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How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

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Re: How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

#11

Post by saalweachter »

jamesbelucci789 wrote: post #3

Very simple explanation, living space for people has shrunk. Hard to store your holiday items or old equipment in the basement of your house, if you can't afford a house in the first place.

Storage units are also quite nice if you are renting and want to be able to move every 1-3 years for the variety of reasons people do so. Keeping the bulk of your low frequency of use items in storage both reduces what you need from an apartment, and keeps you from needing to move all that crap with the rest of your stuff. You pack your clothes, throw your sofa, bed and TV in the back of a friend's truck, and you're done before lunch.

Re: How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

#14

Post by sol_remmy »

Living space cost per sq-ft has grown while storage space cost per sq-ft has stayed the same.

Why? Handicap accessibility regulations, parking regulations, etc etc have greatly increased the construction cost of new houses. i.e. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/19/upshot/forty-...

Storage facilities do not have people living in them and are therefore immune from lots of these expensive regulations. Hence, they are now an increasingly good deal compare to residential real estate.

Re: How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

#15

Post by eganist »

sol_remmy wrote: post #14

Living space cost per sq-ft has grown while storage space cost per sq-ft has stayed the same. Why? Handicap accessibility regulations, parking regulations, etc etc have greatly increased the construction cost of new houses. i.e. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/19/upshot/forty-... Storage facilities do not have people living in them and are therefore immune from lots of these expensive regulations. Hence,…

Are you speaking more generally, or about urban centers specifically (which tend to be more regulated anyway)?

The citation you provided doesn't assert anything about cost per sqft of living space; it's mostly focused on the feel and vibe of NYC post-regulation.

And I'm willing to put money on the fact that these particular regulations are no match to the outsized demand for housing in more regulated municipalities.

Re: How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

#17

Post by jcater »

patentatt wrote: post #9
snarf21 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you and there are short term reasons to put everything in storage. There is another group that just has stuff squirreled away "in case". I personally believe that most people would be happier following a less is more philosophy which can be approached simply by throwing out or selling or donating anything you haven't worn/used in the last year (or two).

Yeah, I've seen the reality TV shows where they auction these things off, even the cherry-picked units for TV are like 1/2 absolute junk that literally goes strait into a dumpster.

Sure, but that's a somewhat self-selecting group of units -- ones that the renters let fall behind and get auctioned off.

Re: How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

#18

Post by Consultant32452 »

jamesbelucci789 wrote: post #3

Very simple explanation, living space for people has shrunk. Hard to store your holiday items or old equipment in the basement of your house, if you can't afford a house in the first place.

In 1950 the average home was 1,000 square feet and housed 3-4 people. Today the average home is 2,500 square feet and houses 2-3 people. Meanwhile, average apartment size is on the decline.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-has-the-average-size-of-american...

https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/us-average-apart...

Re: How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

#19

Post by ethbro »

sol_remmy wrote: post #14

Living space cost per sq-ft has grown while storage space cost per sq-ft has stayed the same. Why? Handicap accessibility regulations, parking regulations, etc etc have greatly increased the construction cost of new houses. i.e. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/19/upshot/forty-... Storage facilities do not have people living in them and are therefore immune from lots of these expensive regulations. Hence,…

Ah, so that's how we end up at Snow Crash-esque storage-units-turned-housing...
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