What is a Gear Cage?

A gear cage is an informal term for an equipment storage room. A gear storage room is a designated space or room where gear and equipment used for a specific purpose are kept. This can include equipment such as tools, machinery, and other materials that are needed to perform a particular task or activity. It can be a warehouse, a closet, or a room where all the equipment is organized and safely stored. In most cases, an equipment manager is appointed to follow up on equipment bookings & check-outs.

The gear storage room is used to keep the gear and equipment in good working condition and to ensure that it is readily available when needed. It is typically designed to be well-ventilated and maintained at a suitable temperature to prevent moisture and mold from damaging the expensive gear. Depending on the size and type of equipment, the gear storage room may be equipped with racks, shelving, or other storage systems to keep everything organized and easy to find.

It is also essential to keep track of the gear and equipment in storage, as well as the inventory, to ensure that everything is accounted for and in good condition. This can be done through regular inspections, maintenance records, and inventory management systems.

The term gear cage is often used in the AV industry, where many people come to check out and return equipment. Employees make gear reservations and check out equipment from the gear cage for specific projects, like a shoot or an event, and return the gear to the gear cage when the project is finished.

Gear cages come in lots of shapes and sizes. There are examples where the gear cage is just a small closet with a few shelves. However, a gear cage could also be a hangar or a big room with racks. Size doesn’t matter - it’s how you optimize the space. Usually, the best gear cages are very well organized, so people can find the gear they’re looking for in no time. There are a few ways to help people navigate through tons of equipment. Shelf labels, kits combining multiple pieces of equipment that belong together, and having an equipment inventory (list) are critical to a good gear cage.

Maintaining a tidy equipment room is one thing, but when the company grows, so will the asset inventory. Keeping track of all that equipment, the equipment check-outs, the equipment maintenance - that's a tough job if you're doing it manually. Cheqroom can help you with that, by automating many parts of the equipment management process.