $406 or 15% less than the PODS® quote:
So round 1, price, goes to iCan Storage. We’re feeling pretty good here! And our instant quote clearly states the accurate total so you know your all-in cost. Just a footnote here – back in 2019 when this blog was first posted, iCan Storage’s pricing was 15% below PODS®. We continue to bring our customers fair pricing and value.
Now let’s talk service, criteria 2. This can be a fairly subjective subject, so we decided to let the customers do the speaking here. Ouch. Sorry PODS®, when we go head to head comparing each of our three most recent reviews on Google, we hate to say it but your clients aren’t showing you much love.
Here are the PODS® reviews:
We can’t help but be proud of our reviews. Here are the latest three Google reviews of iCan Storage:
Oops, we did it again: On criteria 2, service, round definitely goes to iCan Storage, proudly serving areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
But we’re not done yet. Final comparison is the container itself. Truth is, we figured this part out before we ever ordered our first custom-designed box, so we already know who’s taking this round. But just for you, here’s a side by side comparison.
PODS® containers have steel beams, aluminum skin and vinyl semi-transparent roofs. They are constructed with a roll door on one side.
iCan Storage containers are all steel. The steel frames, walls and doors of our units offer durable protection that wooden and plastic storage containers just can’t match. And its metal structure, unlike wood, prevents the absorption of moisture, decreasing the likelihood of mold and mildew.
Our containers are built with swinging doors instead of roll doors. Swinging doors are harder to break into than the traditional roll-up doors used by PODS®. And, our doors won’t jam if there is ever a case where the contents shift. And swinging doors offer 30 more cubic feet of packing space than the equivalent 16’ PODS® container, because you don’t need to dedicate overhead space to the roll drive.
Finally, iCan Storage’s containers have doors on both end of the container. Think about that when you’re loading and unloading.
Yeah, we thought you’d agree!
And we haven’t even touched on our unique delivery system. We have been called in on many a job where PODS® could not do the delivery.
We thank PODS® for creating this industry. We just think we’re doing it better. So if you are in the areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and are in need of moving and storage pods, give us a call or request on online quote.
