Exploring Business Models: Storage Wars

Warehouse for Rent

source: lifeoffthewire.wordpress.com

Storage Wars is a hit TV series that you can watch on Philippines cable TV via the History Channel. It follows the lives of a set of people who make a living out of buying and reselling good that have long been kept in storage and have been auctioned—the only catch is that, because they’ve all been kept in storage, auctioneers can only know the contents of a warehouse after they’ve won the auction and paid the pot.

Self-storage as a business is a fairly new industry in Philippines in itself. Warehousing in the Philippines isn’t as new but it definitely isn’t as adventurous as warehouse or storage auctioning.

How does the auction happen? It depends on the country and the governing laws that affect warehouse storage. There isn’t very much literature about storage auctioning. In Uganda and other parts of Africa, warehousing clients who fail to deal with their taxes will have their stored goods be put on sale. In the context of the famous TV program, the terms of some storage locker providers in California include that if a storage locker’s rent has not been settled for 3 months (delinquent units), the contents of which shall go to blind auction.

As the History Channel put it, storage auctioning is a lot like treasure hunting: you’ll never be sure if you’re going to hit the jackpot or rock bottom. In the Philippines, there are few to no provisions for the government to seize storages. Private facilities also have more flexibility for storage. If you are interested in availing of storage or warehouses for rent Philippines, you could be sure of two things: your stuff won’t get auctioned and you’ll be better off using the space for commercial purposes.

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