The College will partner with Dorm Room Movers to provide storage services for students this summer. Dorm Room Movers — a national company that coordinates storage for students around the country — will contract with the College’s longtime storage partner Connors Brothers to facilitate work on site. Connors Brothers will manage moving and storing items, while Dorm Room Movers will manage customer service and billing, Assistant Director of Housing Operations Heather McCarthy told the Record.

The College has partnered with Connors Brothers for the last five years to allow students to store their belongings in Williamstown over the summer. In 2021 and 2022, some students reported that their storage delivery through Connors Brothers was delayed over a week after their move-in date or never delivered, while others said their possessions were returned damaged or covered in mold.

The College chose to partner with Dorm Room Movers for 2023 after conducting a review of three storage companies — Campus Storage, Dorm Room Movers, and Connors Brothers — McCarthy said.

According to McCarthy, Dorm Room Movers was selected because of its transparency and customer service capabilities. This was, she said, in part to address student frustration over lost and delayed possessions through summer storage programs in previous years.

“We understood students’ concerns about being able to access their items,” McCarthy said. “We’re really hopeful that students will be able to feel that [Dorm Room Movers] is accessible and their stuff is in good hands.”

Unlike Connors Brothers, Dorm Room Movers allows for students to track their boxes digitally over the summer and communicate with customer service through messaging, McCarthy explained. Additionally, storage boxes will be picked up from students’ rooms rather than communal drop-off locations as was required in 2022.

Nora Brant ’25, whose boxes were delivered multiple weeks after her requested delivery date and spent multiple hours on the phone with Connors Brothers customer service, said she will probably use Dorm Room Movers because it’s not possible to transport all of her belongings on the flight home to Ohio.

“Knowing that my stuff will be tracked makes me feel a little bit better,” she said. “But I think I’m going to make sure not to store anything that is remotely valuable.”

McCarthy also noted that the new services offered by Dorm Room Movers will come with a price increase from previous years with Connors Brothers. The cost for students receiving financial aid, however, will remain the same for the equivalent amount of box space.

David Wignall contributed reporting.