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So thieves broke into your storage unit again

oldvcr.blogspot.com

271–280 of 317 posts

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#271
post #104

The indifference of this by everyone involved is infuriating. This criminal activity is treated as natural as rain, just something us 98% of people have to endure. It's important to remember that accepting crime, especially low level crime like this is a policy choice. It's the same people doing the same crimes over and over. They have run ins with the law and they just get let go to continue terrorizing the rest of…

> the number of state prisoners that have had 15 or more prior arrests is over 26% So one reading of this statistic is "incarcerating people turns them into criminals" which suggests that maybe the better way is something else than locking people up and giving them a black mark which prevents them ever getting a viable job?

>which suggests that maybe the better way is something else than locking people up and giving them a black mark which prevents them ever getting a viable job?

The fact is that there are a sizeable number of people, for a variety of reasons, who don't have the interest or capacity in holding a viable job. It would be nice if this wasn't the case, but the world exists as it exists, not as we wish it would.

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they qualify as ‘solutions’ in the first place, if the ‘solution’ cannot withstand some percentage of people pursuing self interest above all else? (Which has always been the case to varying degrees since the first organized polities arose ~5k to ~10k years ago) It sounds more like a hodgepodge of brittle norms.

If you (as a culture) manage to successfully run a fishery for 500 years and then someone invents capitalism and yourexisting mechanisms can't withstand the new morality and motives it endorses and encourages ... I am not sure that you've failed.

But there was no deep sea fishery 500 years ago?

So how could any culture on Earth have been ‘successful’ at managing one 500 years ago?

They may have been ‘successful’ in presuming that they could one day manage such in the distant future, but no more than that.

This applies to most things, technological advancement creates new physical realities that must be adapted to…

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#273
post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4. Liveaboard who wants to keep some stuff on land just in case a boat sinks.

Wow, that's a somewhat rare edge case. Let me see if I can beat that (hold my beer): 5. Astronauts for Boeing Starliners who are not certain when their return flight will be.

Welcome to my world :)

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#274

I’m stunned by the idea of making the pawn shop whole. As I understand UK law, if you buy stolen goods, the original owner can just claim it back and you take the loss - simply to discourage buying with knowledge it was stolen. I guess the pawn shop would go out of business but it does seem if you let them act as a fence you are solving for the wrong problem

There's nuance to the laws though.

The pawn shop has to, at 'bare minimum' do the proper paperwork (typically copying ID and taking fingerprints among other things.) The general "way it's supposed to work" is that now the police have a clean lead to the thief or part of the ring; If the shop doesn't follow the procedures, at least where I live, you -don't- have to make them whole and there's a crapton of fines.

That said, it's still a bit of a sham in some ways. In 2011 a former niece absconded with ex-wife's Fourth trip to the pawn shop [1] where the wedding band engraving made it just too hard to pretend the stuff wasn't stolen [2].

[0] - kinda knew that's when it was over, lol.

[1] - Part of a chain that used to have their own show that was a bit of 'Pawn stars crossed with Jerry Springer'

[2] - Ironically this worked out; since the wedding ring was never recovered but gold had gone way up, Renters Insurance covered the pawn shop costs and the added value back from the ring handled the deductible (The rest of the ring amount went to her costs related to the separation.)

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#275

The storage unit industry is one of the most awful, customer hostile industries I've encountered. It's impossible to get the local facility on the phone, publicly listed phone numbers are all redirected to a national call center where reps are unable to even accurately quote prices. TFA covers the insurance kickback scam. Then after I moved into my unit, I discovered 75% of the units in my facility could be broken in…

I think there are three use cases: 1. You are temporarily moving to a place outside your local area, or to a much smaller place. I was moving around for a year and a half, so I left my furniture and non-valuables in a storage unit until I would be settled again. 2. You live in a small unit in a big city. $100-$150 for an extra 50 square feet a month might be cheaper than the equivalent space and is a great choice for…

For #3 the interstate moving company held our stuff. (We were in an AirBnB for about a month while looking for a house.)

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#276

he gives a list of things to do or consider. supporting laws and politicians that catch and punish criminals effectively is somehow not on that list…

Politicians who claim to be tough on crime are usually just tough on black people and drug users, which helps nobody.

> Politicians who claim to be tough on crime are usually just tough on black people and drug users

This comment honestly left me speechless.

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are three use cases: 1. You are temporarily moving to a place outside your local area, or to a much smaller place. I was moving around for a year and a half, so I left my furniture and non-valuables in a storage unit until I would be settled again. 2. You live in a small unit in a big city. $100-$150 for an extra 50 square feet a month might be cheaper than the equivalent space and is a great choice for…

I could also see seasonal storage for things that you might not want to leave outside for 1-2 months a year.

I worked with a startup in Seattle that was essentially this. Store your skis/kayak/whatever for a flat fee a month depending on the item. They did door to door delivery/drop off as well.

Pretty sure it’s out of business now. They were owned by a big local storage unit company looking for a new market.

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#278
post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that where your drinking water comes from? Only a monster or a foreign invader would poison a drinking well.

The water in this part of the world all comes from the same sources (wells, some surface sources, rain). The problem is not poison, but supply (i.e. overuse).

I could imagine community ownership working in your case. Whoever controls such an important and scarce resource that many people depend upon for survival, whether it be public or private, is going to have their top minds focusing on maximizing its utility and longevity. The governance model probably doesn't matter as much as the virtues of the people doing it.

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#279
post #91
post #85

Don’t buy insurance from the same company giving you the service. Insurance is for you and you should pick it from your own choice of company and you should tailor the policy for your own needs. Same with financing. In my case, I get a lot of my insurance from a guy in my town and he has an office that I can walk into if I need help.

I tend to avoid the insurance and just pile up the money I would have paid to cover the losses. Depending on the type of insurance. But theft insurance tends to be problematic. The fraudulent buy expensive stuff, keep all the receipts, sell the stuff for cash to a friend and then claim on insurance with the proper paperwork. Normal people tend not to keep and file away all paperwork and lose out.

> Normal people tend not to keep and file away all paperwork and lose out.

Interestingly some of 'valuable property' insurance I have used for my camera gear encourages you to submit your invoices, photos of the item, etc on your policy profile. Makes it easy to remember to toss a photo of the item, photo showing serial number area, close-up of it, invoice alongside the other info.

Re: So thieves broke into your storage unit again

#280
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you don't have space in your apartment or home for items you want to keep, then where else are you supposed to store things? On ebay? Sell the stuff now, buy it again if you need it. Doesn't work for everything, of course, and I don't practice it, I've got tons of space and tons of clutter.

So you're going to sell your surfboard and buy new ski equipment every winter, and sell your skis and buy a new surfboard every summer? As well as the rest of your bulky seasonal gear? Sounds expensive.

You're not using ebay for storage if you buy new replacements every season. It's ebay as storage if you're buying used replacements.
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