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tco9m5 t1_izrq46z wrote

I can't remember where I heard about this research but, if I remember correctly, new storage facility construction has a correlation with inflation rates and poverty rates rising. It seems that it tends to be a strong indicator of higher rates of folks either having to downsize their homes or of defaulting on their mortgages and having to move into rental properties, move in with relatives, and even becoming homeless entirely.

Basically, the more storage facilities you see popping up generally indicates that the percentage of our population who are going through financial hardships is increasing.

It's generally a pretty small percentage of storage unit patrons that are simply holding onto too much shit and mostly just folks storing the last of their possessions in the hopes that things will turn around and they'll be able to afford a home of their own again.

So folks should be upset for your reason and this one.

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S-Kunst t1_izru86u wrote

I think you are correct. I have a relative who was administrator for a small town in north county NY. Their town started to see applications to build Dollar stores (they already have one) At a meeting of small town administrators, a state reps said that when a town starts seeing Dollar stores pop up, it is a sign of economic distress for that area. It also is a red flag to potential investors that things are going down hill.

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Gitopia t1_izs5tec wrote

Dollar General is a small footprint Walmart. That town without enough room for Walmart can still be decimated :)

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tco9m5 t1_izsqy64 wrote

Yup. They also put pressure on regular grocery stores and can sometimes even apply enough pressure to force a grocery store to close up shop and thereby create a "food desert".

While there's certainly a place for dollar stores in a community, you know what they don't have? A produce section.

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S-Kunst t1_izv3g3v wrote

In some ways it is interesting to watch. Many in the county say the city is out of control and its people are bad and don't we in the county seem better? Look we have no decay. Then you drive around the county and see the remnants of the throw away communities, where the middle class has evacuated moving on to greener pastures, never helping to maintain what they have. Its a certain smugness to think that you are always on the winning team, when you actually have little input into the making of the place. Since the end of the 2nd war. New and "better neighborhoods are made by developers. People move in, then due to older generations dying off and their offspring moving on, that area becomes 2nd rate. Since the 2nd war true towns are no longer being minted. In their place are settlements with no feeling that the citizens will be there when the going gets tough. A true town provided safety, security, amenities. These new settlements offer amenities nothing else.

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U_Bahn t1_izsm650 wrote

They are also used for land investment purposes. A number of the large storage chains have restructured themselves as land holding companies. Makes sense. Buy land cheap, get steady income from storage rentals, and then sell land when/if prices go up.

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tco9m5 t1_izsphc8 wrote

I don't doubt that at all. I'm sure there's ROI calculations that go on to see if it makes sense to go that route.

Also, I don't see the storage unit companies as evildoers or necessarily predatory here. Sure, it can be argued that they're profiting off of the misfortunes of some of their customer but they're also providing a vital service that in some cases keeps folks from losing not only their home but also losing most of their possessions. and the fact that more storage facilities are being build drives down the cost to the consumer.

I don't see the building of storage unit facilities as a problem in most cases, but I do believe that when you see so many being built so rapidly, it's a symptom and indicator of a much larger economic issue.

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dopkick t1_izs9jmu wrote

> It's generally a pretty small percentage of storage unit patrons

I could see the correlation but I have my doubts that only a small number of people are using storage places because they have too much stuff.

In states with homes that generally have no basements (think FL, TX, etc) storage space is often at a premium. Combine this with the typical 1960's home size/design and you have basically zero storage, unless you don't put cars in the garage.

I also think a large number of people like to hoard, to some degree. I know my parents and several of their neighbors hang on to shit they could have tossed decades ago. "But what if I need it some day?" I will admit, I used to fall victim to this mindset and had a closet that was useless because it was full of every kind of cord, adapter, spare part, etc. imaginable. Then I got rid of nearly all of it and reclaimed the closet knowing that I might have to spend a few bucks at Microcenter or Monoprice if I ever need something. Well worth it.

There's also some cultures that hang on to more stuff, like practicing jews who have a kosher set of kitchen stuff that they might bust out on the rare occasion. Some actually operate parallel kitchens with two sets of everything, including appliances. Lots of opportunities here to accumulate a lot of stuff that needs to be stored.

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tco9m5 t1_izscyzf wrote

True, but states like Florida and Texas also generally have larger yards than Baltimore area homes. I would think homeowners there would more likely opt to pay a one time upfront cost to buy/build a shed instead of recurring monthly fees for a storage unit that, within six months to a year, total more than the cost of a shed.

Obviously this is generalizing what the "typical" situations are and assuming that these folks are good at these types of decisions so this comment and my previous one don't account for every storage unit user's situation. I'm also sure there's a huge spectrum that folks fall on between hoarder and minimalist.

I do, however, believe that there are likely very smart people who watch various market trends in order to make highly educated decisions about when the right time to build a storage facility would be. My previous comment was only intended to point out that a layperson like myself only needs to see the product of these smart people's decisions in order to get an idea of what they're seeing.

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rmphys t1_izsecwp wrote

Not to mention, with people getting married (or re-married) later in life, a lot of couples each already have their own set of everything, whereas when couples get together young, they build up a single house's worth of stuff together. When they combine households, that shits gotta go somewhere. A lot sell it, but in the meantime store it. Everyone I know who owns a storage unit is because they got married and suddenly had two houses worth of stuff.

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