How do you secure a container on a jobsite?
Fit a lock box — a welded or bolt-on steel shroud that hides the padlock shackle so bolt cutters cannot reach it — and use a puck-style padlock inside it; that one upgrade stops most jobsite theft. Then place the box so the doors face a lit, visible direction, keep the high-value tools at the back, and do not leave the keys in the truck.
The lock is most of it
Container doors are held shut by the swing bars, and the bars are held by a padlock through the hasp. A padlock hanging in open air is the problem: a pair of bolt cutters opens it in seconds, and that is how most container break-ins happen. A lock box is a steel shroud welded or bolted over the hasp with a slot that only a puck lock or a shrouded-shackle lock fits inside. Nothing to grip, nothing to cut.
Our containers come with lockable swing bars; the lock box and puck lock are add-ons on the accessories page, and there is a bolt-on version if you do not want to weld on site. Buy two keys' worth of locks for a crew and keep the spares off the site.
A second lock on the second door's bar makes a thief work twice as hard for the same payoff. Cheap insurance.
Placement beats hardware
Doors toward the road or the lit side of the site, not toward the tree line. A thief wants to work unseen; take that away. If the site has a camera or a light, the container doors are what it should look at.
Back it up to something. A container with its doors against a fence, a wall or another container cannot be opened without moving it, and nobody is moving 5,000 pounds of steel quietly. On a long job, two 20s set door-to-door with a foot between them is a cheap vault.
Keep the box boring from outside. No company name on it, no tool brands visible when the doors are open, and the expensive gear at the back behind the bulk materials. Motion lights are a cheap deterrent; there are solar ones on the accessories page that need no wiring.
When a container is not the right answer
If the job is short and the site is not yours, rent one from a local yard rather than buying; you cannot leave a box you own on ground you do not control. If you will carry a container from job to job for years, buy it — a 20ft moves on a tilt-bed from site to site and a one-trip or cargo-worthy box takes that handling better than a tired used one. See one-trip vs used and moving a container. See containers for sale — delivered price by ZIP
Buying a container?
Longleaf sells used and one-trip 20ft and 40ft shipping containers, delivered by tilt-bed across the Pine Belt. Enter your ZIP for the delivered price — it comes straight from the supplier feed and already includes the haul. Locks, vents, shelving and lights are on the accessories page. We sell; we do not rent.
- 20ft Standard Cargo Worthy (used) — from $2,885 delivered
- 20ft Standard One Trip (new) — from $3,635 delivered
- 20ft Standard Wind & Watertight (used) — from $2,470 delivered
- 40ft High Cube Cargo Worthy (used) — from $3,525 delivered
- 40ft High Cube One Trip (new) — from $4,925 delivered
- 40ft High Cube Wind & Watertight (used) — from $3,210 delivered
- 40ft Standard Cargo Worthy (used) — from $3,525 delivered
- 40ft Standard One Trip (new) — from $6,355 delivered
- 40ft Standard Wind & Watertight (used) — from $3,160 delivered
Keep reading
- Renting vs buying a storage container in Hattiesburg — Storage container rental vs buying in Hattiesburg, MS: when a month-to-month rental is right, when owning a used container wins, and what a Hub City lot needs.
- Rent or buy a shipping container? — Rent or buy a shipping container: the rough break-even, what owning actually includes, when a short-term rental is the right call, and when buying wins.
- How do you stop condensation in a container? — Stop condensation in a shipping container: why steel sweats in south Mississippi, the vents, fan and desiccant that fix it, and what never to put in one.
- Are shipping containers really watertight? — Are shipping containers watertight: what wind-and-watertight, cargo worthy and one-trip guarantee against rain, and why condensation still needs vents.
- Are containers good for farm storage? — Shipping container for farm storage: what a container is genuinely good at on a working place, where a pole barn beats it, and how to site one that lasts.
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