Self Storage Auctions

As the popularity of self-storage auctions continues to grow, it’s becoming more and more evident to me that even though there are successful storage companies, they don’t all know what they’re doing. I’ll be the first to say Dino’s isn't perfect. We make mistakes because we’re humans. But we do know the storage laws and we follow them. We have a lawyer we go to for advice on the complicated matters. The owner of Dino’s is the founder and President of the Nebraska Self Storage Association. We are the self-storage company that other companies go to for advice. We hold an annual conference for facility owners and managers where we invite guest speakers and vendors to educate other operators and managers on how to run a successful business. This includes legal, sales, construction, and economical topics. We also conduct periodical market surveys (in person and over the phone) to find out how we compare to those around us and figure out what we can do that they are not.

When renting a storage unit, you want to trust the people and the place where you’re putting your possessions. Here are some important things to look for:

1. A facility with a gate and restricted access to tenants only.
2. Consistent, unchanging information from the manager.
3. Familiarize yourself with storage laws (Iowa Law, Nebraska Law) and casually ask the manager about their procedures and compare that with what you know.
4. Ask your friends and family for referrals.
5. Most importantly, go with your gut. You wouldn’t rent an apartment if it didn’t feel right, so don’t put your home or business in a storage unit that doesn’t feel right.

Residence at Dino's Storage

Wow!!! I thought I had heard just about everything!!!! I know that the homeless population is all over the United States right now and getting worse with the economy being the way it is. When I came in to check my messages this weekend I found out that one of my tenants was using his drive up storage space as a residence!

Now I realize that it has four walls and is out of the wind, but the storage garages at Dino's Storage are not residences and it is against Dino's policies for anyone to stay in their storage unit. Hopefully we don't have to deal with this problem again!

Dino's Storage Payments

Most people know how to pay their storage bill and don't ever have an issue with payments. But there are others who either do not put their unit number on their check/money order, or they have someone else send it in and don't include their name on the payment. This is how errors happen in the payment process. You would not believe how many John Smiths I have in my system. Without a unit number on your payment, I have no idea which John Smith that payment belongs to. When situations like this happen I can sometimes look at the address on the payment and narrow it down that way, but this doesn't always work. Sometimes I get money order payments with no name, address or unit number at all.

In cases like the ones that I speak about above the customer ends up getting locked out of their unit and getting late fees, when in all actuality they did pay on time. It is very easy for me to change the payment and add it to the correct account but it would make it even easier on you and me if the error didn't happen in the first place.

Please remember to always put your unit number on your payment! If you are not sure of your unit number, you can always call your property manager and they would be happy to give you that information, as it would save them time in the long run as well.

New Website!

Our sister company, Dino's Storage, launched a new website this morning. Check it out! We out hope you like it!!

www.DinosStorage.com