Candy Adams, CTSM, CME, CEM, CMP, CMM, “The Booth Mom,” is an independent exhibit-management consultant, trainer, speaker, writer, and an Exhibitor conference faculty member. CandyAdams @BoothMom.com

hen exhibit managers budget for the ongoing expense of their programs, they look at the amortized cost of exhibit properties, ongoing changes to exhibit graphics, technology upgrades to equipment, and refurbishing expenses. But they often forget the cost incurred when they’re not using their exhibits — storage fees. Costs to store exhibits can count up quickly, especially with large properties.

To minimize your storage expenses, it’s important to understand all of your options. Here are six tips to help you cut costs without unknowingly sacrificing service and convenience.

1. Don’t store unnecessary items.

Your most expensive exhibit properties are the ones you’re paying to store that you’ll never use again. Many of us are pack rats — storing things we might need again in fear that we’ll throw out something valuable.

The first step toward streamlining storage is to compile a comprehensive list of everything you have in storage, including the type of container (crates, pallets, cases, or loose pieces) and each piece’s dimensions and weights. Digital photos and a good numbering system can help identify and inventory your exhibit properties. Assess whether containers can be stacked and whether pad-wrapped pieces can be palletized and banded so they can stack more easily to save space and money.

Then jettison all outdated graphics, literature for long-dead products, exhibit properties in your old corporate color, and any heavy, old, damaged shipping crates that will likely cost more to repair and reuse than they’re worth.

If you have empty crates or cases that aren’t too damaged to reuse, try to nest smaller exhibit properties or cartons in the larger ones. If you’re paying by the cubic foot and not by weight, nesting will reduce your storage costs considerably.

When they’re in storage, four large crates that I use to ship computer racks to shows hold my stacked theater chairs, a small refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner, wastebaskets, and folding bistro tables and chairs. Nesting those items inside the large crates cuts my storage bill in half.

Bottom line, if you don’t even know what all you have in storage, your storage money’s going right down the drain.

2. Familiarize yourself with all of your storage options.

The majority of exhibitors store their properties in exhibit-house warehouses. This may not be the least expensive option, but it does offer you services you won’t get elsewhere. These can include any of the following services.

Keeping your exhibit in a secure storage location

Pulling, inspecting, and prepping your selected exhibit properties before each trade show

Tracking your inventory

Checking your exhibit’s condition upon its return from each show

Providing a shipping manifest with the items to be shipped and their dimensions, which you can use to request shipping-cost quotes

Packing your shipment to protect it in transit to trade shows

Preparing shipping labels and loading and unloading the shipment for transportation

All this service comes at a price, although it’s usually negotiable, depending on the other services you’re contracting with the exhibit house. But there are other storage options, many of which are less expensive, especially for properties that don’t need to be regularly checked for damage, repaired, or inventoried.

I’ve stored demo equipment in company warehouses, stored graphics in an unused area under the steps between floors in the corporate offices, and even stored pop-up exhibits in a month-to-month rented storage locker near our offices. When an exhibit house that was storing four large crates for one of my clients went out of business last summer, we opted to store them in the warehouse of a local van line rather than move them to another branch of the exhibit house in a neighboring state.

When choosing a storage facility, identify the services you can’t live without and then compare prices and additional services offered among the options that fit your needs.

Don’t forget that the properties in storage are not automatically covered by insurance against damage, theft, or fire. All items that you store off your company’s property should be listed as off-site corporate assets on your corporate insurance policy. When in doubt, check with your corporate risk manager to determine how to cover your exhibit properties for their replacement values, and what the deductibles are in the event of a claim when in storage, on the road, or at a trade show.

3. Understand the various methods of storage-fee calculation.

Different storage facilities use different methods to calculate exhibit-storage costs. Make sure you understand exactly how you’re being charged, so you can avoid unnecessary charges and pack your items in the most cost-effective way.

Some exhibit houses charge “per cube,” or for each cubic foot of property stored. (A cubic foot equals 1,728 cubic inches.) Be sure you know if you’re being charged only for the true cubic volume being stored, or if the storage facility is charging you for the footprint on the floor and all of the “air space” up to the facility’s ceiling, referred to as floor to ceiling pricing.

Other exhibit houses charge per item or by weight. One exhibit house I worked with charged for all of the space in front of our freight, up to the center of the aisle, claiming that we had to pay for all of the space being used, whether for actual storage or access to the storage.

Ask the storage facility how accurately it calculates; some will round up the weight to the next hundred pounds — similar to the hundredweight (CWT) you’re charged by the general contractor for material handling — or round up to the nearest foot dimension on each of the three dimensions (height, length, and width), which will exponentially increase your storage costs without adding value. Also ask if there is a minimum charge per month or per quarter for storage. If so, you may be charged for more space than you actually use.

4. Understand storage extras.

Always ask what additional services, such as exhibit maintenance, inventory tracking, and show preparation, are available or included in your storage costs. Get this list in writing.

Storage facilities often charge higher rates for property stored in warehouses that are climate controlled, that are monitored 24/7 by security, that have fire-suppression systems, or that are in metropolitan areas. Storage spaces with easy access, such as those with multiple truck docks, can cost more than upper-floor or decked storage.

Exhibit houses might also charge a fee each time you need access to your exhibit properties, each time you need to inventory your exhibit in preparation for shipment to a show, to load and unload your exhibit on your chosen carrier, and to check for damage and repair your properties. Knowing what’s included and what costs extra will help you avoid being blindsided by hidden charges.

5. Negotiate your storage rates and fees.

Make storage an integral part of your overall negotiations, whether you’re renegotiating an existing contract with your current exhibit house or storage facility or looking for a new exhibit-storage partner. Determine the hourly and fixed costs for all services the facility can provide, and negotiate for the services you’ll need based on the value of the services and the value of your business to the storage facility.

Make sure to request line-item costs for all services that will appear on your storage invoices, and find out if you’ll be charged for actual labor or a four-hour minimum. Ask if you’ll be charged for labor plus materials and equipment, and whether or not any of the services the storage facility supplies are considered turnkey. This means that the facility will take care of all the details but add an additional 25 to 30 percent to the base costs.

If your storage facility will be making your exhibit-transportation arrangements, ask if it will be passing on the substantial carrier’s discount to you before adding the turnkey fee.

Since a majority of these items are negotiable, it’s better to come to an agreement up front, when the ball is in your court and you have more leverage, than after the damage has been done and the charges have been incurred.

6. Audit your storage invoices.

When you receive your storage invoice, which usually comes quarterly, check it thoroughly for accuracy. Make sure that it matches your contractual rates and correctly reflects the proper inventory and dimensions of the properties you have in storage. While auditing your storage invoice, review each line item and determine whether or not there’s anything that you can eliminate to decrease future storage costs. The best way to avoid being overcharged is to be vigilant. If you simply write the check without auditing the invoice, you’ll never know if you’re overpaying or not. e