Shipping Containers – 5 Hedges Against Inflation (in addition to lower-cost housing)

Shipping containers used for low-cost housing has been a popular story in the media. The budget-conscious usually start out with purchasing a used container, ranging from $4,500 to $6,500. Then they gladly do the necessary spending for the plumbing ($7,000 average cost), windows ($4000 average), and more. The glee is because even a deluxe model of shipping-container housing will be significantly less than the current price for the typical single-family house in America. Wall Street 24/7 puts that at $303,288.

5 Inflation Hedges

However, shipping-container housing is just one of a growing number of ways to reduce expenses. The options are becoming increasing attractive with inflation at a 30-year high. During October 2021, the Consumer Price Index rose 6.2 percent, compared to the rate in October 2020. According to Goldman Sachs’ projection for 2022 and onwards, inflation’s galloping pace will slow down but inflation itself is here to stay. Both individuals and businesses face pressure to be more cost-efficient.

Following are 5 ways to reduce expenses.

Moving

With inflation, every aspect of the standard way of moving – using a professional moving service – is escalating in price.  Depending on how much needs to be transported and how far expenses for that, documents MoveBudda, can reach $10,000.

Do that via a shipping container and Move.org calculates the cost to be between $2,400 and $5,600. For loading and unloading, those services are provided throughout America a la carte.

The options include both rental and purchase. The latter is an ideal fit for storage on the property or in space leased elsewhere.

No Lawyer Needed

The maze of zoning laws usually means hefty fees for legal help plus the fees for the permits. That’s what is traditional in construction, renovation, or add-ons. It is possible to bypass all that by using a shipping container as what is known as a “temporary structure.” No permit is required. Storage sheds, home offices, studios, and even above-ground pools can be designated as temporary structures.

Contract Counsel puts the average lawyer fee in America between $250 and $350 an hour.

Used Versus New

Buying used, as with so many purchases, can save money. The amount for used shipping containers depends on:

• Age/condition
• It’s important shoppers don’t buy more square footage than really needed. We at SteelStored have extensive experience assessing what size is the most cost-efficient for the customers’ needs.
• Delivery fees. A necessary question to ask if those are wrapped in the quoted price or will be an add-on.
• Seller reputation. Partnering with a trusted shipping-container vendor like SteelStored in the New England area ensures buyers are receiving exactly what they pay for. That can also eliminate the extra expense of hiring an inspector to confirm that the marketing data is valid.

There is also the used rental option as well as rent-to-buy. In the latter the monthly fee can be put toward the purchase. That ranges between $95 to $150.

Course Correction

Mistakes in business can be expensive. That “penalty cost” can be minimized through leveraging the portability of shipping containers.

One example would be a fast-growing IT startup in Akron, Ohio. There isn’t enough talent in the area. The founders decide it’s a must to relocate to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fortunately, they have constructed their headquarters with shipping containers. Moving them is less expensive and faster than having to lease office space in the new location.

Another typical example is that the clothes retailer purchased too much inventory for Sierra Vista, Arizona. Since it’s stored in shipping containers that can be transported cost-efficiently where it will sell 240 miles away.

Closer to the Customer

Once the investment is made in shipping containers, they can be redeployed anywhere.  That’s the strategy a growing number of manufacturers are considering with shipping costs spiraling out of control. Time Magazine documents that the expense for transporting a 40-foot steel container from Shanghai to Rotterdam has risen 547 percent over the last five years.

Given the transportation fees, the labor cost differential for manufacturing in low-cost locations versus in the U.S. matters less. Indeed documents that the minimum hourly rate for production workers in Alabama is $13.19. In the southern part of the state there’s a port for shipping to customers throughout the U.S.

From Massachusetts Bay Colony to Inflationary Current Times

It was back in 1631 that the entrepreneurs in Massachusetts Bay Colony put into the sea the first shipping vessel for commerce. Since then the industry has mostly focused on transporting goods across oceans. But as the economy becomes more volatile, including the return of inflation, today’s entrepreneurs have reimagined the shipping container solutions for cost-efficiency. Those are proving such an amazing fit that some new ones produced may never be used at sea.