Typically when people think about whether they need a self storage facility it comes down to whether they have enough stuff that they want in storage that they feel they need an extra closet or room for their belongings to go in. Thanks to a new twist on the self storage concept this does not have to be the case.

The new television series on the A&E Channel called 'Storage Wars' has brought the self storage industry to the forefront of the public conscious. On the show buyers scour auctions that are held when tenants fail to pay their bill after a period of time or abandon their stuff all together. Sometimes the buyers end up with a lot of junk for cheap, but at other times they have ended up with vintage comic books, Picasso paintings, and a letter written by Abraham Lincoln.

In this day and age everything is predicated on ease, ease of use, ease of access, and an all-around sense of being dummy-friendly. A new concept has brought that to the self storage industry and in the process has made it possible for tenants to store as much or as little as they want without ever having to leave home.

That potentially revolutionary concept is simply storage by mail.

With the exposure that comes with such a television show traditional self storage units are doing well, but the opportunity for a new concept has been presented as well, and one company is taking advantage of it. It’s called StoragebyMail.com.

The idea is really as simple as the name sounds. A prospective tenant has some things they want to put in storage, maybe a box full or maybe five or six boxes full of stuff you can’t bear to sell or throw away.  All that tenant has to do is box their belongings up in a safe and secure manner and mail them to the facility nearest them (the company is located on the West Coast in Southern California, on the Gulf Coast in Texas, and on the East Coast in several states with a few in the Midwest as well).

What makes the concept work at the facilities is a system of barcodes that allows the warehouse to track and store your package as well as be able to return it to you in a timely manner if requested. Most importantly it is the desire of the different mailing services to be competitive with each other. Some companies now offer same rate shipping, meaning that no matter how heavy a box is the rate is the same.

Were it now for that then the idea would really be too expensive to even consider. However, in this case we have a perfect example of opportunity being created out of competition.

Sources Used:

“Storage By Mail: The Easiest Self-Storage Concept Ever.” InventorSpot.com; 23 December 2010.

“Storage Wars' Greatest Finds.” TVGuide.com; 22 December 2010.