anyone here rented storage space before?

[MikeWaters]

it's kind of a scary place. Is this just the one I frequented, or is it common for the super-poor to rent space?

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

it's kind of a scary place. Is this just the one I frequented, or is it common for the super-poor to rent space?

It is high crime. There is ALWAYS a very high theft rate at ALL storage space facilities.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by creekster

It is high crime. There is ALWAYS a very high theft rate at ALL storage space facilities.

I bought $4000 worth of insurance with a $100 deductible. I am more worried about my person than I am the stuff.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I bought $4000 worth of insurance with a $100 deductible. I am more worried about my person than I am the stuff.

Word to the wise: Your policy will probably not cover burglary that does not leave evident marks of breaking and entering. If the theft involves a cut lock replaced by a new lock (and you can't prove that) the insurance will likely not cover it.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by creekster

Word to the wise: Your policy will probably not cover burglary that does not leave evident marks of breaking and entering. If the theft involves a cut lock replaced by a new lock (and you can't prove that) the insurance will likely not cover it.

public storage does place stickers on the locks. so a lock having no stickers would indicate lock has been changed.

on the other hand, they could claim you changed it yourself.

however, there is video surveillance, so you would think there would be videotape evidence of theft.

There is also some kind of alarm system as well with the roll-up doors. She said if the lock is not removed, and the thing not rolled up, alarm will go off.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

public storage does place stickers on the locks. so a lock having no stickers would indicate lock has been changed.

on the other hand, they could claim you changed it yourself.

however, there is video surveillance, so you would think there would be videotape evidence of theft.

There is also some kind of alarm system as well with the roll-up doors. She said if the lock is not removed, and the thing not rolled up, alarm will go off.

You are seeign ti clearly. Like I said, just a word to the wise.

[TripletDaddy]

In Costa Mesa, some were renting the storage units to use as makeshift brothels.

I have to admit, I thought it was a clever idea.

Also, not uncommon to be used as a drug trade area.....lots of privacy, little chance of a cop pulling up into a gated storage space, not a lot of foot traffic, easy for lookouts to monitor ingress/egress out of one choke point.

We had a storage facility for about a year or so, but then cancelled when we realized that we should just throw most of the stuff away. Best decision we made was to toss it all.

[jxncoog]

Someone was using a storage unit at the end of our street in Balch Springs as a meth lab some 20 years ago. They got busted, but said it was a dangerous enough operation that had there been an explosion, it would have leveled our home.

[SeattleUte]

My favorite storage story happened about ten years ago here in Seattle. A guy was living in Pocatello with his wife and kids. He was a salesman in a car dealership. For about 14 years since he met his wife he paid for this storage unit up in Seattle. Somehow the bill paying fell to her for a while and she decided this monthly bill on the storage unit from his prior life was a wasteful nuisance and need not be paid. So she quit paying for a couple of months.

What the storage company does when this happens is aucition contents off site unseen for a few bucks. The proud owner of the contents opened the unit up, and later he described that "it smelled like Vietnam." They found the prior renter's wife and two kids in there. Murdered with a knife and stuffed into garbage bags with vials of holy water tied onto them. The murderer told his in-laws his wife ran off with the kids. They said they always wondered what the hell happened to her.

[MikeWaters]

I"m telling you it's a bit scary. I ain't going round unless the employees are there and it's daylight.