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DEFINING THE PRODUCT, BUILDING AN IMAGE
Standards Are The Key To Success
By Tammy LeRoy
 Run a Google™ search for “mobile storage” and you’ll get just as many links to companies that offer mobile offices, trailers, and overseas shipping containers as those who provide what most people in the industry consider a mobile storage product—a mobile vault that is delivered to the customer’s door.
What’s even more confusing is that a search under “portable storage” brings up links to companies such as PODS and Go-Minis, which fit what we do think of as mobile self storage. And even some in the industry consider portable storage synonymous with mobile self storage.
John Finnessy, president of the National Portable Storage Association believes the words “mobile” and “portable” are synonymous unless you add the phrase “self storage,” but to him, portable or mobile storage refers to “any steel, portable, on-site container, such as an ISO shipping container.” Mobile self storage, on the other hand, to him implies a “consumer-oriented wood-frame box.”
If people in the industry are somewhat ambiguous about the terminology, imagine what consumers think. Clearly, the mobile self storage product is still new enough that exactly what it is is not yet clear in everyone’s minds.
Not only do we want customers to know what the product is, we want them to associate mobile self storage with a positive image. Both traditional self storage and the moving industry have often been plagued by negative images in the press. Hence, mobile self storage professionals see the need to protect the image of this emergent industry, and most agree that setting clear-cut industry standards is the path that will lead to success.
“One of the things that differentiates what portable storage does versus what mobile self storage does is we look at our products as steel container devices versus a wooden frame,” says Finnessy. Although 1-800-Pack-Rat has recently joined the National Portable Association, Finnessy sees the portable and mobile self storage industries as entirely different industries with a bit of overlap on the fringe. “The vast majority of our members—probably 95 percent—do not do consumer sales or rental,” he says.
People in both industries can clearly see that differentiation, yet the terms are used interchangedly not only in Web searches but within the mobile self storage industry. Randy Weissman, president of the Mobile self storage Association (MS-SA), defines mobile storage as delivered self storage. In his mind, portable storage refers to ocean-going freight containers and trailers without trucks.
Chris Havener, president of Kankakee, Ill.-based Havener Enterprises, believes mobile self storage is on its way to becoming more clearly defined as an industry. His definition: “They are containers dropped off at a residence or business location, loaded, and then picked up and stored in a storage building. For the most part, they are delivered to a residential location and stored there for a short time.”
What mobile storage isn’t, Havener says, is mini-storage. “Even though the customer is loading, you’re doing the work now, delivering and picking up the box and relocating it. It’s more of a hands-on, labor-intensive, machinery-oriented industry.”
What’s In A Name?
Mary Fay Kattman, CFO of Wilburn, Mass.-based Store-to-Door, sees mobile self storage as a service provided in an industry that previously didn’t really provide any service. She notes that mobile self storage can act like traditional self storage, while the reverse is not true. “Sometimes, customers can’t get the delivery times they want, and we
always tell them they’re welcome to bring their items to our site and load a container there.”
In that scenario, mobile may act like traditional self storage, but the big difference in the two products is access to the unit. If a customer needs frequent access, mobile storage won’t work for them. Kattman also believes mobile self storage can act like a moving company. “We are offering the opportunity to pack it yourself,” she says, “and by doing so, people can save between 30 and 50 percent.” Indeed, many mobile self storage companies offer moving services as well. And moving companies, who have kept a watchful eye on the success of the mobile industry, are now offering containerized self-service moves. Some of these companies, in fact, have recently joined the Mobile Self- Storage Association.
The exciting thing about mobile self storage, however, is the unique service it offers. “The idea of self storage is a little overwhelming to people,” says Kattman. “If you are looking for self storage, you probably are going through a traumatic event such as moving or divorce or someone dying. And then the thought of having to find a day to rent a truck, finding friends to help pack, renting a truck, and driving the truck—and you have to do it all in one day.”
Mobile self storage eliminates several steps in the process. Generally, a customer must rent a truck, pack it, drive it, unload it, and repack it into a storage unit. The whole process must then be carried out in reverse when they are finished storing. With mobile self storage, however, customers only pack and unpack once. The time and stress this saves customers are phenomenal benefits that an increasing number of consumers are willing to pay a premium for.
“You can take a day or two, or three or five, and then have it moved,” says Kattman.
“It helps relieve a little bit of the stress, and we can provide a service to people who maybe wouldn’t have considered using self storage before because they don’t want to make all those arrangements.” One of the most important tasks the industry has is to continue to educate the consumer about what mobile self storage can offer them. “We still find that a number of people don’t understand what we do,” says Kattman. “It is still relatively new. Across the board, I think everyone in the industry is concerned that we provide good service and give the industry a good name.”
An Image Emerges
In its infancy, mobile self storage is doing well image-wise, and much of this can be attributed to the large operators who have spent enough on marketing to plant the right seeds. Once they know what it is, most people who use the product like it. “I’ve never seen a bad word written about the industry,” says
Weissman, who gets news alerts on the industry daily. “The only bad press is something sitting in front of somebody’s house for too long.” Mobile self storage doesn’t have the negative image that is unfortunately sometimes associated with traditional self storage. “Part of it is because they usually don’t see the facility,” Weissman says. “They may see the container and it really bugs them when it’s at their neighbor’s house, but they think it’s really cool when they need one.”
Weissman is seeing more and more interest from traditional self storage operators who are considering mobile storage as an ancillary product, and he believes they have a great potential for success. “You have a guy who’s full and has been in self storage a long time, and this is another way for him to continue to grow his business and not turn down customers,” he says. “It’s a complimentary product line, and it’s much easier to be successful by adding this on as an ancillary product than it is to go out and start one of these businesses on your own on a shoestring budget.”
New, independent mobile operators don’t have the means available to an established self storage operator to bring awareness to the product. “It’s much harder in mobile storage to get your market share,” says Weissman. “You have to compete with PODS, which is on the radio and TV. You have to do it on a much larger scale and more consistently than self storage, because people aren’t driving by every day.”
Some of the negative image self storage has created for itself is the result of overbuilding. “Municipalities don’t always support it because it doesn’t generate enough sales tax income,” says Weissman, who is also president of St. Louis, Mo.-based Storage Banc. “We’re in warehouse districts, so they’re not worried about us. But when it’s a retail area and they could have McDonald’s® on the same land, they are saying, ‘The self storage guy is coming in here and taking six acres, and all we get is a little property tax.’”
In addition, mobile storage auctions aren’t nearly as prevalent as in self storage, and the public doesn’t associate mobile self storage with break-ins, meth labs, and dead bodies. “If they have a break-in, it’s on their own property and they don’t associate that with our industry,” Weissman says. “Plus, a warehouse is much higher security. The negative connotation only happens when people leave them there too long, but even then, it’s more of a negative connotation for the customer than for the company. When they call to make a complaint, they’re not making a complaint against us; they’re making it against your neighbor who has one of our products. That’s a big difference.”
What could hurt the mobile self storage industry’s image? Some operators try to get into the business with insufficient funds, and it lowers the quality of service they are able to provide. “Instead of storing their boxes in a nice warehouse that offers climate control,” says Havener, “I’ve seen operators try to get in without the real estate and just leave the boxes outside.” Heat and dust can damage customers’ goods in this situation. In addition containers become good targets for break-ins.
Of course, on a local level, wide-scale customer losses at a mobile storage facility due to fire or break-in would generate the kind of bad press that traditional self storage has frequently had to contend with. But typically, a mobile self storage operation is considerably more secure than a traditional self storage facility because there are only a few points of entry rather than many doors. Protecting the industry from a negative image is one of the main reasons the MS-SA was formed, according to Kattman, who serves as treasurer.
“We decided to educate people on things like the type of insurance they need, and the need to hire CDL drivers rather than keep all the mistakes we made to ourselves and have people making the same mistakes over again, not only hurting themselves, but hurting the industry,” she says. Fortunately, the mobile self storage industry is immune to some of the negative press conventional self storage has drawn. “You can’t have a meth lab in a mobile storage warehouse because you don’t have access,” Kattman says. But she is concerned about the many complaints from the public because of containers left too long at particular sites. The answer, she believes, is regulation.
“PODS has done a disservice to the rest of us, in my opinion, because their original business plan required that many of their containers would stay at the customer’s site—60 percent of their units—so they could cut down on their warehouse space. I had one in my neighborhood for over a year. It was annoying. We’ve been tracking the legislation and helping our members work with counties and towns.”
Overall, however, Kattman and other industry professionals feel that the impact PODS and other large operators have had on the industry’s image is invaluable. In fact, without their great expenditures on marketing, few consumers would even know the mobile self storage product exists.
Promoting Industry Standards
Building the industry’s image must start with the individual operator. Mobile self storage, if it’s operated properly, is a difficult business to get into. “That’s one of the good things about it: it’s capitalintensive,” says Havener. “You’re going to buy a big building, delivery equipment, and containers, and you’re going to be hiring CDL drivers. It’s more capitalintensive than self storage, and the good part of that is that it’s harder for somebody down the block to open up and compete with you.”
This natural barrier to entry has some positive effects on the industry. It can be difficult to get a bank to fund an independent mobile self storage business, which is why many new owners end up as franchisees. “A lot of them want to be an independent operator, but it comes down to being able to finance it,” says Havener. This can benefit the industry because franchisers generally have established standards to which operators must adhere; plus, they provide industry education for franchisees.
“When operators are educated, they can run their businesses better, and that gets passed on to the end-user,” Havener says. Trade shows and industry publications are the first step to education, and Havener would like to see more of both. Also at the top of his wish list is more standardized delivery systems, which would allow for more alliances between operators crosscountry. “There is such a hodgepodge of delivery systems out there,” he says. “A more standardized and easier to use delivery system would help. I think standardizing the industry is very important.”
In Weissman’s mind, however, the most important standardization that needs to take place is in how owners operate. One of the most valuable endeavors of the MS-SA is the model legislation it has developed, which operators can present proactively to show municipalities that the industry is willing and able to police itself.
“People can go on our Web site and download that if they have an issue with a city,” Weissman says. “It starts where you live. You should go to all the surrounding communities and say, ‘I’m trying to be a good corporate citizen. We have a business that some customers tend to abuse, and we have some legislation we suggest you use if you’re ever thinking about legislating this industry.’” The alternative is that municipalities will come up with their own legislation that is unfavorable to operators.
The industry standards Weissman would like to see include not only rules for how long operators can leave a container at a customer’s site, but also insurance requirements and the way operators treat their customers. “The real reason we started the [MS-SA] is because if I wanted to ship my boxes from here to Phoenix, I want to know that the guy in Phoenix is not only insured, but will treat my customers the same way I would.”
Standardization is a primary goal of the association, but Weissman acknowledges that for each MS-SA member, there are probably 10 other operators out there who aren’t members. Still, he is positive that the association will grow rapidly.
“I think we’re going to have a huge boom to our membership after our meeting in the fall,” he says. This is the first time we’ve ever advertised our meeting.” Weissman notes that franchises are also a way to promote standardization and quality. “The little guy will have to out-service the big guy to compete, and I think that competition helps.” he says.
The MS-SA, which was started in 2005 with 25 members, saw slow growth initially but has increased its membership by a third over the past few months. Moreover, the industry has undoubtedly had an impact on both traditional self storage and the moving industry. If mobile self storage is able to maintain a positive image through standardized operating procedures and industry education, there may be no limit to its growth potential.
Tammy LeRoy is Associate Editor of Mobile Self Storage Magazine and the Mini Storage Messenger, and is Editor of Self Storage Now!.
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