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Old 04-18-2008, 05:33 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
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Default overnight drop off box

I operate a 24 hour access drive up self storage and I would like to add a drop off box for payments. I have not had much luck finding any. Does anyone have any ideas or company they went through.
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Old 04-18-2008, 06:13 PM
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I believe Chateau Products (or probably any company that sells locks/products for the self-storage industry) sells them. You could get a wall-mount lockable mailbox at Home Depot/Lowe's/etc. Or cut a drop slot (mail slot) into the wall/door of your office.
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Old 04-18-2008, 06:43 PM
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Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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This is easy to do. Depending on what you have to locate it in. We have our own maintenance units at each location, except for our one at our office.
We put a mail slot on the outside of a building where our stuff is located. You will need to cut a hole for it. Then use some heating duct or some other kid of metal shoot for the payments to go through into a milk crate.

If you need a better image I can take some pictures.
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Old 04-18-2008, 09:26 PM
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we just have a slot in the front door. They open the flap, drop the payment in, and it falls to the floor on the inside of the office. It also works for truck keys. We enter the payments the next morning. No one can get inside the door without setting off the alarm.
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Old 04-22-2008, 09:38 PM
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We have a drop slot on our front door. It works great.
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Old 04-23-2008, 06:58 AM
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As you all know, we have lots of crime in California, so a plain ol' mail drop would not work here. When working for Bank of America, I learned how the criminal uses fish line and hooks to pull money from the bank's night drops and it's really amazing. The night drops have a rounded panel in them so that when the deposit bag is placed in the drop, the rounded panel swoops the bag so that it drops down into the receiving area. The rounded panel prevents you from even seeing down there, it is like a metal wall! Yet, criminals can manage to pull things out.

Perhaps a mail drop would be OK in low crime areas if the slot where high enough, there were no widows to see where the checks/envelopes drop and there is no container to catch the deposits. That way the criminal couldn't see what he was doing, it is a long way down so they don't have as much control over the fishing device they are using, and the deposits would scatter and not be confined to an area in which to fish. Allowing truck keys to be deposited in a mail slot seems risky, because due to their weight, they would be easier to catch and then, of course, the truck could be stolen.

For those few people who want to drop off their payment after hours, it may be cheaper and safer to provide them a stamped, self addressed envelope. Cash deposits should be discouraged; Wal-Mart charges only 33¢ for money orders and there are a lot of places that charge nothing.
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Old 04-23-2008, 08:02 AM
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Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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We have had a few people over the years say they dropped payments off at the facility, and we never found them or got them.

I am sure over the 11 years we have had storage. I or someone else collecting the checks has lost one. I am not perfect. But the customers really like them.
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Old 04-23-2008, 08:47 AM
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Location: Northern CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ColleenK View Post
As you all know, we have lots of crime in California

I'm sorry your store is in such a bad area, but don't indict a whole state based on your unfortunate circumstance. I live/work in California too, and would never make such a broad statement.
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