Self Storage in Oz

An Observer of the Australian Self Storage Industry From The Inside & Outside & Beyond...

[ozselfstorage]

112 Giraffes in Self Storage!

UK company Big Yellow Self Storage, as part of their sponsorship of Colchester Zoo's 50th Birthday celebrations and the "Stand Tall for Giraffes" are storing 112 giraffe sculptures. Sorry, not real giraffes, but giraffe sculptures. Let's have a look...

"The Big Yellow Self Storage Company is one of 30 local businesses sponsoring Stand Tall for Giraffes, in which a herd of 2.5m giraffe sculptures will be on display around Colchester for 12 weeks. These 30 giraffes have all been individually painted by artists whose designs were chosen from over 100 submissions."

source: http://www.colchester-zoo.com/index.cfm?fa=news.press.detail&Press_Release_ID=490&section=6

[ozselfstorage]

Is "Storage Wars" Fake?

According to a lawsuit filed by former "Storage Wars" star Dave Hester, many aspects of the hit TV show are fake or staged.

Storage Wars is a high rating reality TV show about self storage auctions from the US but broadcast in many countries overseas including the TV show about self storage - Australia - now shown on Foxtel in Australia..

Read the following article for the full scoop: http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/a-called-fraud-by-cast-member/

See also: our tumblr post from a while back: Does “Storage Wars” help boost the Self Storage Industry?

[ozselfstorage]

Kids Living in a Storage Unit - Update

An update on our recent post about children being discovered living in a storage unit ....

More evidence surfaces as the two boys' mother faces Court:

During the arrest Johnson told police that her sons were in the storage space. Police officers went to the unit where they found the door closed and the two boys sitting in the unlocked, dark locker.

“They were in good physical health, they were relatively clean,” Mennuti said.

When police interviewed the boys, they said they had been living in the locker for a week, but Johnson told police the family had been staying there for a month, Mennuti said.

He said the family went to restrooms at local businesses to brush their teeth and use the bathroom and were eating granola bars, applesauce and other packaged foods. Johnson told police she sometimes got a hotel room or brought the children to friends’ houses to shower, Mennuti said.

Source: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/04/mom_who_allegedly_kept_two_son.html

[ozselfstorage]

The World's Thinnest House!

Wow. Check out these photos of the world's thinnest house, designed by Polish architect Jakub Szczesny. It all started 4 years ago when he challenged himself to build a fully functional, liveable house within a very narrow gap between two existing buildings. The results... have a look for yourself... One thing we know for sure, if you live in a house this tiny, you are definitely going to need self storage units!

[ozselfstorage]

Children Discovered Living in Self Storage Unit

Cases of people living in self storage units seems to be on the rise lately. And especially concerning is now they're also finding kids!!! See below, two recent articles featuring what appears to be the same story - a case of children discovered living in self storage units

Two Boys Discovered Living in Self Storage Unit (insideselfstorage.com)

Mother And Two Children Found Living In Self-Storage Unit (inquisitr.com)

The facts: 2 boys, one only 5, the other 10 years old, often unattended by their 27 year old mother... living in an un-locked storage unit!!!

Here's a photo apparently of the storage unit:

[storageunitauctionlist]

Self Storage in Russia is super fancy!

[ozselfstorage]

Fancy as! Love her hat, love her hair.. the whole uniform. It's like Thunderbirds meets Jetsons mashed up with Russian retropolitan :)

This is what self storage in Russia looks like.... 

[ozselfstorage]

5 Strange Things Found in Self Storage Units

1. Live Ammo

2. K.I.T.T. (Knight Rider's Car)

3. 3,000 Year Old Seeds

4. Aretha Franklin's Wardrobe

5. Never Released Michael Jackson Tracks

Source: http://thumbpress.com/5-weird-things-found-in-storage-units/

[ozselfstorage]

The

World's 

Shortest

Tumblr Post 

About

Self Storage

[ozselfstorage]

Climate Controlled Storage

Climate-controlled storage will usually cost more than normal self storage but in many cases it is well worth it, especially for wine storage, antiques, musical instruments, valuable artwork, wood and paper based materials (especially in tropical and humid environments)

Climate controlled storage offers protection from adverse weather, atmospheric and environmental conditions. The units will be dry, built above floor level (flood level) and are well insulated.

Australians in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in need of climate controlled storage can search via Self Storage Choice storage directory and will find that many businesses listed there can offer this feature in some of their storage facilities.

Good stored in climate controlled storage units do no experience fluctuations or variations in air temperature, pressure or humidity.

The most expensive climate controlled storage facilities have dedicated air conditioning including dehumidifier function, dedicated and individually controlled to provide the optimum level of climate control.

[ozselfstorage]

Does "Storage Wars" help boost the Self Storage Industry?

What do you think?

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that:

[the self storage industry] has pop-culture cache with the popular reality TV series "Storage Wars" that debuted on the A&E Network in 2010

It would seem that this reality show has had a potent spin-off effect which perhaps no-one saw coming: those that rent self storage units and especially those that rent long term, storing items such as antiques, curios, and other "rare" things, they now have a perhaps-overly-inflated belief in the value of such items and therefore are more willing to keep their payments up on their self storage unit, so as to avoid the chance of losing out and having someone else get the chance to buy the contents of their self storage unit in a storage aucton.

[ozselfstorage]

7 Facts about the Australian Self Storage Industry

About 1,200 Self Storage Facilities

Around 25 million square feet of rentable self storage space

Average of $105 AUD per month self storage fees per customer

85%-90% Occupancy rates in establish premises

Rising house costs and falling land size result in continued industry growth.

The furniture removals industry in Australia, which is always busy, feeds a lot of business to self storage operators.

The three biggest self storage companies are Kennards, National Storage and Storage King.

[ozselfstorage]

Self Storage Unit - Your Mini Survival System

With the ever increasing rates of property and land and the growing rise of the landlord class and ownership mentality that comes with it, many people want to jump on the bandwagon and purchase their own piece of land and/or real estate, but in most cases all they can afford is something very small such as a tiny apartment or flat.

That's where self storage units come in and why in a way they can be seen as a kind of "mini survival system" as people have far too many belongings and stuff to fit into their ever decreasing personal property and living environment so are forced into using self storage as a means of survival, at least (they tell themselves) only for the short term while they sell off, downsize, simplify and try to minimize their lives.

The reality however, is, we're guessing (but don't have the solid stats to back it up) that many people just never get around it it and those "short term only" self storage rentals creep slowly but surely into long terms :)

[ozselfstorage]

Aussie Storage Auctions - the real deal or not?

We covered this way back in the early days when Kennards starting doing online auctions in conjunction with Grays Online. Link here.

And we note there is now website offering storage auctions here in the land of Oz.. which got us a little excited....

http://www.storageauctionsaustralia.com.au/

But on closer inspection the website is not really offering anything new at all, just talking about what is being auctioned on Grays Online and what note. And basically they are just what looks like fishing for Google Adsense clicks :)

Perhaps one of the bigger storage directories such as http://www.selfstoragechoice.com.au/ should start up a new online auctions section or something.

[ozselfstorage]

SOUTH SALT LAKE -- Authorities say they found people living in at least five units of a South Salt Lake self-storage facility after conducting a raid there last month. Police and health officials found "a makeshift bedroom with food, clothing and other living accessories" in one unit at A-1 Storage, according to a search warrant released Thursday. Police said the March 20 raid turned up televisions, microwaves and lamps in another unit, and recliners, work stations, heaters and air conditioning units in others. Officials said that conditions were neither sanitary nor safe. Among other things, health officials found human waste being stored in bottles. The tenants were evicted, but authorities didn't have an exact count of how many people were living there.

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/state-and-regional/families-evicted-from-utah-storage-facility/article_28a24b80-b403-5544-8805-0e9399859d59.html

I wonder if there are any cases of this happening in self storage facilities in Australia ?

A tough one to deal with if you're the manager of the self storage facility. "Human waste stored in bottles" doesn't sound too pretty :( 

[ozselfstorage]

Top 3 Self Storage Operation Software Packages

Here we go with the top 3 Self Storage Operation Software Solutions:

1. SiteLink www.sitelink.com – SiteLink is the most popular software program in the storage field and rightfully so with its Web Edition and  many excellent features like CRM built in, email and SMS/Txt messaging as well as revenue management. SiteLink is still considered the go to software package for most self storage facilities.

2. Centershift www.centershift.com – Centershift is regarded as the fastest growing software solution in the self storage industry. It handles both point of sale and rental management.

3. E-SoftSys Self Storage Manager www.selfstoragemanager.com –Self Storage Manager by E-SoftSys is a comprehensive management software for both multi-facility and single facility operators.

[ozselfstorage]

Preparing for Self Storage - A Few Tips

All around Australia from the capital cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to smaller cities and towns you can find self storage facilities. Self storage units are becoming an increasingly popular way of storing possessions, when possessions become too many for storing at home. Also for those moving, travelling, downsizing or just for the guy who wants an extra shed! Finding a self storage these days is easy, no more going to the yellow pages, or asking your mates for advice. Just go online and search for a self storage unit.

There are however a few things you should prepare in advance before moving into your self storage unit, some of these are covered below.

Preparation is the key. Use good quality, strong, new cardboard boxes. Label your boxes. And even better, keep records of the contents inside. Don't over pack them and dont tape them up too much, so you can easily open to check, change or access your storage boxes for whatever purpose.

Whether you are moving yourself or working with movers, make sure good care is taken with all valuable and fragile items. Cover such items with blankets or bubble wrap. Take your very valuable and fragile items yourself in your car, don't risk them with the movers.

When packing your self storage unit, always leave a space in the middle for access. Pack heavier boxes lower, and also bear in mind boxes containing things you are more likely to need to access more often - don't pack them at the back or too low down!

Make sure you consider security. Choose a storage facility that has good security measures in place, such as pin coded keypad security, 24 hour CCTV, and even better 24 hour human security and or guard dogs. 

Also consider the quality of the lock provided. Or if possible choose a place where you can provide your own lock for your own storage unit.

[ozselfstorage]

25 million worth of drugs in a self storage unit

49 kilograms of heroin and 20 kilograms of ice (meth/methamphetamine) and all stashed in such a tiny self storage unit...