Full length pieces also store nicely in cardboard shipping tubes. We do a recurring job every few months where we buy 30-40 pieces of 5 mm dia. 303SS round rod in 13' lengths, and we just put the cardboard tube up on our rack and pull the pieces out one at a time as we need them. If they weren't in the tube it would turn into a mess of bends and kinks the first or second time someone tried to extract one :-). Plus it keeps the stainless steel rods from rubbing on the steel rack and picking up bits o' steel that would rust later.
----- Regards, Carl Ijames