Storage Wars Is the new reality TV series positive or negative for the self storage industry? You decide.

The misfortune of people losing their possessions because they are unable to make payment on their storage spaces has been targeted by reality TV. Recently A&E introduced a new TV series called “Storage Wars” regarding the auctioning of delinquent self storage spaces. Although TV publicity of our industry is great for informing people what self storage is all about, but what effects does it have on the industry? Being an associate of multiple self storage facilities I can tell you that auctions are now at a minimum twice as popular as they once were because of this new reality TV fad. More people are interested in knowing when auctions of the delinquent units are going happen and what the exact protocol of purchasing these spaces is. The amount of people that show up for these auctions as of recently has doubled and brought competition to the regular buyers who make their living off of delinquent spaces. Whether the buyers own thrift shops or an e-bay store and resell the items they win at auction or simply think they can strike it rich from finding unknown treasures in other peoples junk, the self storage industry has definitely been impacted by the new reality TV show.

From the facility stand point, this new publicity has made managers and associates jobs a bit more busy because they are taking more phone calls that do not generate leads for potential sales, rather we are taking phone calls answering tons of questions about people’s interest in buying delinquent storage spaces. One positive about taking all these new phone calls is it does get your facility name out there in the public eye. More and more people are interested in knowing about self storage or the process purchasing delinquent spaces so it is actually positive publicity for storage facilities. Even though people may not buy a storage space when they inquire about the auctions, you are still networking with these people making them a part of your facility and in return hopefully they network positively with others about your facility. On the downfall of that situation, explaining all the details of the auction can be quite time consuming and distracting especially while you’re also trying to run a facility and deal with its day to day issues. Another positive from the facility stand point is with more people showing up for auctions and more competition among buyers, the price the spaces are auctioning for has actually increased. This is positive for the facility because they can get a bit more money for the delinquent spaces bringing the debt of the space down making our collections less. This is very beneficial for the facilities but it does affect the buyers in a negative way. Since now the price has been driven up because more people are bidding, it forces regulars to spend more than they normally would to get the units they think would be profitable.

Although there are many pros and cons to contemplate when deciding if the new reality TV series “Storage Wars” has positive or negative effect on the storage industry, one thing is for certain. Publicity is publicity and we all must take full advantage of it when the opportunity arises. Fads don’t last forever so in my opinion it is all about making the best of the fad while it is still in existence, what do you think?

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