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Comment by cantrevealname | Hacker News Reader

> I even tried to start a safety deposit box business as a private non-bank related thing. I can´t even begin to describe to you what type of regulatory hurdles and red-tape I was faced with

I imagine that the self-storage business in the USA is a very low regulation business, much less than opening a restaurant for example. How is the regulation for a (non-bank) "safety deposit box" business in Sweden any different than a self-storage business?

According to Wikipedia[1], the USA has ~52,000 self-storage businesses whereas Sweden has only 112. So the USA has wildly more self-storage than Sweden on a per capita basis: one storage place for 6000 people vs 92000 in Sweden. Are regulations worse in Sweden because self-storage is not a thing?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_storage

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I'd assume people just aren't as prone to collecting unnecessary stuff. My guess is that most of the things in self-storage are junk that people should not store, but have hard time letting go. It'd be less of a mental and financial burden to sell or dispose of all that.

Not saying that there aren't valid use cases, but I personally don't know a single person who is using one.

If you are really curious I can give you a few use cases I've seen that I think are valid.

1. There is a gap in housing between when someone moves out of their old place and when they can move into their new one. So they need to store all their stuff for a while.

2. Someone has a nice hardwood tree taken down in their yard and they want to keep the wood, but they don't want their garage /workshop to be full of drying wood.

3. Bulky outdoor sports equipment. Storing your kayak, etc. in your urban apartment may not be an efficient use of space.

4. If you are in business for yourself, you may need a small amount of warehouse space. The easiest way to get that in the US? Self storage.

Living somewhere else (say overseas) for a period of time.

5. Someone knows they're going to be moving soon, but they're going to have to do so in a hurry. So they put some of their stuff in storage ahead of time, thus making the actual move much easier.

6. Someone is going to be traveling/in the military/in the hospital/in jail/homeless for a while and can't or doesn't want to keep paying full rent just to store their stuff.

7. An older couple have houseful of truly nice furniture and/or tools but are moving to retirement home. Their kids/grandkids want the family heirlooms but don't have room for them - yet.

8. Have insurance that requires a car be stored in a locked garage, but live in an apartment without a garage.

I thought I was clear about there being also valid use cases? I'm not disputing your examples.

Have you really seen #2?

The specificity would imply so.

Specificity is a classic sign of a a lie. In fact the inclusion of "hardwood" is one of the things that made it seem unnatural. Anyone that has a passing familiarity with woodworking expects it's a hardwood.

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