We receive a lot of phone calls from potential clients like contractors, subcontractors, school administrators and even rec center GMs about ordering gym lockers. Of course we are very happy to help out, answering questions about how to choose a good gym locker, but we thought we’d try and cut down a little bit on those questions and creating a basic tutorial of things you need to be prepared to ask yourself when making that investment.
Hopefully this will help you decide, even in the event you don’t find that SchoolLockers.com offers the lowest price and is best informed company when it comes to dealing solely with gym lockers…
- HOW BIG DO THEY REALLY NEED TO BE? Many people just assume that all users need a full-length, single tier upright gym lockers for each of their guests. Not necessarily true! Many times your guests can be equally accommodated by a smaller space. That is why it is so important to get the answer to this question FIRST, and then talk to a sales rep with lots of experience when it comes to lockers.
Ask yourself; are these for football or baseball? That will help answer what kind of gear need to fit inside, and how large the doors are to allow it to be placed inside the gym lockers. These answers will also help you distinguish between gym lockers for just athletic clothing/street clothes and gym lockers that have to accommodate basketballs and bats—in which case you may want to explore more of a sports locker design.
Also by deciding how much space your users need, you can double or even triple the amount of lockers you can use in the exact same space by choosing double tier and triple tier designs! If your users have only small things to store, or just to keep their gym clothing and shoes, then try box lockers which can greatly expand the users your facility can serve.
- HOW MUCH FLOOR SPACE DO YOU HAVE? Truly, you would think this one would be a no-brainer, but yet we still have people that when we ask, they forget things like vertical space, and even the option of entry hallways for additional lockers.
Our advice? Share with us your detailed floor plan so we can make use of each and every inch you have. Since we sell ONLY lockers, we KNOW lockers. The SchoolLockers.com sales staff has over 100 years of locker-specific experience, having solved hundreds of space issues when installing lockers in older gyms, new gyms as well as rec centers, stadiums and other sporting venues.
- HOW MANY ‘DOORS’ DO YOU NEED? Now that you know how much space each user will need, we can discuss how many units of gym lockers you need. Yes, believe it or not, we get coaches and even contractors that were told to ‘go buy some gym lockers’ but when they call our sales reps up, they are kind of fuzzy about the exact door count, especially when it comes to double tier, triple tier and box locker designs.
Now certainly when it comes to gym lockers you may find in certain regions (or certain sports seasons) that the number of users could increase or decrease. So if your busiest season calls for X-amount of lockers to serve those guests, then that is what you will need if you are accommodating a team or number of students. If this if for a rec center or fitness center, then you may want to study how many clients use lockers over the course of a two or even three year span of historical records and take the median—a bit more if you see growth ahead.
- TYPE OF MATERIAL? There three basic types of material that gym lockers are made of; plastic, wood, and metal. Each material has a pro and con to it. For instance metal lockers are less expensive than wood or plastic but don’t look as good as wood (which are more expensive) and are not impervious to rust (as are solid HDPE plastic lockers are, but plastic locker are also more expensive). So now that you have an idea as to how many and what size of sports lockers you need, you should decide upon which type of material they should be made out of.
- IF METAL, HOW THICK? If you have come to the conclusion that metal lockers are the option due to price of materials and use, now you need to choose the gauge of steel. Gym lockers and heavy duty storage lockers that will be subjected to a higher level of abuse will require a heavier gauge steel so they don’t get dented or bent. These are generally the far end of the spectrum and are a very tough, heavy duty 8-gauge steel.
Now since the backs of a typical gym locker won’t be subject to as much ‘use’ as the door or even the sides, these can be made of a thinner gauge steel—like a 16-gauge or something. The doors you want to be tough and a typical middle-of-the-road sports locker will have a door made of a solid 10-gauge or 12-gauge steel, or something of that thickness.
- WHAT OPTIONS AND COLORS DO YOU WANT? This question is crucial!! Many people don’t realize that locker companies only keep a limited amount of locker styles and colors in what is called a ‘quick ship’ option. These are basically the styles and colors of gym lockers that the manufacturing company sells a lot of and so that doesn’t include special features, design or many of the very cool colors that a locker can be painted with to match the school colors.
Those are what are called ‘production lockers’ and those require a longer lead time, so that the factory can tailor make them for you in any style, any color. So always be sure that if you are ordering a production gym locker, that you get your order in and allow plenty of lead time so your lockers can arrive when want them.
Knowing the answers to these questions when you purchase your gym lockers will prove invaluable in ensuring you get the most bang for your buck, as well as what your guests are looking to find in a locker.
