A penny saved is a penny earned. For businesses based in the tri-state area, one of the easiest ways of accruing those penny savings is by minimizing your footprint in the Big Apple. A square foot of space here costs more than almost anywhere else in the entire contenent. When it comes to business storage, companies could slash their costs by as much as 40 percent by instead choosing to rent a storage unit across the border in Canada. 

Storage and archival of business documents 

One of the obligations of running even a small business is the necessity to store certain documents for a set period of time. These can relate to finance, payroll, quality management regulatory compliance and practically any and every other aspect of your business. Exact rules vary depending on your industry and the type of document, but it is best practice to retain important documents for at least seven years, and in some cases such as Trust Agreements, documents are supposed to be retained permanently. 

It presents a headache for every business owner. We kid ourselves that we live in a paper free age, but the reality is somewhat different. US businesses still use 12 trillion sheets of paper per year, and although usage has reduced over the past decade – Canada, for example, uses around half as much paper as it did a decade ago, important documents are still printed, signed and stamped. 

These can soon mount up, and while 99 percent of documentation retained in storage will never be needed or looked at, it must all be kept is a secure, organized archive, so that the one percent that is needed can be retrieved. 

Renting business storage in Canada

Local businesses can save a small fortune by using Canadian business storage facilities. For example a ten feet by ten feet storage unit across the Canadian border in the Toronto area is likely to cost around CN$50 to CN$60 per week. Compare that with the US$250 – US$300 per month that the same size unit will cost locally, and that’s an immediate saving in the region of 40 percent. 

For businesses that already have operations in Canada, there is really no decision to make. Even the most important or confidential documents can be archived in a storage unit in Canada, it is just a case of choosing a reputable storage facility that has safe and secure storage units that can be accessed any time. In case of sudden need, documents can still be retrieved from storage and returned to the head office in a matter of hours. 

But even a business that operates purely out of the Big Apple would be well advised to consider using business storage in Canada. The cost associated with renting a truck, loading it up with documents and paying someone to drive them up to Toronto a couple of times a year are insignificant compared to the savings in storage costs. If your business has its own vehicles and drivers, those costs are further reduced. 

Storing archived documents safely and securely

Self-storage for both commercial and private use is big business in Canada, so there are plenty of storage units to choose from. Reputable companies will provide facilities in which important business documentation will be safe from heat, damp or rodent damage. But what you store and how you organize it is your responsibility, and it is not one to take lightly. 

If the auditors, tax authorities or industry regulators suddenly request a specific document, you need to be confident you can retrieve it straight away without spending hours searching through boxes in your Canada storage facility. 

Use strong, purpose-made archive boxes. These are designed for document storage and will allow you store documents efficiently without overfilling the box. Store documents by type and in date order and mark each box with as much information as possible about its contents – for example: “Customer Invoices January 2024 to May 2024”. The more information you write, the easier it will be for you or your representative to find what is needed without delay.

Next, number the boxes and create a manifest of what is in each box, then stack the boxes in numerical order. That way, when the request comes in for a specific document, you can check the manifest, identify the box number and go straight to it when you arrive at the Canadian storage facility. With an organized system, you can find any sheet of paper in a storage unit full of boxes in a matter of seconds. Without one, you could be searching for days, so it is definitely worth making the effort.