“When finals are over, the cramming begins,” reads an ad from the UPS Store emailed to all Wesleyan students. For many students, especially those who live far from campus, packing up means cramming one’s things into boxes and kissing them goodbye for the summer. Students have several summer storage options, including on-campus storage and a number of storage companies in the area.
Wesleyan provides a limited amount of storage space in the basement of the Foss Hill dorms. According to the Residential Life website, it is intended for use by students who live “a great distance from campus.” It is available, however, on a first-come, first-serve basis. Only boxed items and dorm-sized refrigerators—no rugs or furniture—are allowed, and students must transport their items to and from the area. The website advises students who need more space to look into private storage companies.
Thomas Tachibana ’07, who will be going home to San Jose, California, plans on storing his things on campus.
“I don’t know how much space they give you, though,” Tachibana said. “I think they should provide Wesleyan non-East Coast people with priority.”
Despite the cost, many students opt to use private storage space, which allows them more room and often free pick-up and delivery. Laura Cennamo ’06 works as a Wesleyan representative for Packadorms, a company that provides this service.
“A lot of people use storage companies,” Cennamo said. “Packadorms was started by a Wesleyan student who graduated last year. People get boxes, as many as they need, and you only get charged for the ones you use. [Packadorms employees] come and pick them up during finals week and they’ll drop them off at your dorm next year. It’s not just for people who live far away—people who live close by store fridges and couches. Also, Packadorms ships stuff.”
Chole Safire ’06, who comes from Los Angeles, used Packadorms last year.
“I stored a couple of boxes,” Safire said. “My only problem was, I had a desktop computer that I had to store. But it turned out fine—a little bit expensive. I also ended up shipping stuff home, maybe a box or two.”
Tamar Greenspan ’06 also used a private storage company last year. Greenspan lived in South Carolina at the time.
“I went in with a couple of people from my hall and we rented a storage unit at Maples Self-Storage down on South Main,” Greenspan said. “The people were lovely, they showed us to our unit, we bought a padlock, and the rest is history. It was $60 each.”
Greenspan did not find the process overly agitating.
“It was fine, it was just a pain to pack everything up, especially during finals week,” she said. “It would be nice to just throw everything in a car. This semester is going to be harder because I’m planning to go abroad next semester so I have to find a storage service that will let me store things for the summer and the following semester.”
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