Elevators Are Not the Enemy

I was out in Elkhorn this morning looking at our new climate control building that is progressing nicely. What is great from a customer-service perspective is we are going to be able to offer our customers drive-up access to non-climate units and climate control units accessed by elevator. Although we’ve seen it done by other companies, we have never, and will never, ask our customer to climb up or down a flight of stairs to move items.

For a puzzling reason, we encounter a lot of people who want to rent on the first floor to avoid elevators, regardless of distance. Think about this: If you can rent a unit on the first floor and it is 150 feet of hallways from the door, or you can rent on the 3rd floor and walk 80 feet- which is closest? People say the elevator takes too long, but does it really?

Our building doesn’t house apartments or shopping areas, so our elevators are used minimally. If you are moving during the first weekend of a summer month, you may have a minute or two wait for the elevator, or share it with someone else. But storage facilities are not highly trafficked places, you can tell that by the number of parking spaces or bathrooms required by the city. Interesting thought, eh?

So if you don’t have to wait for the elevator, it makes sense to rent up or down, not straight across. Especially if the facility charges a premium fee for the most highly sought-after units. No stairs and closer walking distance with a possibility of saving money. In these times of extreme couponing and foreclosures, you may save money by asking: "Do you discount any less-than-ideally located units?" or "Is the price effected by what floor I am on?"

31 days ago

Desired end result

Right now