Storage Lockers

[Ottawa]

Whenever you see an article like this in your locale, your Antimustachianism spidey senses should be tingling!  What the heck is going on in Ottawa?

Steve Creighton, senior vice-president of Ottawa storage company Dymon Group, said they plan to open eight more locations in Ottawa after their seventh sold out in about six months.


“It’s incredibly booming right now, we’re very delighted with it,” he said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-storage-industry-booming-1.2286585


This quote made me laugh and cry at the same time!

Peter Homulos and his wife said they’d rather pay for a storage unit to keep their garden fountain for the winter rather than the alternatives.


"A couple hundred dollars a month is a lot cheaper than building an extension onto the house or going through the cost of moving," he said.

What the FUCK!  A garden fountain!  This guy thinks spending "a couple hundred" per month is ok to store a fucking garden fountain!! 

[pachnik]

I have definitely learned some money lessons since finding this website but this is something I never understood even in my pre-MMM days.  If you already live in a house but you need to rent a storage locker maybe you just have too much stuff.  $100+ per month or whatever these lockers cost must sure add up over time. 

[drg]

Ottawans are crazy.  I remember when the one on Coventry Rd was being built, and now they've just renovated it to be bigger!

Might it tie into the replacement of many old single family homes with new built condos?  People moving into the city, but keeping the contents of their suburban garages...

[Kazimieras]

I don't really understand storage lockers, except for the odd case where someone is leaving the country for a year or two (and expect to return), or it is a truly temporary storage situation.

I find it generally cheaper the sell (or give away) the item and re-buy it years later when you want it, than to pay for storage.

[randymarsh]

The storage locker business sounds great from an owner point of view. Just need some cheap land not too far away from a main road. Construction can't be that expensive since it's just concrete, a roof, and a garage door. Little customer interaction. If they don't pay, auction their stuff.

[wtjbatman]

I definitely think there are situations for a storage unit can be invaluable. After breaking up with my girlfriend a year ago, and while still in school, I moved out of the two bedroom apartment me and her shared and moved back in with the rents to save money until I got back on my feet. Since I couldn't very well move all of my stuff into my parents house, I got a storage unit where I kept everything (including my motorcycle) over the winter. Now I'm moved out, and as soon as I did I got rid of the storage unit. It was $66 a month, I cleaned the unit when I was gone so I got my deposit back. I think paying a total of around $300-400 was worth it to keep all of my possessions for the short time I had nowhere to put them. Much much easier than trying to sell all my stuff, including my motorcycle, at the beginning of winter. And then I guess trying to buy my stuff back, as Kazi suggested. Plus, from the mustachian point of view, motorcycles have a higher KBB value in the spring than the fall/winter, so I would have sold it when it was at its lowest value. I entertained a few offers for the motorcycle, but they were honestly all well below KBB.

Eventually I sold the motorcycle this last summer. For above KBB :D

[Ottawa]

I will throw a counterpoint out there because we're talking about OTTAWA.

Ottawa is to Canada as Washington DC is to the USA. We have a LOT of transient workers here - embassy staff, military, government etc. Further, many people are deployed AWAY FROM Ottawa and have to leave things here. There *might* be a correlation between that and high storage unit use.

When my parents were overseas, the government paid for their storage of furniture back in Canada... for five years. There was only so much they could bring.

So, as anti-mustachian as it is, there may be some geographic locations where there's a higher prevalence of it, for good reason and without financial impact to the user.

I tend to agree cjottawa, Ottawa is a bit transient...but the useage of lockers should be at a steady state with respect to time!  This article seems to suggest it is more booming times than ever...storage lockers selling like hotcakes!  There's another one going up down the road from me as well...at Greenbank and Hunt Club!  Why the sudden surge in recent times?  Is it correlated to the intrusion of box stores, dollar stores, cheap crap, free money!?

[Kazimieras]

I tend to agree cjottawa, Ottawa is a bit transient...but the useage of lockers should be at a steady state with respect to time!  This article seems to suggest it is more booming times than ever...storage lockers selling like hotcakes!  There's another one going up down the road from me as well...at Greenbank and Hunt Club!  Why the sudden surge in recent times?  Is it correlated to the intrusion of box stores, dollar stores, cheap crap, free money!?

I would attribute it to cheap lending rates actually. If you look where the Dymon buildings are being put in, I don't think their business model is "storage", at least not entirely. They are buying some very valuable property right now using some very cheap interest rates. Storage units cover the costs, providing a steady cash-flow and pay for the units over time. In 20 years the company then has some very valuable properties that they can sell/develop.

[galliver]

I tend to agree cjottawa, Ottawa is a bit transient...but the useage of lockers should be at a steady state with respect to time!  This article seems to suggest it is more booming times than ever...storage lockers selling like hotcakes!  There's another one going up down the road from me as well...at Greenbank and Hunt Club!  Why the sudden surge in recent times?  Is it correlated to the intrusion of box stores, dollar stores, cheap crap, free money!?

I would attribute it to cheap lending rates actually. If you look where the Dymon buildings are being put in, I don't think their business model is "storage", at least not entirely. They are buying some very valuable property right now using some very cheap interest rates. Storage units cover the costs, providing a steady cash-flow and pay for the units over time. In 20 years the company then has some very valuable properties that they can sell/develop.

But...that explains supply rather than demand.

I think all the reasons mentioned in the article and upthread make sense (downsizing, divorce (or any other life change involving moving, for that matter), travel). It DOES make sense to own a smaller house but do your long-term storage elsewhere (camping/travel gear, out-of-season clothing or sports equipment, air mattress for guests, etc). If you have no attic, basement, or garage it can be hard to find out-of-the-way storage for these things, and they don't make sense to sell-rebuy due to the waste and hassle. Do some people fill their houses and storage units with clutter (and fountains)? Absolutely, I'm sure. But it doesn't make the concept/business silly, nor does it growth of the business necessarily relate to clutter...

[MrsPete]

I've rented a storage building twice for short-term needs -- terms of several months -- and it was a good choice; however, I totally agree that if you're storing the things for years, it's nuts. 

Changing the subject slightly, has anyone ever been to a storage building action?  I went to one once, and it was pretty cool.  They auctioned off the contents of 7-10 buildings.  You could come early and see what was in the unit, and then people bid.  It was mid-week, so only 20 or so people were present.  Some buildings had nice furniture, one had an old-fashioned pot belly stove that I kind of wish I'd bought, one held a nice refrigerator.  Lots had boxes of just plain junk.  The units went for chump change.  If you need furniture, this could be a great option. 

[ketchup]

The company I work for is in the same building as a storage warehouse.  There are all kinds of junk people are paying to have stored in there.  The best example I think is the boat that's been sitting outside for ten years (!), and hasn't been touched.  I don't know what they are paying, but I'm sure in ten years they've paid more than the boat was ever worth, and because it was stored outside, it's a rusty mess right now, and I'm sure borderline worthless.

[MoneyCat]

I paid for a storage unit for two years to store my personal library after I moved to a rented room in another state for work.  I can look back and see how stupid that was, because I could have just gotten all the books from the public library whenever I wanted and sold my own books to help pay rent for my room.  Oh, well.  You live, you learn.  At least all the book shelves in my living room today look really impressive.

[paddedhat]

We used one when we wanted to stage our house.  We stored bookshelves, books, kid toys, out of season clothes.  The house sold right away for our asking price.  In all we had the storage unit 3-4 months.  It was under $80/month.  This is one of the few times that I would feel a storage unit is acceptable.

We did this also. But...... It played into a larger plan. The wife was a serious "collector" of tchotchkes, all the usual worthless shit, baskets, ceramic do-hickeys, and other dust collecting trash.  To "stage" the house for a sale, I lobbied hard to cut down on the visual clutter and pack a lot of the "accessories" away. By the time we got set  up in the new place, she had loosened her grip on a lot of stuff. I also took a very long time to unpack everything but the essentials. In the end she found a more minimalist lifestyle to be an upgrade, and most of her "value" collectables ended up at Goodwill. Sweet.

[Jamesqf]

...I could have just gotten all the books from the public library whenever I wanted and sold my own books to help pay rent for my room.

Not necessarily, depending on your tastes, and whether you like to re-read old favorites.  Most public libraries rotate out a lot of their older books, so unless an author is really popular or "classic", you may not find anything more than a few years old.

OTOH, you can find these books in used bookstores for a buck or two apiece - check out ABEbooks.

[JessieImproved]

We used one when we wanted to stage our house.  We stored bookshelves, books, kid toys, out of season clothes.  The house sold right away for our asking price.  In all we had the storage unit 3-4 months.  It was under $80/month.  This is one of the few times that I would feel a storage unit is acceptable. 

We did exactly the same thing when we sold our townhouse.  When my realtor did a walk through, she said "Wow, do you guys live like this all the time??"  That's one of the things that eventually inspired me to start the de-cluttering process.

[SnackDog]

My company provides storage for employees working overseas who don't want to take it all with them. One guy at work has had everything in storage since 1983. A time capsule! Another has had one ten years. We just emptied ours and moved it here as we have space. Two frugal bits were unpacked: sewing machine and home gym. Both will save us money!