How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

Post by klenwell » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 5:47 PM UTC

xefer wrote: post #21

One thing I've noticed over the years reading old wills and probate records (16th -18th century) is just how few physical possessions even fairly well-off people owned. Estate inventories often list individual coats, shirts, bedding, bowls, tools, etc. I think the material wealth we have today is so incredible we don't even realize how much we've accumulated and could probably do without.

Post by snarf21 » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

tbirrell wrote: post #31

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).

Throwing stuff out is hard to do if you are poor or were raised poor. Everything you save now does not have to be bought later. There is a potential use for anything and everything, so you might as well keep it. Granted, at a certain point the cost of the storage facility exceeds the amount saved, but the mindset is still there.

Post by kitrose » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

wolfgang42 wrote: post #57

Spooky23 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's junk if you don't know what it is. My sister's mother-in-law spends about $1000/mo on storage units in 6 cities. They were a military family and moved frequently. The problem is that they don't remember what is in the storage units, and the cost of traveling across the country to go through a closet is steep and of questionable value. So she is stuck in a cycle of paying for things that she may or may not need.…

That is an astonishing amount of money. Is it not possible to have everything packed up and shipped to their current location? Even if paying someone to do this cost $2000 for each unit that would still pay itself back after a year.

Post by cortesoft » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 6:09 PM UTC

snarf21 wrote: post #4

chasingthewind wrote: post #2

I try to be pretty slow to criticize people for taking advantage of a service that they find valuable. Calling things in these storage units "junk" is a moral judgement that's repeated a bit early on and then cast off to make room for the more mundane rundown of the market analysis. In the end, there's no way to know the ratio of people getting good value out of this storage to the number of people throwing good mone…

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).

Post by UncleEntity » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 6:17 PM UTC

gadders wrote: post #43

mathattack wrote: post #13

A lot of storage is a real estate play. Buy land in the direction of where cities are growing. Pay your mortgage with storage facilities sitting on top until the land appreciates.

A neighbour of mine has a spare piece of waste land in an industrial area on the edge of a nearby town. He has opened a storage facility using shipping containers. They come over to the UK from China and are not worth shipping back empty, so you can buy them cheaply and then just supply a padlock to clients.