Mobile self storage vs Lovespace. Pods or per-box courier?
Lovespace charges roughly £3.25 per box per month for individual boxes, or around £69/month for 15–25 sqft of room-style storage. Their model is courier-driven, box-by-box, no furniture. Faringdon Removals delivers a whole pod (35cuft, 125cuft or 250cuft) to your driveway for £30/£20/£10 per week + £99 one-off collection. Honest answer: Lovespace is the better choice for under ~20 boxes with no furniture. For anything bigger — house moves, renovations, downsizing, business archive — pods are dramatically cheaper per cubic foot.
The comparison table
Prices typical, verified May 2026 from Lovespace’s published per-box and room rates.
| Faringdon Removals (mobile pods) | Lovespace (box-by-box courier) | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Whole pod delivered to your driveway | Individual boxes collected and returned |
| Smallest unit | 35cuft pod (~17 medium boxes) | 1 box (any size) |
| Per-box equivalent rent | ~£0.60/box/wk in our 35cuft pod | £3.25/box/month (~£0.75/box/wk) |
| 15–25 sqft (~50–80 boxes) | £20/wk = ~£87/month for 125cuft | ~£69/month |
| 30 sqft (~100 boxes) | £30/wk = ~£130/month for 250cuft | Lovespace per-box price climbs steeply at this scale |
| Furniture | Yes — sofas, mattresses, wardrobes, fridge, white goods | No — boxes only, no furniture |
| Per-box retrieval | Not offered (whole-pod return) | Yes — retrieve individual boxes |
| Minimum term | 4 weeks | 8 weeks |
| Service area | 30mi radius SN7 7SS | UK-wide courier network |
| Insurance | Included up to £5,000 | Limited per-box cover |
| 12-week cost: 20 boxes, no furniture | £259 for 35cuft pod (overkill) | ~£195 + collection fees |
| 12-week cost: 1-bed flat with furniture | £459 | Not available — Lovespace doesn’t take furniture |
Lovespace is genuinely good at the small end. We’re genuinely better at anything room-sized or larger. Different tools for different jobs.
When Lovespace wins
- You have fewer than 20 boxes and no furniture at all.
- You want to retrieve individual boxes mid-storage rather than recall a whole pod.
- You’re a student storing summer kit and you’ve packed it all neatly into 8–15 boxes.
- Your stuff is paperwork, clothes, books, hobby gear. Items that box up cleanly.
- You’re somewhere we don’t cover (outside our 30-mile radius of SN7 7SS).
For genuinely small, all-box storage, Lovespace is well-priced and the per-box retrieval is a real feature we don’t match.
When mobile wins
- You have any furniture. Sofas, beds, wardrobes, dining tables, white goods. Lovespace doesn’t accept these.
- You’re storing more than ~25 boxes’ worth. Per-box maths gets expensive fast.
- You’re moving house, renovating, downsizing, or decluttering. These are room-volume jobs, not box-volume jobs.
- You’d rather load once, in your driveway, than pack 50 boxes that Lovespace can collect.
- You want a published all-in price, not per-box arithmetic.
The honest trade-offs
- No furniture is the big one. Lovespace explicitly doesn’t take furniture. If you have a bed, a sofa, or any white goods to store, Lovespace isn’t an option.
- Per-box retrieval. Lovespace can deliver back any single box on demand. We can’t. We return the whole pod.
- Per-box pricing scales badly. £3.25/box/month sounds cheap until you’re storing 60 boxes. That’s £195/month vs our £80–£120/month for the same volume in a pod.
- Minimum terms differ. Lovespace asks 8 weeks, we ask 4. Worth knowing if you only need short storage.
FAQ
How does £3.25/box/month compare to your pod rent?
Our 35cuft pod fits roughly 15–17 medium boxes (or a small studio’s worth of soft items) and rents at £10/week, which is ~£43/month. That works out at ~£2.50–£2.80 per box per month, cheaper per box than Lovespace, with one collection fee instead of per-box charges. The gap widens fast on bigger pods.
Can Lovespace take a sofa or a wardrobe?
No. Lovespace is boxes-only. Their courier network doesn’t handle furniture, mattresses, or white goods. If you have any of these, you need pod storage (us) or a self-storage warehouse, not Lovespace.
Can you retrieve individual boxes from a pod mid-storage?
Not as standard. The whole pod comes back to your driveway on a £99 return delivery and you unload what you need yourself. If you genuinely need single-item retrieval, Lovespace’s per-box model is purpose-built for it and we’re not.
How many boxes fit in each pod size?
Rough numbers: 35cuft = ~15–17 medium boxes (or small studio softs). 125cuft = ~60–70 medium boxes (or studio with light furniture). 250cuft = ~120–140 medium boxes (or 1-bed flat with furniture). Pack quality affects the count significantly.
What if I have 30 boxes and no furniture. Who wins?
Borderline. Lovespace: 30 × £3.25 × 3 months = ~£293. Us: 125cuft pod at £179 collection + £20 × 12 weeks = £419. Lovespace is meaningfully cheaper. Honestly, for that profile, choose Lovespace. We’re not the right answer at that scale.