It’s imperative that the shipping container is sitting 100% level at your drop site. When a container’s posts become off centered, the doors don’t operate smoothly and the floor boards tend to buckle.  Elevation is recommended if you have water pooling that could exceed the 6 inch lip at the container door entrance. Otherwise, setting the container on flat ground is your easiest choice.  Any local hardware store can provide railroad ties, pavers, cinder blocks, or wood blocks to assist with elevation and leveling. If you intend on moving your used shipping container at a later date, it’s wise to elevate the unit to allow for the truck or forklift moving the container to get under the unit to lift it. Once a used shipping container lays flat on a surface, it’s very difficult to get under the unit to lift it for the move.

We provide delivery service of our containers to the purchaser. We do not offer container moving services after the initial sale. If you are intending to move your container at a later date, it’s important to put the container on blocks, crossties, or other devices to elevate the unit to allow for a forklift or trailer to get under the unit to pick it up. Used 40ft shipping containers do not come with forklift pockets like new units do and thus need to be elevated if moving it is desired at a later date. 

Holes in a shipping container are unacceptable. This rarely occurs in our three point check system by three different people handling our containers prior to customer delivery.  If a hole is discovered, we have fiberglass patches that adhere and bond to the corten steel to seal the hole completely. Where patches will not work, we have mobile welders that are available for house calls within 75 miles of the container depot. Beyond that, we reimburse any far out mobile welding bills associated with our containers needing a repair that we missed.  Aesthetic issues not affecting the functional integrity of the shipping container’s ability to provide dry storage are not considered viable defects for remedy.  

We have parts vendors who make patches, modification kits, replacement parts and door grease. If we don’t have it in stock, we will point you in the right direction to a vendor that does.

We have modification teams in the Dallas, Houston, Oakland, and Chicago markets only. Quotes for modified containers are given on case by case basis with mock drawings getting approved by the buyer prior to beginning the modification work. Deposits for modified containers are 50% of the purchase price to begin and the balance being due after successful delivery. For modification quotes in the above available markets, please call the sales office to schedule an appointment for an account rep to get all the details needed to provide a quote.

We have the ability to build custom orders with our factory partners in China. Prefabricated containers of a certain color, specification, and size can be ordered for new build service. This service generally takes 120 days to arrive in the USA from the order date. Minimum orders to apply to building specialty containers outside the normal spec shipping containers being built. For new build and custom orders, please call the sales office to schedule an appointment for an account rep to get all the details needed to provide a quote.

There are no records of what was shipped in used containers prior to purchase. Generally, they have been used for 10-18 years with various undocumented cargo in them. If you are concerned about materials shipped in a used shipping container, you should always go with an A Grade One Trip shipping container. These have only had one shipment of cargo from the container manufacturer into the US, which minimizes any unknown risks of hazardous materials. From a policy point of view, shipping lines do not ship hazardous materials in regular shipping containers and use specialty chemical specific shipping containers to move those types of materials. Those shipping containers get disposed of and never see the resale market.

Any 1/4 inch diameter lock will do. We often see master locks, circular key locks and long nose combination locks used. One Trip units come standard with a lockbox which covers the locking mechanism to prevent lock cutting. Amazon sells lockboxes online for about $100 that can be self installed if you’re interested in extra security for your shipping container.

We do accept credit cards, PayPal, and Venmo with a 3% processing fee. The most common forms of payment that are free to use are bank checks for mobile deposit, ACH bank payments, and money orders. We do not accept cash. Drivers are not our employees and do not want to be responsible for cash management.