Storage questions, answered.
How mobile storage works, what it costs, what you can store, and how you get things back. If something is not covered here, how it works walks through the whole process step by step.
Getting started
- How does STOVA storage work?
- Four steps. We deliver durable totes to your door, you pack them on your own schedule, we collect them and store them in a climate-controlled facility, and when you want something back you request it online and we redeliver it on a service day. There is no unit to rent and no trip across town.
- What is mobile storage, and how is it different from self-storage?
- Self-storage means renting a unit and moving your things there yourself. Mobile storage brings the storage to you: the totes arrive at your door and go back to a facility we run. You never visit a building, and you pay for what you store rather than for a space.
- Do I need to be home for pickup?
- Someone needs to hand the totes over, but it does not have to be you. What matters is that they are packed and closed when we arrive, because they go straight into storage from your door.
Plans and billing
- How much does STOVA cost?
- Two plans. Archive is $19 a month plus $2.75 per tote in storage, with free pickups and $29 per delivery trip. Flex is $24 a month plus $3.75 per tote, with pickups and deliveries both free. The pricing page has a calculator that works out which is cheaper for how often you expect to need things back.
- Am I charged for empty totes sitting at my house?
- No. The per-tote fee applies only to totes actually in storage. Totes at your place while you pack — or after we bring them back — cost nothing.
- What happens when I add or send back totes?
- The bill adjusts automatically. Add totes and the per-tote fee starts when they reach storage; send them back and it stops. You never pay for space you are not using.
- Can I switch between Archive and Flex?
- Yes, from your account. The change takes effect on your next billing cycle.
- When am I charged?
- Your membership bills monthly. One-off fees — an Archive delivery trip, for example — are charged when you place the order, so nothing unexpected arrives at the end of the month.
Access and delivery
- Can I get my belongings back whenever I want?
- You request the totes you want online and we redeliver them to your door on a service day. That is the real trade-off against a self-storage unit: no 2am access, but no driving across town and digging through a stack either. On Flex, redelivery is free; on Archive, each delivery trip is $29 no matter how many totes come back on it.
- Do I have to take everything back at once?
- No. Totes are tracked individually, so you can request one and leave the rest in storage.
- Can you deliver to a different address than you collected from?
- Yes, as long as both addresses are in a service area. That is the normal case for a move or a student returning to a new apartment.
Security and care
- Is my storage climate-controlled?
- Yes, everything we store. It is not a premium tier — a Lake Superior winter followed by a humid August is hard on paper, fabric and electronics, so climate control is the only way we store anything.
- How do you keep track of what I stored?
- Every tote is logged individually against your account, so retrieving one specific tote does not involve anyone guessing. You can see what you have in storage from your account.
- What can I store?
- Anything that fits in a tote and is not perishable, hazardous or alive: seasonal clothing, holiday decorations, books, kitchen equipment, baby and children's gear, sports equipment, keepsakes and documents. Furniture, mattresses, appliances and vehicles need a self-storage unit instead — we will tell you that rather than take the booking.
Service area
- Where does STOVA operate?
- We run in the Marquette area, including Harvey, Negaunee, Ishpeming and Palmer. The locations page has a ZIP checker that tells you straight away, and if we are not there yet you can leave your email — those entries are genuinely how we decide which area to open next.
- What if you do not serve my ZIP code yet?
- Add yourself to the waitlist. We open markets deliberately rather than claiming coverage we cannot service, and demand from a given area is the main thing that moves it up the list.
Still deciding?
Compare it against a traditional storage unit, or see how it works in Marquette.