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Lockers and their various uses.
I'm a traveling photographer. In my travels I have frequented many establishments which supply lockers of one form or another. At this point I feel it is time to write a comprehensive review of the different lockers I have used and my opinion of them. First I shall comment on the various uses of lockers. Lockers are found and used in a wide variety of settings from garages to swimming pools to bowling alleys to hotel lobbies to the office, gym, and of course your son or daughter's school. As I recurringly frequent such establishments I have had the opportunity to use both different types and different brands of lockers. While I will not support one brand or another, the company I work for, ESERI Foto, have purchased lockers from Lockers Depot for the main office in Los Angeles and have been very happy. We have purchased mostly 6-tier box style lockers and this works out great, one locker per employee. Field photographers, such as myself, receive a full 6 foot single tier locker to store both camera gear and clothes.
Back to the discussion at hand. First there is the standard locker. These are generally painted sheet metal held together with screws and may feature a built in lock or a regular padlock. Standard lockers are usually 12 inches wide but may also be found in wider 15 inch versions. They come in single tier and six tier as I mentioned above and also in double tier, triple tier, and five tier. With such a wide variety of configurations, standard lockers are the most common ones that I have used. I have come across standard metal lockers in school bookstores where you must place any bags you are carrying into the locker before entering the store. Likewise they can also be used in any other store for the same purpose. I have seen them in schools that I have photographed, in gyms that I have gone to, in restaurants, hotels, condos, and even garages and workshops.
Most gyms that I have been to use a vented locker. These are see through lockers that allow air circulation around the contents of the locker and this makes them nice for gyms where sweaty clothes, wet towels, water bottles, and other such items may be placed in the locker. Vented, or see-through lockers, are metal as are the standar lockers, except the metal is perforated with air holes. They provide the same level of security as standard lockers except one important difference: anyone walking by the locker can see the contents. Thus it is wise to not store valuables in a vented locker.
Now at my dental office, they have lockers that look like furniture. I looked into these lockers a bit more and they are made of laminated particle board. They have all the features of standard metal lockers except they weigh much more and look much more decorative. They also cannot be disassembled like metal lockers. They really make a great high-end finished look to an otherwise bland piece of furniture. I could even see putting these in my home. I have seen that they come in a variety of laminated finishes including maple, mahogany, and cherry wood designs/colors in addition to standard colors of gray, blue, or black. At the dental office, their wooden lockers are 6 tier box style but they are also found in single, double, and triple tier.
Recently on a photography trip to Miami, I was at the hotel pool and they had convenient outdoor plastic lockers right in the pool area. This way you can put all your stuff like keys and wallet in the locker while you are swimming in the pool. These plastic lockers are weather and corrosion resistant and that is why they are great for an outdoor area. How convenient! This was one of the most useful places I've ever encountered lockers and made my time spent at the pool more enjoyable having only to be concerned with the locker key rather than my keys, wallet, and spare change. These lock just like the metal or wood lockers and are secure and heavy duty.
I discovered another type of locker while visiting friends in Charlotte, NC last year. They had a row of glass window modular lockers along the upper wall of their family room. They used the lockers to display knick knacks they have collected from their travels over the years. They explained to me that the glass door modular lockers help to keep the dust off of their items as well as providing a means to display them and in a space on the wall where the normal enclosure or furniture item would not work. The modular lockers they have are cubes of 15 inches by 15 inches and represent another use of the locker. I'm sure that with the wide possibility of arranging these modular lockers, many other uses could be found for wall and floor spaces that would otherwise go unused.
Other than the items above I have also run into the following types of lockers.
- Storage lockers - these are a wire mesh type locker that are very large and I've seen them used outdoors at loading docks to lock up important items, in retail stores, in gyms for storing balls and field equipment among others.
- Open lockers - these are open shelving units that provide a non-secure space to place items. Since they are not secure they should only be used in a trusted environment.
- Basket lockers - these are popular in primary schools for students to store their belongings and can also be implimented as a filing system with the various backets provided.
- Garage lockers - also known as overhang lockers, these are great in the garage to store large items in otherwise unused space.
- Locker room benches - not really lockers, but no gym locker room is complete without these benches. Typically the benches I've seen are 100% aluminum but wood top locker room benches are also available. They are nice looking, but I personally perfer the aluminum to the wood because I feel it can be cleaned better and is more resistant to aging and water.
In summary, I hope this article has served you well in discovering the different types of lockers that are available. There is much more than just the standard school locker or gym locker. Lockers are versatile for storage, to act as decorative furniture (with storage), to allow storage in otherwise unused or inaccessible space, to provide a secure and convenient place to lock personal artilces. Office lockers are very popular with employees for providing a sense of personal space to each employee in an office. |
