Upselling

wsss

I run a storage facility in Massachusetts. It seems as though you can only get so much out of the unit rentwise based on what the local market will bare. Does anyone have any ideas on extras that can be offered to upsell in the unit. Meaning mandatory insurance, shelving rental, things of that nature. Any thoughts? If so, what do you charge?

Orkocean

Mandatory insurance, mandatory lock *switching to cylinder locks over conventional*, another way to generate extra income is u-haul, mail box rentals in the office if you have space for some to sit. As far as the unit itself, do you classify units that are closer to doors or in premium areas as "premium" units and charge more for them versus one that's a longer walk down a hallway perhaps?   Back to the cylinder locks, any store I've been a part of in the past that has had these typically sale them for $19.99 versus a normal disc lock around $14. The fun part of those is typically they can't go find somewhere to buy the cylinder lock elsewhere so they're forced to buy yours. 

skinman

Our customers are required to have insurance... if they don't have renters or homeowners that covers their belongings, they have to purchase ours. I also charge a 1 time $25 administrative fee at move in... but I give the customer a new disc lock. 

i43storage

We used to sell disc locks for a little extra cash but stopped because it was much more work to grind off the disc lock compared to simply cutting a padlock.   

Amy_Loveland

One way is to sell merchandise like boxes, tape, bubble wrap, ect. this generates a lot of extra money and saves customers time.

MrFugate

i43storage said:

We used to sell disc locks for a little extra cash but stopped because it was much more work to grind off the disc lock compared to simply cutting a padlock.   

 That's the reason I Sell & recommend a disc lock. ( It takes about 1-2 min, if that, to cut them off with a 4in cut off wheel & A fully charged battery )

stormee

One thing that I've noticed is a pretty good sell is reservations. Like today, I have a unit available 2 phone calls for it. Guy #1 says he is coming & then calls to let me know he wont make it. Guy #2 I let know that there is one unit, there is someone else who wants it but he cant make it today. So now, He can reserve it for $25 & that guarantees it is his or he can call back tomorrow to see if its still available. 9 times outta 10 they reserve 

JamesStorage

@Orkocean I'm curious here, is there any real advantage to having a cylinder lock over a traditional disc or padlock? I always thought that they were less secure

ESS

@JamesStorage Disc locks cannot be cut with bold cutters. A thief, 9 times out of 10, will skip disc locks and go for the master style locks because they are easier to cut. The incidents I have known about regarding break-ins, they always pass up the disc locks. They want to get in and get out, not fuss with a bunch of disc locks they have to grind off.

themage

I don't know if it is still true, but certain models of cylinder lock could be forced with a hammer and a punch. Some of them could be opened with a bic pen. I think that most of them are much more secure now. 

We use disk locks since they are much harder to cut with bolt cutters and we, so far, don't want to retrofit 1000 doors with new hardware. We use a diamond wheel to cut the locks, when necessary, since we can get 20 cuts or so versus one or two with a traditional cutting disk.

As far as upselling, we have the usual moving and storage retail items on display. They don't make a huge difference, but they do sell. Consider what other places are nearby and offer items or services that might compliment. For instance, we are near an airport and we can offer long term parking for much less than the airport. 

i43storage

ESS said:

@JamesStorage Disc locks cannot be cut with bold cutters. A thief, 9 times out of 10, will skip disc locks and go for the master style locks because they are easier to cut. The incidents I have known about regarding break-ins, they always pass up the disc locks. They want to get in and get out, not fuss with a bunch of disc locks they have to grind off.

I believe @JamesStorage was referring to "cylinder locks" v. disc locks.

ESS

@i43storage HaHa! I do not pay enough attention, obviously 

Lisa1010

Recently I had 2 break-ins. The thief cut disc locks with a small pair of bolt cutters I could see on camera. The 2nd time he just cut the latch and the lock just fell off. 

Orkocean

Disc locks "Can" be cut with bolt cutters, done it quite a bit in my time as my first store refused to buy us a grinder. Cylinder locks "upsale" is the fact that customers can't just run down to the dollar store and buy their own so they're pretty much forced to buy it from you and you get to charge crazy amounts *seen a lot of $20 locks when cylinder is the option*. In all reality all locks are just their as deterrents, if a thief wants in to a unit they will get in regardless of what's on it. That disc lock might deter them, but does your latch? Seen quite a few times where the thief was bright enough to just snip the latch itself 

i43storage

Indeed.  Some latches are pretty lame.

JayBee

I arrived at work one day and found 32 units broken into.  Belongings were all over the property where the thief had pulled items out of the units, taken what they wanted and left the rest in the drive isles and open units.  Look like I was having a giant garage sale!  However...  There was not one lock cut.

MamaDuke7

JayBee said:

I arrived at work one day and found 32 units broken into.  Belongings were all over the property where the thief had pulled items out of the units, taken what they wanted and left the rest in the drive isles and open units.  Look like I was having a giant garage sale!  However...  There was not one lock cut.

How did they gain entry?  Did they just cut the latches?  Either way, what a nightmare.  I'm so sorry you had to deal with that.

I came in one day years ago to find that about 20 vehicles had been burglarized.  Copper stolen from the plumbing vehicles, gas siphoned from the pool service trucks, electronics stolen from RV's.  It was horrible.  Not something any manager wants to deal with.  But at least we couldn't blame inferior locks or latches!!!

CVSSSTORAGE

@JayBee we had a tenant break into some of our units last year. They cut the latch part that goes into the storage so when we did lock checks in the morning we would not know. We also had one where they unscrewed the bolts to the back of one large unit that neighbors a city park and they peeling the side piece up enough to fit into the unit and got in. They were sleeping in an RV and stealing items from peoples storages but going  through the back. They cut holes from one storage into another and went through units for a few days without us knowing. One night they drove a truck with an ATV and two dirt bikes right through a fence. It was a nightmare

JayBee

WOW!  Some crazy stories!  On this occasion the bad guys had used a mallet/sledge hammer and pushed in the hasp enough to get the sliding bar out of the hole.  Allowed the lock to remain on the hasp, unlocked and untouched!  Crazy!  They hit several more facilities in the area that same month.

Orkocean

How many of you have come across shoddy construction to the point you can shimmy the door side to side enough to get the latch out of the hole and open the door? Or the rails are loose enough you can just pop the wheels out and push the door in?