MI-BOX in The Laconia Daily Sun: 4 Reasons New Hampshire Customers Choose Us

On Thursday, August 20, 2026, The Laconia Daily Sun ran a feature by Janice Beetle about a move most storage companies would rather not quote: a household relocation from Laconia out to Cow Island, in the middle of Lake Winnipesaukee. There is no driveway-to-driveway version of that job. It takes a truck, a barge slot, a marina, and a schedule where every piece has to land on the same day.

We were glad to see the story in print, and glad the customer was willing to talk about it. Below is the short version of what the article covered, plus a little more detail on each of the four reasons customers across New Hampshire keep calling us.

The Cow Island Move Behind the Story

Shaun Dougherty, co-owner of Joyce Cooling & Heating, was moving from Laconia to Cow Island. That meant coordinating truck schedules, barge transportation, pickup, and final delivery across the lake — four moving parts that all had to line up in a single window.

Local owner Wes Kogelman and Chief Experience Officer Chris Hand ran the job alongside Tim McDonald of Contracting Services Company, who handled the barge side of the trip. Everything landed on the day it was supposed to.

Island moves are the extreme version of what we do every week. If you own property on Cow Island, Bear Island, Rattlesnake Island, or anywhere else off the Winnipesaukee shoreline, we have a page that walks through exactly how the barge coordination works: portable storage for Winnipesaukee island property owners.

Not every move needs a barge. But every move has details that matter, and that is really what the four reasons below come down to.

Reason One: Local Service, Dispatched From Tilton

MI-BOX of New Hampshire operates from six sites across the state rather than trucking containers in from out of state. Our main facility is at 405 Laconia Road in Tilton, with additional locations in Enfield, Troy, Littleton, Ossipee, and Manchester.

That matters more than it sounds like it should. When a Lakes Region customer calls, they reach the New Hampshire team, and the container is dispatched from Tilton — not a depot several states away. Local control is what makes the rest possible:

• Flexible scheduling. Drop and pickup dates can move when your closing date, contractor, or barge slot moves.
• Responsive service. The person answering the phone knows the roads, the driveways, and the seasonal weight limits.
• Accountability. The same local team that quoted the job is the team that shows up to do it.
• Real coverage. Our territory runs from the Lakes Region to the White Mountains, Monadnock Region, Lake Sunapee, Merrimack Valley, and the Great North Woods.

In 2026, MI-BOX was named a Best of the Lakes Region Double Gold winner, taking Gold in both Moving Services and Mini/Self Storage. You can see that and the rest of our recognition on our awards page, and meet the crew on our Meet Our Team page.

Reason Two: The LeveLift Difference

Not all portable storage equipment sets a container down the same way. Some systems load and unload at an angle, which raises the odds of contents shifting inside the box and of a driveway getting scraped on the way down. MI-BOX uses its patented LeveLift System instead. Here is what that looks like on site:

1. The container stays level the whole way. LeveLift raises and lowers the box in the same upright position it was packed in.
2. Contents stay put. Nothing gets tipped toward one wall during pickup or placement, so packed loads arrive the way you left them.
3. Your driveway stays intact. The container is set down rather than dragged, which protects pavement, sealcoat, and gravel.
4. Tight spots stay workable. A level set means the driver needs less run-out room, which helps on narrow NH driveways and lake-road turnarounds.

Dougherty summed up his experience in the article in five words: “I had a five-star experience.”

Reason Three: Honest Guidance in a Confusing Market

Portable storage, truck rental, and traditional self-storage all solve slightly different problems, and the pricing is rarely presented in a way that lets you compare them side by side. Our team walks through the actual trade-offs — timing, how many times your belongings get handled, where the container sits, and total cost — instead of pushing one answer at every customer. Pricing is clear before the job starts.

We also put those comparisons in writing so you can read them before you ever call: MI-BOX vs. PODS in NH, portable storage vs. self storage, portable storage vs. U-Haul truck rental, and which containers hold up in NH winters. If you are not sure what size you need, the storage space calculator will get you close in about a minute.

Reason Four: Community Support

“A strong local business should lift its community,” Kogelman told the Daily Sun. Over the years MI-BOX has supported dozens of New Hampshire organizations, including Make-A-Wish, Easterseals NH, Camp Sno-Mo, the New Hampshire Humane Society, the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Fund, and Pemi-Valley Habitat for Humanity, along with dozens of police and fire departments around the state.

It is not a marketing line. When the containers are already going out across the same six regions every week, showing up for the organizations in those regions is the easy part.

Who We Serve Across New Hampshire

The article named the four big customer types we see most, and each one has a page with the details:

• Homeowners moving or renovating. See residential portable storage, storage during a home renovation, and home staging storage.
• Contractors and trades. Job-site storage for plumbers, electricians, HVAC contractors, landscapers, and restoration companies.
• Businesses, hotels, and healthcare facilities. See commercial storage, hotel and hospitality storage, and hospital and healthcare storage.
• College students between school years. See student storage.

We can move customers from anywhere in our New Hampshire service area to destinations anywhere in New England. If you are planning a full relocation rather than just storage, start with our moving services page.

Thanks for the Coverage

Thank you to Janice Beetle and The Laconia Daily Sun for telling the story, and to Shaun Dougherty for letting us use his move as the example. The full feature, “Across New Hampshire: 4 Reasons Customers Choose MI-BOX,” ran on pages 22 and 23 of the August 20, 2026 edition.

Local NH Cities We Deliver To

We deliver portable storage containers across Central, Southern, and Western New Hampshire. Most-requested cities: Laconia, Tilton, Concord, Manchester, Meredith, Gilford, Wolfeboro, and Littleton. Don’t see your town? We probably deliver there too — get a quote.