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So thieves broke into your storage unit again
- kstrauser 2y agoThere are a million reasons why you should never do this, but I would be tempted to use storage unit #3 as the place to keep my land mine collection. Edit: “You have a land mine collection?” No, but after storage unit #2, I’d daydream about starting one.
- Analemma_ 2y agoBooby-trapping your property is illegal even in the reddest of red states.
- senectus1 2y agoid put a bank of ultra bright white LED lights facing the door and a speaker with a recording saying this footage has been sent to a remote location. thank you for closing the door behind you.
- kstrauser 2y agoThat would be one of the million reasons why I wouldn’t do it. I didn’t say I’d actually do it. I’d surely daydream of it.
- Terr_ 2y agoI imagine it'd be a lot cheaper and legally-viable to store your collection of electronic burglar alarms. Especially if they dial a human when triggered. There are some neat videos out there where people make their own with Arduinos etc.
- lazide 2y agoHow about (accidentally) still charged high voltage capacitors?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- metadat 2y agoDo they typically stay charged for only a few days at most?
- kstrauser 2y agoWell, you might need to stop by frequently to visit them.
- praptak 2y agoWhere I live the "accidental" part doesn't really get you off the hook. Negligence is better than intention but still. If it kills someone or causes grievous bodily harm, it's still on you. Yes, even if it's a burglar. You also have to think about the fully legal situations when it's firefighter or a cop with a warrant. Or an edge case like a stupid kid.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoWhere I grew up, problem thieves would just go missing, to be found years later dead at the bottom of a mine shaft.
- userbinator 2y agoMake them play sounds of approaching footsteps and gunfire.
- doubled112 2y agoMerry Christmas, ya filthy animals.
- mdaniel 2y ago> There are some neat videos out there where people make their own The "glitter bomb" series is pretty funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo&list=PLgeXOVaJo_gnexNopBzUKdl3QKoADJlS8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo&list=PLgeXOVaJo_...
- pavel_lishin 2y agoIt's a fun fantasy. Work a few more elements into it: - you're hit by a bus, and your family is clearing out the storage locker. - management is alerted to a bad smell coming out of several units, and they have to enter yours to verify that you're not accidentally storing dead raccoons. - the police are serving a warrant on a unit, and accidentally open yours due to a typo. - a homeless teenager just needs a place to sleep for the night.
- kstrauser 2y agoI’m not sure you grok the concept of “fun fantasy”.
- Simulacra 2y agoThis is heartbreaking. The storage facility insurance scam is one that needs to be investigated by the government. It's a tremendous rip off and covers nothing.
- komali2 2y agoI wonder if an insurance company operated as a co-op would be a better arrangement. Interested parties pooling money to pay out to the one unfortunate one who has a disaster. Could potentially invest the pool in super low risk investments as well for a little upside.
- lotsofpulp 2y agoMutual insurance companies have been a thing for hundreds of years. Some well known US mutual insurance companies are State Farm, Amica, Mutual of Omaha, and most non Elevance Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliated insurance companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_insurance
- asveikau 2y agoMost insurance in most industries is a racket.
- floydnoel 2y agoThe famous Lloyds of London started as a gambling coffee house. Gambling and insurance are closely related, and offer the same bargain: the house always wins.
- cromulent 2y ago> the house always wins Well, until Lloyd’s did lose a lot of money in 1991, and the Names had too much exposure. Berkshire Hathaway cover them now, I believe.
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- 762236 2y ago[flagged]
- Magi604 2y agoGood old insurance companies, always looking for ways to get out of having to pay out for claims. I mean, I guess it is their job, so can't really fault them for that.
- Spivak 2y agoI've always wondered how expensive a good insurance policy is. One that is actually good for you the policy holder and enforced by contract. Like no haggling over market value because the items are insured for specific amounts.
- eastbound 2y agoThe international code of insurances says goods cannot be insured for more than their worth. The intent was to avoid perverse incentives, the result is our current society.
- dataflow 2y ago> The international code of insurances says goods cannot be insured for more than their worth. The intent was to avoid perverse incentives Would you mind explaining what the perverse incentive is here? If I want to insure a pillow that I claim is worth $1 million, why should it matter what others are willing to pay for it?
- saulrh 2y agoIf you use the disc lock the storage facility sells, you'll likely pay an additional markup on it, but it's also guaranteed to be acceptable to their partner insurance company. I'm surprised - I'd have expected the facility's locks to be guaranteed to be unacceptable so as to minimize the insurance company's payouts. Insurance agencies already do worse on a daily basis, this level of consumer-hostile bullshit would barely even register.
- icehawk 2y agoIf they are deemed unacceptable, I now get to make the argument of negligence on the part of the storage facility, as they are the ones who sold it to me and I can reasonably assume that since they suggested it, and the insurance policy, that it is fit for purpose. I might then be able to make the case of fraud.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- loopdoend 2y ago> I'm not even sure what the notarization step was accomplishing: the inventory sheets aren't affidavits. The percentage of people who see the word "notarized" alongside "inventory sheet" and simply give up must be quite high. Notarization accomplishes nothing besides causing a headache. Insurance companies don't make money by paying out claims, you know.
- qingcharles 2y agoIllinois did away with notarization requirements for almost everything a few years ago. Now you can just sign things under penalty of perjury and it's done, which is the right way to go about it.
- lazide 2y agoThat, and it would make it harder to claim mistake/accident if the insurance company tried to Prosecute for insurance fraud. The number of cases of people adding random expensive things that would be added to insurance inventories during a claim has to approach 90% if there is no potential for consequences.
- meowster 2y agoNotarization just proves it was you who signed something, it has nothing to do with the contents of the document. Unfortunately a lot of people think notarization gives some kind of legitimacy to a document, or likely in this case, it's probably not the hassle of getting it notarized, but used as a scare tactic to prevent some people from committing insurance fraud by listing inflated or made-up items (people might conflate it with perjury).
- s1artibartfast 2y agoIt proves not just who, but when. This can be pretty relevant in a number of situations.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 2y agoIt also makes it feel more serious, deterring insurance fraud. Since it has only upsides, no downsides, for the insurance company (except that they'll get bad ratings from customers which they clearly don't care about in this scenario, as most customers don't shop around for them), of course they demand it. > Insurance companies don't make money by paying out claims, you know. This is why if you want actual insurance (not "check the 'you must have insurance' box") you don't pick the cheapest company and check reviews, ignoring any reviews that don't mention a claim.
- nsxwolf 2y agoI used to work security and making rounds in a place like this would give me chills. Running into thieves at 3 in the morning is one of the most terrifying things you will ever experience.
- raincom 2y agoHow did you deal with such terrifying situations?
- lofaszvanitt 2y ago[flagged]
- pavel_lishin 2y agoI'm not the person you asked, but most people like that - opportunistic burglars, etc - are no more keen to run into the police than you are to run into them. They'll just run. Granted, the equation changes dramatically when various drugs are involved.
- nsxwolf 2y agoThankfully they always ran away.
- nytesky 2y agoI feel it’s like walking in the woods in the south — you make a lot of noise so you don’t surprise a rattler? Were you walking stealthy so they don’t hear you coming?
- User23 2y agoHaving to pay the fence to get your stuff back is so California. In the more civilized states pawnbrokers are expected to know the risks of buying potentially stolen property, and if they do they get to eat it. Maybe that's why property crimes short of grand theft aren't really enforced in California?
- coolspot 2y ago> property crimes short of grand theft aren't really enforced in California There is a hope we will undo this soon.
- willyt 2y agoYeah I was surprised about that one ‘Handling stolen goods’ is a criminal offence in Britain and if you can prove ownership of something you get it back. If you’re an innocent intermediary and you bought a stolen item without knowing you have to make a civil claim against the person you bought the item from to get the money back.
- meowster 2y agoSame here. I believe in most U.S. states, knowlingly possessing stolen property is a crime. If you didn't know, you just have to forfiet it to the lawful owner.
- __turbobrew__ 2y agoThat is the most surprising part to me. If the pawnbroker doesn’t bear the risks of buying stolen goods they are not disincentivized from buying stolen goods, which creates a larger market for selling stolen goods which in the end increases the market for property crime.
- andrewstuart 2y agoAt this stage I'd probably thank thieves for clearing out my garage. Last time I cleared out my old stuff there was nothing I could do to get people to take most of the crap at zero cost.
- bodyfour 2y agoWhat is annoying to me is that in this internet-connected age, the storage units I see still don't have better per-unit security. Just a phone alert to say "door to unit #xyz has been opened" would be a huge improvement. Wire up a cheap webcam for extra credit.
- jwagenet 2y agoI’m pretty sure most large storage operations (U-Haul, extra space, etc) have per unit door sensors which work in concert with customer check in/out to verify authorized openings.
- meowster 2y agoI'm pretty sure they don't: source I've helped move people's stuff in and out of a couple of different places. My experience is very limited, so if you have more data points where you have seen such things, please share.
- jwagenet 2y agohttps://www.uhaul.com/Tips/Storage/What-Security-Features-Are-Available-AT-U-Haul-Self-Storage-Facilities-18096/ https://www.uhaul.com/Tips/Storage/What-Security-Features-Ar... I can speak for U-Haul specifically because I have used them and a customer can see the sensors in their unit. The sensors are deactivated when a customer checks in.
- meowster 2y agoThank you.
- vel0city 2y agoI have never encountered anything like this at storage units from a wide scale of corporate ownership, different levels of newness, and different levels of affluence in the area. Not saying they don't exist but I've never seen any reasonably priced storage units that bother with this level of tracking.
- renewiltord 2y agoIf thieves had emptied my storage unit before I married my wife and she made the decision for me, they would have been doing me a favour. I don’t think any advanced security storage solution is likely to get many clients since they usually choose based on pricing.
- lifeisstillgood 2y agoI’m stunned by the idea of making the pawn shop whole. As I understand UK law, if you buy stolen goods, the original owner can just claim it back and you take the loss - simply to discourage buying with knowledge it was stolen. I guess the pawn shop would go out of business but it does seem if you let them act as a fence you are solving for the wrong problem
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- gary_0 2y ago[deleted]
- delichon 2y agoLaws against fraud, like 18 U.S. Code Chapter 47 and others in each state?
- erinnh 2y agoId say your friend being put behind bars would do the trick.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y agoThey would just arrest the person who pawned the items.
- bombcar 2y agoThey're likely trying to prevent the situation where the pawn shops become entirely uncooperative, but there's still a tragedy of the commons situation occurring.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y agoThis is a periodic public service announcement that there is not, and never has been "a tragedy of the commons situation". Even the author of the concept, Garret Hardin, has acknowledged that he made mistakes in his understanding and research. Resources held in common have historically been subject to significant control via social, civic and legalistic processes. What is typically referred to as "a tragedy of the commons situation" never turns out to be what Hardin originally suggested - individuals taking advantage of the lack of controls. Instead it is invariably individuals who first dismantle the control systems in place in order to pursue their own selfish ends. This matters because the "tragedy of the commons" concept has been used to suggest (successfully) that communities cannot manage commonly held resources, which is false. What is true is that communities frequently cannot manage a sustained attack by selfishness and greed against their own systems of management, and that's a very, very different problem.
- fortran77 2y agoIt’s outrageous that pawn shops don’t have to eat the loss in California. They have no incentive to check for stolen items.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- SoftTalker 2y agoAgree. Around here bike theft is a huge problem and none of the pawn shops will deal with bicycles at all, it’s too risky for them.
- treflop 2y agoDon’t buy insurance from the same company giving you the service. Insurance is for you and you should pick it from your own choice of company and you should tailor the policy for your own needs. Same with financing. In my case, I get a lot of my insurance from a guy in my town and he has an office that I can walk into if I need help.
- tim333 2y agoI tend to avoid the insurance and just pile up the money I would have paid to cover the losses. Depending on the type of insurance. But theft insurance tends to be problematic. The fraudulent buy expensive stuff, keep all the receipts, sell the stuff for cash to a friend and then claim on insurance with the proper paperwork. Normal people tend not to keep and file away all paperwork and lose out.
- treflop 2y agoAlthough it’s a little more complicated, generally if you can cover a loss out of pocket, then you don’t need insurance. Insurance is for losses that will have a major impact on you. It’s putting a price on risk.
- wjnc 2y agoInsurers do notice that small claims (in P&C) are a relatively small part of claims + cost so most don’t offer the high deductibles. As a bonus, with higher deductibles come relatively more lawsuits. So safer to only offer low deductibles. (My experience after 20 years in the sector.) In my country a family perhaps pays about €5k total a year for two cars, health, house and the assortment of legal and liability insurance. That is quite modest (not for all income classes though), since there are catastrophes possible in nearly any avenue of life. A minimalist insurance scheme would save one about €2k/yr. That just isn’t that worthwhile utility wise.
- accrual 2y agoRight. If I accidentally crash my vehicle into someone's property (or worse, someone) I don't want to be out of pocket for potentially 100s of thousands when I could just pay my sub-$100 premium and not worry about it.
- nytesky 2y agoIn general isn’t the consensus that storage units are a very bad deal for “storage”. It can be useful for temporary storage for bulky items like furniture when renovating your house or in between houses, but the fees would quickly accumulate and pay for almost any reasonable contents. If the fees wouldn’t cover replacement of the contents within 6 months, they are too valuable to store in a storage unit.
- crazygringo 2y agoIf you don't have space in your apartment or home for items you want to keep, then where else are you supposed to store things? Obviously it's up to you to figure out if it makes financial sense. But for people in urban areas with small apartments, it can be a heckuva lot cheaper than upgrading to an apartment with another bedroom.
- toast0 2y ago> If you don't have space in your apartment or home for items you want to keep, then where else are you supposed to store things? On ebay? Sell the stuff now, buy it again if you need it. Doesn't work for everything, of course, and I don't practice it, I've got tons of space and tons of clutter.
- mdaniel 2y agoI believe other people are using any such storage as a cache, trading space for time, since even if you instantly found the exact replacements, you'd still pay not only monetarily for shipping but wall-clock for both shipping and the drudgery of searching for said items Interestingly, I read a blog post where someone was using "fulfilled by amazon" as off-site storage, but I think it was a pseudo thought experiment more than an actual storage solution, similar to those folks who use data-as-video on YouTube as infinite backup storage
- crazygringo 2y agoSo you're going to sell your surfboard and buy new ski equipment every winter, and sell your skis and buy a new surfboard every summer? As well as the rest of your bulky seasonal gear? Sounds expensive.
- roland35 2y agoWhat a story! Most people probably would just give up. Dealing with storage units is why I try to eliminate all the extra "stuff" in my life... George Carlin had a great bit on stuff: https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac
- bluedino 2y agoAn acquaintance of mine was stealing big-ticket items from a storage unit. Campers, boats, etc. Of course he eventually got caught. The insurance company had already paid the owner of one of the campers, so it went to auction, and he bought it. Kind of funny.
- bko 2y agoThe indifference of this by everyone involved is infuriating. This criminal activity is treated as natural as rain, just something us 98% of people have to endure. It's important to remember that accepting crime, especially low level crime like this is a policy choice. It's the same people doing the same crimes over and over. They have run ins with the law and they just get let go to continue terrorizing the rest of us. For instance, the number of state prisoners that have had 15 or more prior arrests is over 26%. You can cut crime. You can just prosecute these people and take them out of society for their most destructive years (18-40) and we can end this madness. Even a 15 strikes and you're out policy would make a huge impact on the quality of life for the rest of us https://mleverything.substack.com/p/acceptance-of-crime-is-a-policy-choice-135 https://mleverything.substack.com/p/acceptance-of-crime-is-a...
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y agoThe US already incarcerates vastly more people than most comparable nations. And yet this level of incarceration does not seem to have had the effect you want. It seems that you imagine that the crime is somehow intrinsic to the current group of people committing it, and that by removing them from society, their behavior would not recur. While there are arguments for this sort of thing, it is also based on a wilfull misreading (or no-reading) of what we know about the reasons why people commit crime at all.
- bko 2y agoExplain to me why someone that's been arrested 15 times should be let go to terrorize others. That person that has been arrest 15 times before cannot continue to commit crime if he's behind bars. You don't need to "read" the data to come to this conclusion. People commit crime in large part because they can get away with it. It's not complicated.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y agoThat's not really the issue though (and for the record, I agree that a person found guilty of what they were arrested for 15 times should be incarcerated). The problem is: why is this person doing this, because there are at least two outcomes: 1. we lock them up, and a part of the problem is gone 2. we lock them up, and someone else steps in to do the same thing From my perspective, there's ample evidence to suggest that #2 is more likely, and thus even if locking them up has some moral weight behind it, it isn't likely to be a solution to crime in general.
- smeeger 2y agohe gives a list of things to do or consider. supporting laws and politicians that catch and punish criminals effectively is somehow not on that list…
- immibis 2y agoPoliticians who claim to be tough on crime are usually just tough on black people and drug users, which helps nobody.
- bakugo 2y ago> Politicians who claim to be tough on crime are usually just tough on black people and drug users This comment honestly left me speechless.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y agoWhat laws do you believe would be more effective a catching and punishing criminals? AFAIK, there is reasonably clear evidence that deterrence has a very low impact on this sort of crime, so laws based on deterring through fear-of-sentence would not seem to be likely to have much effect. What is it that you're proposing/desiring?
- dimensi0nal 2y agoIncapacitation, not deterrence? If someone is in prison, they can't reoffend.
- FireBeyond 2y agoWe already have the highest incarceration rates in the developed world - I'm not sure that more people in prison is the right solution.
- hansvm 2y agoI think there's precedent for shipping them to Australia. It probably costs less to taxpayers, and it doesn't even harm Australians since our thieves are less dangerous than their spiders.
- immibis 2y agoEasy to say "never use a storage unit" when you have a long-term home.
- AndrewKemendo 2y agoThe key takeaway I think people are overlooking is that there’s a level of intelligence and persistence in thieves that make physical security an intractable problem with exponential cost scaling as you patch “holes.” So from a systems approach, the better solution likely is something like: Employ and provide safety for the people stealing from the units so they do not feel compelled to steal. Imagine if the money spent securing these things, which is a multiple of this persons efforts, were spent on solving the root cause? Sounds like a better return on investment
- mschuster91 2y ago> Imagine if the money spent securing these things, which is a multiple of this persons efforts, were spent on solving the root cause? Sounds like a better return on investment The root cause is social inequality of various kinds (including drug dependency). That should be something for society to resolve, not a burden for storage unit or home owners on their own - short of automated guns, there's not much any individual can do to keep out thieves.
- tightbookkeeper 2y agoYou’re partly conceding that this level of corrupting and mistrust is just what we have to live with. It has not always been this way though. Side note. If I also accept it this is why cryptocurrency being able to reduce the cost of securing a transaction is still interesting to me. When you use a bank you don’t see the army of night guards, vaults, auditors, and IT people keeping it safe.
- kevinventullo 2y agoOn the other hand, I hear a lot more about crypto wallets getting hacked than I do checking accounts at large banks.
- tightbookkeeper 2y agoI’m just saying that aspect has appeal, not that you should bank with bitcoin. Of course, you don’t hear about internal bank problems either.
- istjohn 2y agoThe storage unit industry is one of the most awful, customer hostile industries I've encountered. It's impossible to get the local facility on the phone, publicly listed phone numbers are all redirected to a national call center where reps are unable to even accurately quote prices. TFA covers the insurance kickback scam. Then after I moved into my unit, I discovered 75% of the units in my facility could be broken into with zero tools because the padlocks provided by the facility had enough slack in the shackle that if you rotated the lock 90 degrees there was room for the bolt to slide the half inch needed to clear the bolt hole in the strike plate. Then there was the rodent infestation. The paradox is that the monthly cost of a unit will quickly exceed the value of whatever is stored there unless the items have sentimental value or are very expensive. In TFA, their losses from theft was $500 and their insurance limit was $2,000. Within two years they would exceed that in rent payments on the unit. A Google search suggests the average storage unit tenancy is only 10 months. That's reasonable. Long-term storage only makes sense when the value exceeds what can reasonably be entrusted with the lax security of a storage facility.
- tshaddox 2y ago> The paradox is that the monthly cost of a unit will quickly exceed the value of whatever is stored there unless the items have sentimental value or are very expensive. This is a tough one to manage psychologically, although it’s almost certainly also true of nearly anything you are storing in your own home. The difference of course is that home space is bundled inflexibly—you usually don’t have the option of paying 2% less for 2% less space.
- bigstrat2003 2y agoThat's why it isn't true of your home. The cost of storing an item in your home (assuming you didn't buy a bigger house just to store the thing) is 0.
- CrazyStat 2y agoNot actually zero. Closets stuffed full of stuff means more time wasted trying to find what you need and more time spent finding a place to store a new item.
- 486sx33 2y agoNothing gets broken into in Texas, when everyone has a gun, no one fucks around in the dark. Just sayin’
- fragmede 2y agoI can see how you want to feel thats true, but the stats don't seem to say that's true. There's plenty of car theft and burglaries happening in the state, page 37 and 38. https://www.dps.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/crimereports/23/2023cit.pdf https://www.dps.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/crim...
- malshe 2y agoYou hope you simply forgot to add "/s" at the end
- araes 2y agoSo many of these stories sound like some JRPG. Your reward for being such a diligent and highly achieving collector ... is the thieves target you preferentially. "You gained a Torture++ Level, Congratulations!" You spent so much effort solving the last burglary, and chose such a highly secure location ... that now the thieves view your collection as a high level challenge. ... and are immediately notified of the available achievement. Some Prison Warden voice announces "There's a griefer, diligence punishing achievement available in Borg sector # of #." Their thief tools immediately 0-Day, exploit, jackpot, lottery level up to be better than your facility.
- CatWChainsaw 2y ago"With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a magical girl."
- araes 2y agoTotally not even vaguely fit to be a magical girl. That sounds like signing for a Saw movie. Somebody else can go be Kiki and fight with Miyazaki about ruining Japanese society.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Simon_ORourke 2y agoMy ex-wife demanded that we store some awful, terrible wicker furniture after a house move, so I put these cheap monstrosities into a $40/month storage unit in a semi-desolate area of town. The unit was broken into three or four times but the thieves didn't do me the favor of actually stealing anything. On the last break in I contemplated just leaving them a note with $20 inside pleading with them to just take the damned things.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- wgrover 2y agoYour post reminded me of Mark Twain’s very funny short story “The McWilliamses And The Burglar Alarm”: https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/the-mcwilliamses-and-the-burglar-alarm/ https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story...
- iluvcommunism 2y agoThe author paid for storage for over 20 years. That is an insane amount of rent paid. I used storage once for about two weeks- $200. Such a waste, but I had no choice at that time. Buy some land, buy a shed. In a few years time it’ll pay for itself.
- pyuser583 2y agoThis is more a rant against insurance than storage units. Insurance is a heavily regulated industry. Please complain to your state insurance commissioner.