My wife and I have a 10'x10' storage unit at Public Storage. I had to rent it when her mother passed and we had to clean out her condo. Over the years we have disposed of many of those items but re-filled the unit with stuff from our school age children.

This week we are spring cleaning. I have already filled the entire back my of Suburban twice, up to the driver's seat, for trips to Goodwill. And that was just the house. One of the tasks was the storage unit. I figured it was time to upgrade to a 10'x15'. So I go online and look at prices.

Backtracking a little bit, when I rented the current unit, with taxes it was something like $106. Then after 6 months it went to about $130. And 12 months after that it went to $156.

I see a 10'x15' starts at $165, and I know after 6 months that thing will be over $200 and I just cannot swallow that, so I decide we should purge first and then make a decision.

So we start cleaning and giving away and throwing away. And when I look at what we have left, I realize a 10'x10' will work just fine. But the whole unit is in disarray, and I will have to re-organize anyway, so let me check prices on the 10'x10'. I see a 10'x10' starts at $80 and the first month is $1. "Well, that seems like a no brainer" I think. Figured I would sleep on it and check my cancellation date on the other unit the next morning.

The next day arrives, I check the terms, and perfect, I have a day to spare before paying for a whole extra month. I go back online to rent the unit and the price is now $100. "WTH?" I think. "Well, screw it, I am still going to save a ton of money over the course of the year" I think to myself. I start to do the online process. But then a nagging thought hits me and I holler to my wife, "Please log onto the Public Storage site from your computer."

Anyone want to guess what price she sees on her computer, which has not logged into the site before? That's right, the $80 rate.

So, as a longtime customer, I was paying $156 per month. As a new customer, I got the first month for a dollar, and at least the next 6 months for $80. Over the first 6 months I will save about $600. I figure that was worth the 3 hours I spent pushing the hand truck back and forth with boxes today.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: holdem,

It would be interesting to see the price if you cleared your cache and cookies for that site, and then checked the price again.

By the way, Time-Warner, or BrightHouse, or Spectrum, or whatever they are calling themselves this week, do the same thing. A new customer gets a MUCH better price for internet & RV service than an existing customer.

This is common. Ever tried to book a flight? Try it with your phone, then compare with your desktop. The price is likely different. Did you check the price on a Windows PC? Now try it with a Mac. The flight is likely going to cost more.

I have a 10x10 to keep the snow off my motorcycle. 55 bucks a month.

We got a storage unit in July as we moved across the state and are waiting for our house to be built. First time ever getting one.

10x15 for $102 a month.

I got a thing in the mail last week that the rate is going to $142.

40% increase?!?!

I called them and bitched and they cut the increase to 20% .. $124 a month. A little better.

I understand there will be increases .. but 40% is ridiculous.

I see you are in FL. Not sure if you have a Big Jim’s near you but I’m renting a 20x20 for under $200 a month. And my locker is inside. Outside access lockers are cheaper. My rent went up a little after 12 months but that’s been the only increase and it was only around 10 bucks IIRC. I’m very happy with them.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

I see you are in FL. Not sure if you have a Big Jim’s near you . . . I’m very happy with them.

OP is in the Orlando area. Big Jim's storage locations are all on the west (Gulf) side of the peninsula, an hour or more away.

quote:

So, as a longtime customer, I was paying $156 per month. As a new customer, I got the first month for a dollar, and at least the next 6 months for $80. Over the first 6 months I will save about $600. I figure that was worth the 3 hours I spent pushing the hand truck back and forth with boxes today.

^^^^^^^^^^^
Sounds like they borrowed a page from Direct TV or similar providers.

It's more difficult to move a bunch of stuff to a new location than to pay a little more I guess.

Although I'm just here wondering how they get away with charging almost as much per sqft as my apartment.

quote:

Originally posted by bobtheelf:
It's more difficult to move a bunch of stuff to a new location than to pay a little more I guess.

Although I'm just here wondering how they get away with charging almost as much per sqft as my apartment.

Because they get it. I had a yacht owners stuff in a 10x10' air conditioned and same thing after the first month it goes up to something else.....etc. etc. I think it was around $130 a month. I was talking to one of the guys that worked there and it took $3 million to build the place 10 years ago when they built it and the payback was around 2 years and they have over 96% occupancy all of the time.

It goes up over time because the more you have in the place, the less likely you are going to move to a new place over a small price increase.

But in this case you're close to 50% by signing for a new unit.

Did you have to move out of your unit into a new one to get the better price?

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Did you have to move out of your unit into a new one to get the better price?

Of course, no way they were going to lower the price. My wife just went online and signed up. I have a nice dolly / handtruck and spent a few hours walking back and forth, probably about 150 feet each way, all indoors.

I was going to have to take everything out anyway to organize it, so in this instance, it really wasn't much more work than the walking.

I did put nearly everything in storage bins. And I have 4 shelving units from Costco which I can move as one piece. When I have to do this again in 2-3 years, it will be very easy.

Don’t you have a basement? I guess you can keep the unit and as your kids get out of school they can come get there stuff or start paying for storage themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

Don’t you have a basement?

He is in the Orlando area. In the 35 years that I have lived here, I have never seen a house with a basement.

Storage facilities typically raise rates when occupancy is high.

I have a different approach. I've found as I get older that too much storage space is an expensive curse.
Paying rent for things you will give or throw away later seems counterproductive. When I get a bill for that space it helps me put a number on just how much I really need to keep the stuff.

The other game they play is on insurance. I just got a bill for my little 10x5 unit. The rent is like $50/month but they added $11.00 for property loss waiver. Got them an updated proof that I had 'other structures' coverage on my homeowners insurance (which is part of a standard policy) and the $11.00/month went away.

You can buy a lot of homeowners (or renters) insurance for $132/year. Total rip off!!

Ask yourself how often do you go and retrieve something from the unit. If it's seldom or never then have a yard sale, donate to goodwill or whatever but quit hoarding stuff you don't use, sentimental or not.

"Rolling back prices" at Wal Mart, comes to mind.

They have 90 food items that they jack around the prices on.

They start with a low price, raise that price twice in six months and the
Roll back the price to .25 cents higher than the original low price

The lowest price is 25% less than competitors, the highest price is 40% more than the competition.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

Don’t you have a basement?

He is in the Orlando area. In the 35 years that I have lived here, I have never seen a house with a basement.

They are all over the place, we call them pools...