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Hurricane Florence: U-Haul offering 30 days free self-storage for those in path of Florence
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Ya dude. “Self” storage. Right there in the title

Work in the industry and work in the path of the hurricane. This isn't a big deal at all.

Most storage facilities will offer this if they haven't been already all summer long

We, as an industry, are entering our slow season and events like this are a huge boost in business.

Most people affected by the storm who need storage will need in 6 months minimum which means lots of long term storage tenants through the winter months.

These will almost all be tenants that pay their bill because insurance will be covering them

P.s. never rent non-climate control

Why never rent non climate control? Is heat bad, or is it the humidity?

I used to work for U-Haul, and all I can really say is that for the love of God do everything you can to try and avoid getting fees charged onto you. There is where they make a lot of, if not most, of their money, charging you for (in regards to renting trucks at least) for anything they can put their fingers onto, so when signing their contract please, and I really mean it when I say this, please for the love of all things holy, read the contract you're are signing. When renting self-storage, even if free, there are a lot of hoops they are going to expect you to jump, maybe not even immediately, but try and keep updated on your storage/truck/whatever like it was your own car/home.

I used to work self storage and I thought the exact same thing. This just seems like one of our shady tactics we used to get people into the door and ready to rent. We were supposed to go through the whole sales pitch and as we're getting the paperwork together, we would mention the initial sign up fees. The deal is exactly what it says it is, free rent. It doesn't say they will waive the sign-up fee, lock charge, and let you deny the renter's insurance the storage unit company gets kickbacks from.

Lol. This is a constant promo at self storage places because they know the vast majority will keep renting them

Exactly, most people will still need to keep stuff stored away after 30 days

Pro-tip about uhaul: try to go a center, not a dealer, for pickup of equipment (doesn't matter so much for dropping stuff off). Centers are the uhaul-owned ones, named "uhaul of [place]." Dealers are independent businesses that rent uhaul stuff as a franchise.

Center employees have more knowledge, and are under stricter quality control. Dealers can basically do whatever they want as long as it's not egregious enough to force uhaul to close their contract. Not a universal rule, but good as a general practice.

Bingo. Also get friendly with the manager. If you have a good relationship with him/her they’ll bend over backwards for you.