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Out of college I worked on the finance side of a self storage investment company (thank god I left after 4 years), so I know the ins and outs of the business.
by willyg123 6y ago
Out of college I worked on the finance side of a self storage investment company (thank god I left after 4 years), so I know the ins and outs of the business.
The number one deciding factor for customers is location. Coming in a close second is security. In a far distant third is price.
Self storage employees can only access your unit in the event of an emergency, eviction, or a warrant from law enforcement.
For self storage facility owners, one of the top up-sells is insurance. Almost everyone buys it, again, for security (and peace of mind).
Unfortunately, this idea decreases security rather than solving one of the biggest customer pain points of renting a storage unit.
- throwaway4good 6y agoWhy wouldn't you be able to add insurance to an idea like this? Sounds like an obvious thing to me ...
- octoberfranklin 6y agoUh, lack of insurers willing to backstop this kind of nonsense: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20276631 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20276631
- ximeng 6y agoInterestingly the article linked to states that the company in question started providing relevant insurance in response to this case. So appears what you are saying is not entirely correct. https://blog.kitsplit.com/announcing-kitsplit-theft-protection-owner-guarantee/ https://blog.kitsplit.com/announcing-kitsplit-theft-protecti...
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoSelf-storage businesses are not universal. There are plenty of countries where they don’t really exist at all for individuals (only for corporate customers). There, people who are moving out of their flats and e.g. going abroad for a year and need to stash their stuff, are used to just finding someone with some spare space in his basement or garage. In my experience, people don’t really seem concerned about security; the real valuable stuff might be left with a family member while what goes into the storage space is just the furniture, kitchen stuff, and books. But since finding a storage place is already a pretty standard part of the local Craigslist/OLX website in these countries, there isn’t much room for a new website to come in and disrupt things.
- thursday0987 6y ago> In my experience, people don’t really seem concerned about security; > But since finding a storage place is already a pretty standard part of the local Craigslist/OLX website in these countries, there isn’t much room for a new website to come in and disrupt things it sounds like the markets you are describing only function for people who don't value security, which means that there is a potentially huge unfullfilled market for people who DO value security. it soudns like there is lots of room for a new website to come in and disrupt things, as long as they cater towards the market that values security.
- TristanMB 6y agoHey man! thanks so much for the feedback. Eventually, I will have coverage for your stuff included in our services, for free. I would really appreciate if you had any ideas on how I could increase security - maybe with something like a security seal on all boxes?
- amurthy1 6y ago> one of the top up-sells is insurance That's because most storage facilities require insurance and no one is trying to buy it on their own, so they accept whatever the facility offers them.
- willyg123 6y agoThat might be the case now but it certainly was not back when I worked in the industry 2005-2009 PS if you are Anand, I love my Kurt leather whites :)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]