Author Blasts Self-Storage

June 29th, 2007

Ouch. The author of “Sorting It Out: One Disorganized Woman Solves the Problem of Too Much Stuff” just blasted self-storage. She writes:

“Renting storage space is generally one of the most useless expenses anyone can add to the household budget. I’m hard-pressed to come up with a legitimate reason for it, except for those rare instances when the rental facility is truly a temporary or seasonal solution to a storage problem.

“Temporary does not mean forever; that would be permanent. So, if you have stored something for longer than a year (a very generous length of time), it is probably no longer a temporary arrangement. If you haven’t accessed what you have in storage during that year, unless you were off having a fine old time touring the continent (or facing the challenge of serving our country abroad), it’s pretty safe to conclude that you don’t need what you’ve stored. That means it’s time to unload the burdens of the storage unit and all of its unnecessary contents.”

Good grief. Not someone we want evangelizing for the industry, is it? This is the kind of information that needs to be combated with information to the contrary. This author goes on and on and on about self-storage’s origins — all in the name of promoting her book.

See, if you buy her book, she figures, you won’t need self-storage because you’ll be organized. What she fails to acknowledge is that there’s many other reasons people use self-storage, among other key points.

What do you think? Is she accurate in her description of “selfish storage?” Or shouldn’t we do some education to the contrary here?

Her blog comments have plenty of supporters. What say you?

Read her blog here.

Entry Filed under: Public Relations, Community Relations, Media Relations, Crisis Communications