earlier this month, the new york times ran a piece on self-storage units in the united states of america. while reading the story, i was again reminded of how much we love our stuff. just notice some of these highlights:
- the united states now has 2.3 billion square feet of self-storage space. (the self storage association notes that, with more than seven square feet for every man, woman and child, it’s now “physically possible that every american could stand — all at the same time — under the total canopy of self-storage roofing.”)
- fifty percent of [self-storage] renters are now simply storing what won’t fit in their homes — even though the size of the average american house had almost doubled in the previous 50 years, to 2,300 square feet.
- by 2007, a full 15 percent of customers told the self storage association they were storing items that they “no longer need or want.” it was the third-most-popular use for a unit and was projected to grow to 25 percent of renters the following year.
- between 1970 and 2008, real disposable personal income per capita doubled, and by 2008 we were spending nearly all of it — all but 2.7 percent — each year. meanwhile, the price of much of what we were buying plunged. even by the early ’90s, american families had, on average, twice as many possessions as they did 25 years earlier. by 2005, according to the boston college sociologist juliet b. schor, the average consumer purchased one new piece of clothing every five and a half days.
- “human laziness has always been a big friend of self-storage operators,” derek naylor, president of the consultant group storage marketing solutions, told me. “because once they’re in, nobody likes to spend all day moving their stuff out of storage. as long as they can afford it, and feel psychologically that they can afford it, they’ll leave that stuff in there forever.”
you can read the whole article here: the self-storage self.
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Self storage units have been popping up all over in my area. If I wasn’t putting my kids through college I’d buy property and make my own. It seems a great way to make a buck. Dereck Naylor is right, people are too lazy to move the stuff out once it’s in. Incredible, they pay for the junk to have it in their posession and then pay a monthly fee to keep it.
Joe
It’s amazing to me… So many people I know are storing their grown kid’s furniture (kids who have now bought homes of their own), old junk, etc. It’s cleary stuff they don’t want enough to keep in their house, so why pay to store it???
It is shameful that we can house stuff but we can’t provide shelter for the homeless. I propose we add communal running water and toilets and use those storage units as shelters for the homeless. Beats the streets. The storage units surpass the conditions that most people in third world countries live in.
Grace
Grace – I was thinking about that too. How so many people live in terrible conditions, and we worry more about keeping our possessions safe and dry than their welfare. It really is sad.
Amazing. It’s funny that we think storing stuff is a ‘solution’ to our hoarding and clutter. The last point you mention is the key. It’s the same mentality that starts with us creating ‘Miscellaneous’ categories in our filing cabinets, email programs and computer directories. We think we are getting organized, but all we’re really doing is putting off making a decision…
Self-storage is the ‘Misc’ category for our lives. I don’t want to make the hard decisions (eg spend less, buy less, get rid of clutter, etc) but I do want to feel I’ve been proactive in some small way – out of sight, out of mind
It blows me away that people actually pay to have their junk stored. I have my share of junk / stuff that needs to be purged ( we all do ), but seriously if it doesn’t physically fit in my house, why on earth would I want it?
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