Storage: the "hidden" service

http://www.designatdistance.com/
coming soon to
http://publicstoragecanada.com/

Our recent site affiliation with Public storage brings the most important provider of national storage facilities to design at distance customers.
But my meeting with Public Storage also made me think about those "hidden" providers of service that we call upon during those "exceptional" moments that can happen in the course of a lifetime...

Take the storage industry as an example. There are some fun reasons to use storage, I love the Public storage advert with the jet ski. If you haven't seen it yet, just think about the logisitics of owning a "jet ski". Great in the summer, but where do jet ski's and their like hang out in the "off period"? Then do the math: wouldn't it be worth 5 months of storage fees, just to avoid the hassle you get from your "better half" for blocking up the garage/driveway/shed over the winter???   (view previous Private Storage ads on U-tube, they're clasics!)

But facts show that the 3 main reasons that push people to use storage facilities outside of their home, basement, garage or shed can be roughly (in all senses of the term) classified as "The 3 D's": death, divorce and disaster. And just for good measure I've found a 4th!

1. Death: often that of a last remaining parent, often poses logistic problems for imediate loved ones, who have to cope with the contents of the family home. And with modern families often strewn across the globe, geographically speaking, not all siblings can get "back to base" in time to chose, and transport, special objects from their parents possesions.   So some form of storage space is the logicical solution: to bridge the gap between the sale of the family home and the opportunity to organize what happens to family heirlooms (no matter what their commercial value may be).

2. Divorce: a very present part of our modern society, bringing many "challenges" other than the obvious one of sentiment. The seperation of shared living space and possessions often poses a real dilema. Secure storage facilities can help ease some of the stress, allowing the "newly-single" to concentrate on their next steps, without the added pressure of where the sofa and sideboard will "sleep"!

3. Disaster: all too common in many areas recently. Flooding, fire and storms...disaster know no bounds to the extent to which it ravages our lives. Saving life is paramount, but saving property and possesions becomes a life-saver for the families invloved. Having instantly available facilities in which to store recovered possesions is a ray of light in a dark tunnel.

4. Another major reasons for using a storage company: "Demanagement" Moving home!

Holding the no.3 position in the list of "stressful moments of your life" along with the loss of a loved one...and guess what? divorce! moving home is definately a moment when additional storage is worth looking at, and that's personal experience talking! With our main furniture still "home alone" in a storage facitlity in Paris, I'm looking forward to the day when I can cancel the contract...but awfully pleased the option was there to use when I needed it.

So let's spare a thought for the guys and girls of the industry's that provide services you'd often rather not use, but that life events often make necessary!
I was impressed by the whole Public Storage organisation, and who wouldn't be? their spaces are clean and modern, well-organized, secure, and designed with customer needs in mind, but there's more to it than that. It's not just the logistics, but their understanding of their customers...and the reasons they become customers.   It's that kind of understanding that makes a good company great. Just another reason why Public Storage is a design at distance site partner.  Happy storing...and jet-skiing!