The rise of the Self-Storage industry has taken many parts of the world by storm. From a Business perspective, the industry is a complete goldmine. The theory is, buy an old run down warehouse on the outskirts of any major city that can't be used for retail purposes (and is therefore very cheap to buy), break it into small individual storage units and then charge customers a fee each month to keep the things that they no longer need but can't bring themselves to part with. The industry may now be somewhat over-saturated but there is no denying that there is a genuine need in the Market and it is likely to keep increasing.
So, why is there such a desperate need for people to pay for additional storage space?
The average person will move house eight times in their lifetime. In that time, they will acquire increasing amounts of furniture, books, Records/CDs/DVDs and copious amounts of general 'stuff'.
With the increase in house prices and rent in most major cities the luxury of moving to a bigger place with ample storage in the attic, garage or 'box room' is not always as achievable as it used to be. This coupled with the fact that most children are forced to stay 'living with the parents' in some cases well into their thirties puts enormous pressure on the amount of available space for the 2.4 children and all their 'stuff'.
For some, it is more a case of 'down-sizing' as the cost of living continues to spiral upwards and they are left no longer able to afford the size of house that they would want. Equally, most people can only afford to rent or own a flat rather than a house, particularly in the larger cities so space 'comes at a premium'. So, some are left with a 'three piece suite' and 'dining furniture' that they don't have room for but don't want to sell. Only then, does the additional cost of 'self-storage' become attractive.
We live in an age now where we consume and acquire more and more as we get older. Fuelled by the 'advertising industry' and an increase in 'discount sales', we are constantly enticed to part with our money for the next, the latest and the newest of things before what we have has completely lost its intrinsic value. We are left with more and more items which are no longer required but are too valuable to discard.
The challenge then for most of us, is to work out what is worth keeping and how to reduce the amount of storage space we actually need. This is not an easy feat. The benefit though of digital storage is that we can continue to acquire more without requiring more physical space. The move from Vinyl records to MP3s or photographs to digital images are just such an example. Likewise, the move from Paperback books to Kindle, etc means that we have access to increasing amounts of literature/music/pictures without needing to box up the old books/photo albums/records and store them somewhere in case they are ever needed again.
Much of the information and entertainment we acquire has become far more disposable since it is cheaper to produce and deliver in it's virtual form than it's older physical form. What we need to get better at now is how best to manage our 'virtual storage' as this too continues to increase.
No comments:
Post a Comment