10 Weirdest Self Storage Questions

With self storage stores all around South Africa, you can imagine that there are a number of rather odd queries fielded by our staff every day. Following the great feedback from "10 Of The Strangest Things In Self Storage", we thought it would be a great idea to ask our managers what were some of the weirdest requests they have had from customers.

1. Did you grow-up on a farm?
The customer wanted to know if one of our managers had been raised on a farm as her Afrikaans was so good and she could not have learnt it at school. She possibly just received a compliment and an insult at the same time but we are not sure.

2. Can I store meat?
No. Even if it is in a fridge, no. Unfortunately there are some items that just don't go well with self storage. Perishable food items is one of them, as this can attract rodents and pests. Keeping the items in a fridge is also not a good idea, for a start we do not allow electrical appliances to have power in the self storage unit and second if there is a power failure we do not provide a backup solution.

3. Do you sell airtime?
All though we try to be the one stop self storage solution, we unfortunately do not sell airtime. Strangely this is not an isolated incident so perhaps we should look into this.

4. Are you single?
Our staff does their best to help our customers in any way they can but sometimes there is a line. Solving problems for clients is something we love to do, as we know how difficult the moving process can be. Both our male and female staff members have been asked out for dinner. Sadly there has been no romance as yet.

5. Can I hold a church service in the unit?
The use of your self storage unit should be limited to the storage of your goods. Access is free during specified hours (see location specific pages on our website for the 24 hour access stores). However there are some limitations, specifically the number of vehicles and guests allowed on the premises. Essentially you cannot have church in self storage, or any other large meetings.


6. Can I sleep in there?
Self storage units are cheaper than renting office space or an apartment but you can absolutely not use the storage room for accommodation. We have on occasion found someone attempting to use the unit as a temporary home and we have had to politely ask them to leave.

7. Can you give me a lift to ...?
We are often asked to provide transport to customers once they have moved all their items into self storage. Some people want a lift back home, others to a hotel and some to the airport. All though this is not a service we provide some of our managers have gone the extra mile and arranged transport for our customers.

8. Do the police come here much?
A sure fire way to make sure the manager is on their toes and thinking twice before renting the unit. We have on occasion had police visits and we do comply with any reasonable request they make. The golden rule here is, if it is illegal don't store it with us.

9. Will you drive my car once a week?
This customer was heading overseas on holiday and wanted to store an expensive vehicle. How do you ensure it is in good working order when you return? Why ask the manager to drive it around once a week off course. This is not something we can do. The insurance problem aside, there is just too much risk of damage or theft. Your security is in the fact that only you hold the keys to your unit.

10. Self storage? Does that mean you store yourself?
We can't think of a good enough reason to want to do this or an answer that is witty but still polite. Feel free to help us if you can.