[byteshock]

Seems like a great idea but there seems to be no sense or idea of security at all.

How are you ensuring my items will be available at the same spot in the next x months? Do you have contracts in place that mandates the host stay at a certain location for the next year or length of my storage?

You should require hosts to provide lease and income statements to verify that they will be able to pay for their storage space. You should also require hosts to have basic security such as proper locks and cameras. It would also be a good idea to require pictures of the storage boxes with dates every month or so.

As for preventing illegal items from being stored, you shouldn’t look or inspect your customer’s items. You should have them sign a contract stating they didn’t store anything illegal and that you are not responsible for any such items as they do at self storage companies. You should definitely consult a lawyer before doing all this. Having no security measures in place is a great way to get sued in the future for damages.

Finally as someone stated already you need insurance. People will never store anything with you unless you have insurance and security. It doesn’t matter if they’re giving back to the community. People want their valuables to be safe.

Sorry for the rant but I just wanted to suggest a few things as a current customer of self storage.