This May, students will have yet another summer storage option.
Starting this summer, Yale has partnered with All College Storage, a third-party college storage service that picks up students’ boxed belongings from their rooms, stores them during the summer and returns them in the fall. Although Yale College administrators endorsed All College Storage, students who work with the service said, the Yale College Council has separately partnered with Boomerang Storage, a similar company, said Rachel Tobin ’15, a YCC member.
Kevin Michalak ’15, Conner Lachenbruch ’15, Peter Ambiel ’15 and Yaser Mahmoud ’15 are All College Storage’s Yale representatives, publicizing the company’s offerings and responding to customer service requests. Michalak and Parker Holcomb, an Amherst graduate who created All College Storage, approached various Yale administrators earlier this year to establish the partnership, which they said addresses logistical difficulties surrounding summer storage. All College Storage provides students with as many boxes as they would like.
Holcomb said Yale’s student liaisons can respond more directly to questions or concerns because they know the “lifeblood of the school.”
“We run extremely efficiently,” Holcomb said. “I always say we’re student-run, professionally done.”
Holcomb said All College Storage did not have enough time to coordinate with the YCC, and Michalak said that they worked with John Meeske, dean of student organizations and physical resources, and Associated Student Agencies staff to create the Yale partnership. Still, Holcomb and Michalak both said they hope to partner with the YCC in future years, and Holcomb added that he has already discussed the possibility of working with the council next year.
YCC President-elect Danny Avraham ’15 declined to comment for this story, and in a Friday email to the News, he instructed other members of the council not to comment further on All College Storage.
Holcomb said his company differentiates itself from competitors through its user-friendly online platform, superior customer service and a streamlined pickup and delivery process. All College Storage also relies on students from participating universities to manage campus operations.
Of 11 students interviewed Sunday, only two said they would use a summer storage company like All College Storage this year. Seven said they prefer to use the free residential college storage space.
Evan Linck ’15 said he will have to use a storage company rather than resorting to residential college space this year because he has too many belongings. Still, he said he will not use All College Storage because the prices are too expensive.
Mitchell Jones ’16 said he is using a storage unit this summer instead of All College Storage. While Jones said the company has a good business model, he added that “the prices are definitely a rip-off.”
“It’s great if you have no other way of getting to and from a storage unit,” Jones said.
Founded in 2008, All College Storage now operates at 16 universities and six boarding schools, and also offers shipping services through FedEx Ground.
Correction: April 22
A previous version of this article stated that All College Storage is generally cheaper than the YCC’s partner organization, Boomerang Storage, and included a graphic outlining the differences in cost between All College Storage and Boomerang Storage. While Boomerang Storage’s general advertised costs were listed correctly in the graphic and are for the most part more expensive than All College Storage’s costs, the YCC offers special storage options to students through Boomerang that cost less than those offered by All College Storage. The article also mistakenly stated that Danny Avraham ’15 instructed other members of the council not to comment further on the council’s storage offerings. While he declined to comment on the story as a whole, he instructed other members of the council not to comment on All College Storage.