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Document Storage

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Why take advantage of Document Storage?

Even in this modern computer age, businesses still acquire lots and lots of paper documents. This is not likely to change any time soon no matter your field. Documents such as records of employment, taxes, contracts and other paperwork can accumulate and take up valuable office space. If you’re a small business owner, this shortage of space could lead you to a fork in the road. Do you get rid of documents? Or do you move into a larger office space? If your business operates in one of the many industries that regulate how long documents must be kept, your options may be even more limited. If you lack the means or desire to relocate your business to a larger office just to store documents, Lockaway storage has the answer: document storage for business.

Without a proper document storage solution, your office can quickly become overwhelmed by shelves and records.

We have a wide variety of options for companies in the Texarkana and San Antonio areas that need help storing their records in a safe, secure location off site. Our professional self storage managers are ready to help businesses and organizations that are uniquely affected by document retention regulations and can advise you on the best way to keep paper documents pristine while in storage.

Considerations for affected businesses

Many industries are still required by the IRS and other government agencies to keep and maintain records for many years, including forever! These industries include, but aren’t limited to, Real Estate, Accounting and Finance, Law, Non Profits, as well as many small businesses in general.

Real Estate

Companies that develop, acquire, and manage property know that there are many documents associated with ownership. If a property is more than a decade old especially, there is a significant increase in the amount of paperwork that accumulates with age. In fact, if a property is old enough to span multiple generations, that one property can have a paper trail of commercial documents that are longer than many modern businesses themselves.

Document management of land is essential so that buyers receive a parcel’s full history before making a purchase. Properly managed document storage is a great way to combat risk as well for many companies. When people sign on the dotted line, there is always the hard copy that needs to be kept on file. Many firms use documents to determine their property's value over time and how it relates to their taxes. Document storage is important for any small business operating in this field and it isn’t hard to understand why.

Accounting and Finance

Documents play a very large role in the accounting and finance fields as well. Small businesses operating in these areas can take advantage of self storage options to store these valuable and important documents to save space in their offices. Documents that need retention are often associated with mergers, major acquisitions, buyouts and loans.  Banks will always ensure that the proper signatures are gathered on multiple copies, so that everything is set in stone. Along with these reasons, many people seek out local small businesses to help them with their taxes. It is important to always store your tax records as they are extremely important to your clients and to the US government.

Law Offices

In no other field is document storage more important than in law. Law offices accumulate documents extremely quickly and are an integral part of their operation. Without proper document storage, day-to-day operations could be stifled. Storing documents as they accumulate from old cases or even long ongoing ones is therefore an extremely important task. Law offices can fill up quickly with all the ways that they collect and generate documents. Paper is used to track arguments, map out responses in the moment, and develop cases. Being clear about billing and filing of client information is another reason that document storage is important to many law offices.

Documents that take up a lot of space in law offices also contain a treasure trove of sensitive personal client information. These can be documents that range from birth and death certificates to marriage licenses, divorce decrees, social security cards, and military discharge papers, all of which need to be stored securely and indefinitely. Lockaway Storage facilities has great options for law offices located in the San Antonio and Texarkana areas.

Cellars are a possible short-term solution, but have scalability issues - unless you want to dig another basement!

Non Profits

Non profit organizations can amass a large amount of documentation about what they’re doing, who they’re helping, and how that help is being provided. It’s easy to understand how a non profit organization would need help with document storage. There are many documents that need to be retained by non profits for regulatory purposes.

These can be:

  • Audit reports
  • Checks
  • Determination letters from the IRS (along with the correspondence with follow up)
  • End of year financial statements
  • Insurance policies
  • Minutes of board meetings and annual meetings of members
  • Real estate deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale
  • Tax Returns

Many of these articles are required to be kept on record more than 5 years and some for the whole life of the organization. Document storage is an important part of any non profit and it’s easy to understand why they would rather save money storing documents than upgrading to a larger to a larger office.

Keeping copious amounts of paper records is often necessary for non-profit organizations of many sizes.

Other Small Businesses

While many businesses that require document storage fall into the categories listed above, many niche businesses need document storage too. Almost every small businesses amasses a large amount of paper documents, not just the ones we’ve already talked about. If you aren’t sure what kind of documents you need to keep in storage, some of the most important are listed below:

  • Hiring and evaluation documentation
  • Basis on which wages are paid
  • Social Security Numbers of employees
  • Hours worked
  • Additions and deductions from wages
  • Total wages paid each pay period
  • Income tax withholdings
  • Fair labor standards act required information
  • Injury reports
  • Employment records
  • Copy of annual performance evaluations
  • City business license
  • Doing Business As statements
  • Seller’s permits
  • Home occupation use permits
  • Food preparation permits

Document storage off-site from your operations increases security by reducing access to integral business documents.

Document Storage Amenities

It is important to consider a self storage facility’s amenities and whether they fit your document storage needs. Lockaway Storage has many locations in the San Antonio and Texarkana areas that can help your firm with document storage and document retention. A number of our facilities feature 24-hour access, ensuring that you have access to you records and documents at all times of the day. Most facilities have drive-up access as well to offer a higher degree of accessibility, making storing and retrieving your documents in self storage even easier. Many Lockaway Storage facilities have multiple levels of security including gated access to facilities and keypad integration to keep our commercial storage units safe. A number of our facilities feature on-site managers and security cameras that keep an eye on our facilities, so we can expertly protect your business’s most important documents.

We also offer a range of commercial amenities to help you with the process of storing your documents in a commercial storage unit. Many of our facilities feature Business Centers where we can take care of many of your everyday business needs. We sell boxes and packing supplies and even offer a nice, warm coffee if you need one. Many of our San Antonio locations also offer Office Space along with storage so you could expand your operations with the combined efficiency of self storage and a professional appearance. Our month-to-month leases at our 35 locations are designed to offer you a high level of convenience and flexibility. We hope that you come visit one of our commercial self storage locations near you soon!

 

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