Monthly Archives: April 2016

A True Self Storage Pioneer

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A True Self Storage Pioneer

Self Storage in Atlantic City | Atlantic County Storage UnitsIt’s easy to jump into a business venture when you know that there is a waiting market, and money to be made – but to have the intestinal fortitude to dip your toes in the water before a concept has been proven, makes one a true pioneer. Rudy Meckel is a pioneer in the self storage industry. When he opened The Storage Inn in Egg Harbor Township in 1979, storage space rentals were unknown to the area. Meckel had already proven himself an entrepreneur. In addition to running his family’s road construction business, he had ventured into real estate by building the Washington Square West office complex in Egg Harbor Township and the Ridgewood Plaza, a retail strip mall in Northfield.

The Storage Inn started out on four acres with four buildings, designed so they could be converted to a flea market should the new business venture fail. Instead, Meckel’s business prospered. The business offered an especially good fit, as it enabled Meckel to keep his road construction employees working during the off-season. Also considered a gentleman farmer, Meckel has always adorned his grounds with a blue and yellow horse carriage or sleigh. He even had the foresight to construct his buildings with extra high ceilings to offer 20% more storage space per unit than the industry standard, and with 45 different sizes to choose from, this is definitely not a “one size fits all” operation. Now The Storage Inn has 900 units with a total of over 100,000 square feet, along with automobile, boat and RV storage spaces. The Storage Inn has even gone “green” by adding solar power to their Egg Harbor Township facility.
In 1997, Meckel added another location by opening The Storage Inn II in Ocean City, NJ. He converted the former Stainton’s Department Store Annex in Ocean City, into three floors of indoor and climate controlled self storage and retail units.

Meckel’s son, Greg Meckel, and his family, run the businesses with him. The family views the storage business as an opportunity to help people. They serve people who find themselves in life’s transitions and those with long-term storage needs. A great resource for small and big businesses alike to expand and organize. They continue to ensure that the facilities offer customers the best in self storage. In addition to low rental prices, both locations offer free move-in truck rental, free porter service (assistance unloading) and climate control. The Storage Inn in Egg Harbor Township even has a resident security manager. The Ocean City the facility offers drive-in bays and indoor units, just blocks from the beach!. Meckel’s future plans include continuing to offer new services, along with a customer service experience that always exceeds expectations.
Stay tuned – who knows what this business pioneer will come up with next…

Finding Self Storage Solutions via Video

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Finding Self Storage Solutions via Video

So you doing your spring clean out ,and realize that you need more space. You need to start searching for storage space rental in your area, but where do you begin? A good way to start Would be to Google storage space rentals or self storage solutions in your area, and see which ones offer a video tour.In our tech-savvy day in age, most reputable self storage facilities will offer you a video tour. Here is our video for The Storage Inn Self Storage – enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ0DZOM3S74

Animals That Would Benefit from a Storage Space Rental

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Self Storage in the Animal World

Ahh, Spring is finally here as evidenced by the squirrels running around my backyard trying to figure out where they hid their acorns last fall. There’s nothing more entertaining than watching hoarders with a bad memory! Maybe I could start a self storage facility for squirrels –  “ Acorns Away”? Well, the truth is that there are many hoarders in the animal world that could probably use a storage space rental at my new facility. Here are the top 10…

 

The Top 10 Animal Hoarders that Would Benefit from a Storage Space Rental


10 – The Acorn Woodpecker – These birds construct a large communal storage nest to hold food for the whole local woodpecker community.

 

9 – Camels – Camels store fat in their humps, enough to go 6 months without food or water .

 

8 – Bees – Bees store their honey in individual hexagon shape cells that make up a beehive – perhaps the original self-storage complex?

 

7 – Beavers – Beavers live in family groups, and construct large food storage rooms out of branches .

 

6 – Wildcats – These cats bury small prey like birds and mice, and store larger prey in hollow trees for future consumption.

5 – Moles – Moles build large above ground mounds called fortresses which they fill with worms.

 

4 – Foxes – Foxes steal other animals eggs and bury them in loose soil for later use.

 

3 – Badgers – The gangsters of the animal world, badgers just steal from other animals caches, and take it for themselves.

 

2 – Hamsters –  Due to the lack of salivary glands, hamsters are able to fill their cheeks with an enormous amount of food and keep it dry.  they are able to lug around up ½  of their body volume in food!

 

Drum roll please !

1 – Squirrels – The number one hoarders in the animal world, squirrels will use hollow trees, holes in the ground, and any number of other areas to store acorns for the winter, thus the term “squirreling away”. Now if we could only get them to eat ginkgo biloba…..

How to Store Your Memories with Climate Controlled Storage

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Store Your Memories with Climate Controlled Storage

Memory Lane

 

Well it’s official, I’m getting old. As I approach 60, I often find myself thinking back to the days of my youth and reminiscing. The other day I decided to take a stroll down memory lane by climbing up into the attic, and taking a look through some of my stored childhood memories  – Old record albums, boxes of baseball cards, my trumpet – I even found an old autograph book.  Ah, The memories that came rushing back – but I noticed something about all of these items.  They were all in worse condition now, than they were back when I put them into the attic. Some of the records appeared to be warped, the pages of the books were discolored and rippled,  and my baseball glove was covered with some sort of a white film. “Too late now “ I thought, but what could I have done differently? So I did some investigating, and here is what I came up with.

Pomona Climate Controlled Storage Space | Atlantic County Storage Units

Climate Change
So, while I could have done a better job of packaging these items prior to storing, the real problem is the extreme change in temperature and humidity levels throughout the year that occur in a typical attic area. The simple solution to this problem would be to keep all of your delicate, sentimental, and collectible items in a climate controlled area.  It was at this point that I encountered the one small glitch in this plan. The only climate controlled storage area in my home is the living area, and that happens to be completely full of silly things like clothes, food, and furniture. I did however, find one viable solution….

Climate controlled storage
What if I told you that there are actually places that will rent you a small, affordable, climate controlled space, that would be perfect for storing your books, record albums, baseball card collection,  musical instruments, and any other items that might be affected by extreme heat, cold or humidity? Yep, you guessed it – your local self-storage facility! They will undoubtedly offer climate controlled storage units where the temperature and humidity are kept at a median range throughout the year, as a means to protect just these types of items. Definitely worth checking out!

Well it may be too late for me and my autograph book, but hopefully these tips will prevent you from going up into your attic and finding a rusty trumpet!

By Jerry Brown
4/7/16

Time to Give the Shed a Spring Cleaning

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Time to Give the Shed a Spring Cleaning

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz’ – I wonder where my lawn mower is!?! Looks like it’s time to clean out and organize the shed storage space for the warm weather months. So, let’s get started – first, go to the shed and open the door. Now ask yourself what you could possibly have been thinking when you left it in this condition at the end of last season! Be that as it may, we still need to get organized, so here are a few tips…..

Everything out!
I know that this does not sound like fun, but we need to see exactly what we have, what we still need , and what can go. Set aside any items that you no longer need, or that need to be replaced. Also create a group for items that you want to keep, but that don’t necessarily need to be in the shed.

Self Storage Solutions

Clean Up Time
Time to sweep out, and wipe down the floors shelves and work bench areas. You may want to check the items that you are storing to see if they need to be wiped off or hosed down before returning them to the shed.

Re-group and Replace
Now that everything is out, and your space is clean, it’s time to reorganize, and place your items back into the shed. Store the items that will be used most often toward the front of the space. Items that get used less frequently can be stored further back. Leave yourself a path to reach all of your warm weather items when needed. Hanging tools on walls or pegboard, as well as keeping smaller items in cans or plastic containers, can also free up additional storage space. If you find yourself still in need of more storage space for items, such as your Fall fire pit, or those Christmas decorations that you found, you may want to consider a small self-storage space. Your local self-storage facility will be happy to assist!

Now you are organized and ready to enjoy all of the fun of  lawn mowing, weed whacking, weed pulling, painting, gutter cleaning, hedge trimming, etc…. oh well, hopefully you will get to use the bicycles and beach chairs once or twice before winter returns!

By Jerry Brown
4/5/16

It’s tax time – Yay!

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It’s tax time – Yay!

Well here it is,  April – the dreaded tax month! You could pay someone to do it, but why pay someone to do something that you can do yourself, right? So you pull out the Big box of receipts, and empty out the storage area  jammed with bank statements and credit card bills, and prepare to play accountant for however long this is going to take.

The truth is, according to most experts, that you should be preparing  for tax season throughout the entire year.

tax-taxes-file-files-16226669

What the experts say

Part of preparing for tax season throughout the year is to develop a good filing system. Get yourself a small file cabinet, and some file folders. Some categories that you will want to incorporate will be…

  • Credit card receipts
  • Bank statements
  • Medical and dental
  • Mortgage / Property taxes
  • Household utilities
  • 401k / IRA  statements

The new organized you

Now when you need to find something specific through the course of the year, you will know where to look . There will  no doubt be some items that you will no longer need once your taxes are  completed. Experts recommend that you shred these items, as they may contain personal information that you wouldn’t want to fall into the hands of the wrong person. Some documents you will need to save.  The rule of thumb for these items is 5 years. If you don’t have room at home, you may want to consider a small self storage space. Be sure to label all of your file boxes with the tax year, so that you will know which boxes to empty out as they reach the five-year threshold.

Okay, so now you’ve done all these things, and you are finally organized! This brings us to the good news, and the bad news – and they are both the same….you are now organized and prepared for many happy years of home tax preparation. Happy accounting!!

By Jerry Brown
4/1/16