U-Haul 2004 Annual Report Download - page 10

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system and manage our capital expansion plans to leverage this capability and generate increased rentals on
our rental equipment.
EÅective marketing of our self moving related products and services, such as boxes, pads and insurance,
helps our customers have a better moving experience and helps them protect their belongings from potential
damage during the moving process. We are committed to providing a complete line of products selected with
the do-it-yourself moving and storage customer in mind. Examples of products recently added or expanded
include a number of specialty packing boxes, ""Mover's Wrap'' and Smart Move tapes. Mover's Wrap is a
sticks-to-itself plastic stretch wrap used to bind, bundle, and fasten items when moving or storing.
Additionally, U-Haul has added a full line of Smart Move tape products. The Smart Move tape is a color
coded packing tape that has the room printed right on it allowing customers to tape and label their belongings
in one quick step.
These actions, leveraged by our 1,351 company owned and operated retail centers, enables the company
to provide better customer service, which we believe led to increased sales and increased productivity.
Self-Storage
Our self-storage business consists of U-Haul self-storage room rentals, self-storage related product and
service sales and management of self-storage facilities not owned by the company.
U-Haul is the second largest operator of self-storage and has been a leader in the self-storage industry
since 1974. U-Haul operates over 340,000 storage rooms, approximately 29 million square feet of storage space
and locations in 49 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul's self-storage facility locations range in size up
to 152,000 square feet of storage space, with individual storage units in sizes ranging from 15 square feet to
over 400 square feet.
The primary market for storage rooms is the storage of household goods. We believe that our self-storage
services provide a competitive advantage through such things as Maximum Security (""MAX''), an electronic
system that monitors the storage facility 24 hours a day; climate control; individually alarmed rooms; extended
hour access; and an internet based customer reservation and account management system.
eMove
Our eMove.com web site connects independent providers of moving and self-storage services with ""do-it-
yourself'' moving and storage customers. The eMove.com web site connects business to business, business to
consumer and consumer to consumer to provide what we believe to be a compelling array of products and
services as near as any internet portal.
eMove.com is the largest self-move and self-storage online destination for consumers and businesses we
know of. Shoppers can rent or reserve moving equipment, hire helpers to load, pack or unload, rent or reserve a
storage room, and more without going to a store or using the yellow pages. eMove.com connects shoppers to
the world's largest network of customer rated moving and self-storage service providers. With over 12,000
unedited reviews of service providers, the marketplace has facilitated over 21,000 moves.
eMove also targets independently owned self-storage facilities to connect into the eMove network to
provide storage services. Over 900 independent self-storage facilities are connected with the eMove network
channel, making eMove.com the only online destination in the self-storage industry to be able to connect
consumers to self-storage facilities across North America. Over 1,900 self-storage facilities are now registered
on the eMove network.
Within 2 years of its inception, eMove.com has established itself as the only online destination in the ""do-
it-yourself'' moving and storage industry that connects consumers to service providers in all 50 states and
11 Canadian provinces. Our goal is to further utilize our web-based technology platform to expand into
additional markets and provide more value-added products and services to the moving and storage industry.
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