CSS VS National Companies

 

What’s the difference between CSS and the National Competition?

First off let me say that I am basing the following on facts on being in this business for 28 years. I started CSS while in the business school at CU Boulder. I have been offering my services to colleges just in Colorado and seeing these national companies come and go. Here you go, Pros and Cons. CSS VS national companies like and not limited to College Boxes, Campus Storage, Dorm Room Movers, Storage Squad, Storage Scholars, College Truckers, etc.)

CSS is locally owned and operated here in Colorado. National companies are located outside Colorado and subcontract all services to 3^rd party moving companies.

CSS is licensed and insured here in Colorado. Many national companies are not. Even though they subcontract out their services to 3^rd party vendors they still have to have a representative here in Colorado who has the proper licenses to do business here. For the last 3 years, Campus Storage has been illegally operating here in CO.

CSS uses its own employees. All are current and former students at CU Boulder and Colorado State University. National companies have zero moving employees in the state of Colorado. The moving companies they subcontract out to usually use temp help they hire the week before to complete this work. You as the customer have no idea who or what employees or what company is showing up to pick up your stuff in the name of the national company.

CSS is here for ALL college students on and off campus, throughout their college careers, and all year long. National companies only service dorm students (low-hanging fruit is how we say it in the industry) They don’t want to service off-campus students. They are not around for your college student throughout the year if you need their services, unless you still live on campus or pay extremely high special pick-up and delivery fees. 

CSS stores anything! Including furniture and vehicles (indoors). National companies don’t take furniture or beds and couches and do not store vehicles.

CSS offers numerous pick-up and delivery dates for most schools. If students need a special pick up or delivery outside the main dates for each school, the special pick up or delivery fee is between $75-$250. National companies give limited pick-up and delivery dates, if you want a a special pick-up or delivery outside these dates, the special pick-up or delivery is either not available or is $500-$700

CSS allows customers to come to our warehouse to pick up or drop off items. National companies will not allow customers to do this. They will hide behind the clause “this is for security reasons” but the truth is they don’t want you to know what company has your stuff or where it is. You don’t have a way around paying their special pick-up or delivery fees or the limited pick-up or delivery dates they offer to you.

CSS has excellent phone support and email support for all its customers throughout the Summer mainly during pick-up and drop-off periods. Try calling a national company phone # and getting them to answer the phone. Most only use email support so there is no way to talk to them.

 

More In-Depth Details:

Where is your stuff being stored? With CSS we have 3 warehouses in Boulder and Fort Collins 7 miles from campus. With national companies, you not only have no clue who has your stuff, you have no clue if it’s even in a warehouse. Over the years, numerous companies, including 2 that CU Boulder contracted out with at their “Preferred Storage Vendor” put stuff in storage units or in storage wood boxes that were left outside all Summer. I know this because the people who used them called me and used me the following year and told me of the horrible experiences they went through with these other companies with damages, lost items, and vermin problems. In every case, the parents called the school about their “Preferred Storage Vendor” and the school did nothing. Yet CU Boulder preferred these companies to the parents and said they checked them out. In every instance, the companies hid behind their fine print “terms and conditions” and didn’t pay the parents or students out for anything. One of these companies was Campus Storage, They used a moving company out of Longmont, CO and the students’ stuff was put in wooden Uhaul boxes in a field for the Summer. Kids got back stuff that was all covered in dirt and water damage because the wooden boxes were not sealed correctly. This is a fact, not fiction.

“Preferred Vendor Status” How come CSS isn’t listed as a preferred vendor for CU Boulder when you started the company at CU Boulder and you’re a former CU alumnus or at Colorado College and Regis University? Good question. National companies pay these schools and most other colleges for this vendor license and or kick back money to the schools to be the “Preferred Summer Storage Vendor” In return the school only advertises these companies’ info, not because they're good, but because they are getting paid to say so. The schools will say they are doing due diligence on looking into these companies to make sure they are legit but they don’t. Also, these national companies are not ideal for all students, like those living off campus or needing services throughout the year. The schools do not care about all students or that you are paying higher prices. They are just out to make more money. CU Boulders “Preferred Summer Storage Vendor’ contract was a 19-page contract last year and you had to pay the school $5000 to be a part of it. It included clauses of companies having to have ridiculous insurance policies, name tags for employees, and background checks for all employees, and was worked on by 8 departments at CU Boulder. It sounds good and fair, but the contract was not followed up on by the school in any of these things even after I told the school ahead of time before pick-ups last year in April that one of their “preferred Summer Storage Vendors”, Campus Storage, was operating illegally in Colorado and on their campus without the proper licenses to do business in Colorado. They still endorsed them and allowed them to do business on their campus with plenty of time to stop them. When doing pick-ups these companies that CU Boulder preferred employees did not have name tags on as required in the contract that these companies signed.  If you don’t believe any of this, call the CU Boulder housing department. This year CU Boulder is using other national companies that paid them to be their “preferred Storage vendor”. 

Colorado College just went out and signed a contract last year with Campus Storage, and didn’t give anyone else a chance to bid on it. This includes CSS, which has only been operating for the past 24 years offering its services to CC students and parents, or the fact that CSS helped pack up 350 CC students during the COVID-19 outbreak year. You can also call Colorado College housing offices and ask them about it.

I reported last year that Campus Storage was illegally operating and offering its services at CU Boulder and Colorado College for doing business in the state of Colorado without the proper licenses. A PUC investigator looked into this and found out they were operating illegally last year in the State of Colorado, and for the past 3 years and sent out "cease and desist" letters to both CU Boulder and Colorado College to stop endorsing this company because it's operating illegally here in Colorado for numerous years. You can follow up with both school’s student housing depts. on this fact. CU Boulder and Colorado College this year are not "endorsing this company" for this same reason. Campus Storage is again doing business this year in 2024 in the state of Colorado illegally. 

Who is legal, and who is not? You can search here on the Dora/ PUC website, they are the regulating branch for the moving industry in Colorado.

https://www.dora.state.co.us/pls/real/PUC_Permit.Search_Form and it will show you if any company is on file with the state correctly and who actually is on file for the company in the State of Colorado if they are. If they are not on this link, they are operating illegally in Colorado. As an example, please look up my business and you will see that I have the correct permits to do business here in Colorado, for the past 28 years, I might add.

Bottom line. Who loses with these schools’ “Preferred Storage Vendor Contracts”?

You lose. You pay higher prices, limited services, limited pick-up and delivery dates, get referred companies that don’t even have employees in the state of Colorado, use 3^rd party companies that you have no clue who they are, where your stuff is being stored, or who their employees are. You don’t know any better because you are only told by the school what they want you to hear. You lose if your student lives off campus and needs moving services, summer storage, or shipping help because the school won’t tell you anything, you live off campus. They only care about the on-campus kids and their parents who pay them more money for housing. These “preferred Storage Contracts” that the schools put out just make more money for the school, they are not looking into your best interest at all.

I do, I'm a local company here in Colorado and the schools shaft me by just signing contracts with national companies with no option to bid on them, or unless I pay them these huge sums of money to be a "preferred vendor" - plus make me jump through hoops with the ridiculous contracts that they don’t even enforce. In the Colorado College case, I didn’t even have a chance to bid on this contract. CC just signed it with them and didn’t tell anyone. Th school just blocked me out

With CU Boulder Housing office, why wouldn’t they want to help out a former Alumni and a business that is located in the city of Boulder and started at their school in 1996? They lip-sink everyone who asks and says they are out to help small businesses, but they’re not. Another example is the food courts on campus, they are all national chains, and no local businesses are represented.

Take a look at their relationship with the Better Business Bureau (BBB )in Boulder, there is none. The biggest employer in the city of Boulder, the University of Colorado, with a “great” college with a business school, isn’t even in contact with the BBB in the city they are located in. That speaks volumes. Are they out to make a difference, help students get an education, and work with the businesses in their community? Or are they out to make more money? You tell me.

 

Michael Shelhamer/ April 1st 2024