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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

#101

Post by icebraining »

ant6n wrote: post #70
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…

> Calling things in these storage units "junk" is a moral judgement (...) Junk is just what you call other people's stuff.

"Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff?"

George Carlin on Stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac

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

#102

Post by rokhayakebe »

cornholio wrote: post #28
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…

As we have all learned from reality-TV, a good quarter of the units are choke-full with anything but junk: you will find sculpted furniture in pristine condition, civil war artifacts, expensive professional equipment and tens of thousands of dollars in rare baseball cards. The industry must be really struggling to provide adequate security.

America Junk Season 4 debuts tonight at 9PM EST.

Alternative titles: Junk in America, or Billion Dollar Junk

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

#103

Post by DoreenMichele »

smadge wrote: post #91

The article presumed that the rise in the self storage industry is caused by overflow from the American dream and rampant consumerism, when I think it might be more characterized by the death of the American dream. How many people who rent self storage are homeless and storing their stuff away hoping they can retrieve it when they get back on their feet? How many people who rent storage units just can’t afford a hous…

I started a long reply earlier and decided to turn in into a blog post instead. Part of what I touched on is that a lot of homeless people pay for storage and, in recent years, I have talked to a lot of people online whose finances are in the toilet and they are paying for storage, often in another state, while they live with parents or whatever and don't make enough money to support themselves.

Years ago, I took a college class on homelessness. It suggested that homeless people pay for storage in order to hold onto hope that they will shortly be back in housing and will need that furniture. But the reality is that it often just eats into their limited funds for covering current living expenses and trying to problem solve.

I did not pay for storage while homeless. I put my limited resources into taking care of myself in the present, improving things and building a future.

Holding on to stuff like you "might need it someday" is rooted in a poverty mentality. Those mental models help keep people poor. In many cases, you could have handily replaced it for less than you spent to store it for years, especially if you had also sold those items you stuck in storage.

Tldr: I generally agree that storage is often about the death of the American dream. The hell of it is that it often serves as an obstacle to personal rebirth.

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

#104

Post by chiefalchemist »

doomlaser wrote: post #59
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern manufacturing is sufficiently weird that it messes with my sense of thriftiness. That it really is possible to manufacture new items less expensively than it is to repair them (especially counting my own time to do so). Like I can remember my grandmother knitting and darning socks. But she wished she had one of these sock knitting machines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N7hsho4Sjg&feature=youtu.be... And no…

I was shocked and pleasantly surprised recently at $3 high quality plain tshirts (in multiple colors) that you can order online: http://www.michaels.com/apparel-crafts/t-shirts/876004921 I'm wearing a magenta one now.. Then I found out there are tons of online outfits doing this. https://www.jiffyshirts.com/ I've always shopped at Salvation Army and other thrift stores, with occasional trips to malls to pick up Levi'…

Funny enough, I think I've seen them on sale for less than $3.

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

#105

Post by ethbro »

blhack wrote: post #24
ethbro wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

People not living in storage units is definitely not a cost thing, it's a regulatory thing. If it were allowed, I would have absolutely lived in a storage unit through most of my 20s, and I think a lot of my friends would have too.

Agreed!

I was specifically alluding to the fact that if we continue to pile up building regulations, but don't increase regulations on storage units, then a lot of people will only be able to afford living in "storage" units.

To be fair, storage units with a communal bathroom and power are more than most folks had circa 1930.

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

#106

Post by chiefalchemist »

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 that "junk" might be heavy handed.

That said, if it's in storage 6 to 12+ months, you haven't need it, life has gone on with it, __and__ you're paying some multiple of it's value (i.e., it would be cheaper to replace) then what would call it? It, based on said math, has no value.

Obviously, we're not talking about personal items (e.g., family photos) but stuff that could be replaced via a few bucks and perhaps freecycle.

I don't think you can call it senseless, can you? :)

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

#107

Post by ghostly_s »

everyone wrote: post #38

How common is it for people to live in them? Any data on that?

Anecdotally, there are definitely several homeless customers of the storage facility I use, but I don't think they live there, per se; if only because there are cameras and a check-in/out security system that would catch them if they were sleeping there regularly. I think they just store whatever possessions they still have and use it as a secure place to change clothes, even sit and have some peace for an hour (it's a conditioned indoor building).

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

#108

Post by lovemenot »

I like the model of the start-up called Clutter which was mentioned in the article.

Because you never visit the physical location of your property - it is picked up and delivered to you - there is scope for virtualization and end-to-end automation of this service. Also they photograph your items, so you can inventory more easily.

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

#109

Post by ams6110 »

smadge wrote: post #91

The article presumed that the rise in the self storage industry is caused by overflow from the American dream and rampant consumerism, when I think it might be more characterized by the death of the American dream. How many people who rent self storage are homeless and storing their stuff away hoping they can retrieve it when they get back on their feet? How many people who rent storage units just can’t afford a hous…

I've known of people who not only had all their stuff in self-storage, they also lived in the storage unit themselves.
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