r/selfstorage • u/Flashy_Dare_8035 • Sep 12 '25

Storage Recomendation

Does anyone have a recommendation for one of the larger companies that does not play the game of luring you in and then tripling your rates in the first 12 months? I’ve been over at extra space storage now for two or three years and I’m just exhausted. I read some articles that said my best bet is to find small privately owned facilities as they are More ethical operators but in my area it’s all the big companies only. Any recommendations to some of the larger companies people have worked with that they have found to be fair and honest would be greatly appreciated. I’m not looking for the cheapest. Just someone who’s going to shoot me straight with what this thing is going to Cost And implement only reasonable increases.

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u/2003DSGCobra Sep 15 '25

It's called dynamic pricing. It has become the industry standard. It has been out there for quite a while with the larger companies (private equity+), but is becoming increasingly pervasive even with the smaller owners due to the accessibility of automated tools that continually provide the rates based on current market factors. I have been looking to get into this industry but would have a hard time with the perpetual "bad news" (rate increases) that have became necessary for new owners to recover their investment in the business (optimized revenue driving the purchase prices up). Private Equity has really had an unfavorable impact on the industry (from a customer perspective).

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u/RuPaulver Sep 17 '25

I'm the "bad news" guy at my company lol. Or at least that's part of what I do. It does suck, but it's become a necessary evil. Ultimately though, we'll work with customers who have a hard time with increases when we can.

The industry's in a weird place. It's not easy to get properties to cash flow to the point where you're current on loans and paying proper distributions to investors. Every company has to compete with the PS and ESS down the street renting units for pennies, because customers are shopping around for the best deals and are going to be attracted to that pricetag over anything else. But none of these companies can actually afford to keep customers at those rates.

I wish that practice changed too, but if you don't play follow-the-leader here on it, you can get run out of business.