Self-storage warehouses are still a novelty in our rapidly developing Polish warehousing services market. However, they are no longer a novelty in Western Europe, and especially in the USA, where the first warehouses of this type were established over 40 years ago.
What does the term self-storage mean? Using this term, we usually think of a “self-service warehouse,” but a more appropriate – and accurate – term would probably be “mini-warehouse,” meaning small rooms or containers that are rented not only to various types of companies but also to private individuals.
The recipients of these services are usually people who have too little space in their homes and nowhere to store various types of household items, as well as small businesses (e.g., advertising agencies, real estate offices, etc.) usually located in skyscrapers in city centers and renting only small office spaces, which need to store their archives or excess inventory, advertising materials, etc. somewhere.
The rented rooms in a self-storage warehouse are secured by the tenant themselves with a key or – in their more modern versions – with a digital code. No one, except for those they have entrusted, has access to them.
Mini-warehouses do not have external operators, care, supervision, or control over the items stored inside the rented rooms. All guidelines regarding stored items are contained in the general terms and conditions of sublease, which the tenant must familiarize themselves with before signing the lease agreement.
What features should such a warehouse have? First of all, it should be easily accessible. The customers of such warehouses are usually people living in cities. It follows that such a warehouse should be located as close to the city as possible with efficient and quick access provided. At self-storage warehouses, a parking lot is necessary to allow the customer to unload their belongings without problems, and the customer themselves should have access to all warehouse equipment, for example, pallet trucks, platforms, hand trucks, etc., which can be operated without the need for specialized training in their operation. Most companies existing on the global market allow the customer access to their storage units 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Companies providing this type of service strive to provide customers with flexible lease terms – the sublease period can be as short as one week, and the size of the storage space starts from as little as 1 sq. m.! Therefore, everything depends on the individual needs of the customer. As the analysis of the activities of companies running self-storage warehouses shows, annexes to the contract allow the customer to terminate the contract at any time, or to change the room to a larger or smaller one, at their discretion. It must be remembered that fees for rented rooms should be settled on an ongoing basis; otherwise, the warehouse owner has the right to block access to these rooms for the tenant by installing their own security measures, which are removed after the tenant pays the arrears.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 5/2010.