Considering a Kiosk?

[Amy_ISS]

Is a kiosk for your self-storage facility in your future? Read about the benefits and how to determine if this technology is right for your business.

Do you have a kiosk? How has it helped your business?

[pacnwstorage]

A big fat NO. Reasons are obvious, IMO.

[StorageMgrNC]

Would like to know what all of the reasons are. Not so obvious to me.

A big fat NO. Reasons are obvious, IMO.

[Foxes Den]

Yes we do and they work out fine when you program them in right. They are cheaper to run than to have an onsite manager. We also have our own call center for all of our locations

[pacnwstorage]

Would like to know what all of the reasons are. Not so obvious to me.

Homeless camping out in them. Stories here about that.

Intermittent not working.

Vandalism.

No manager at the site if and when a tenant needs help.

Great place, like an ATM, for thieves to hang at.

Cannot interview a prospective tenant but is great if all you care about is if the person will fog a mirror.

Etc.....

[MamaDuke]

Ours was never used. Until Covid. Then we were closed for 3 months and it was all only online or kiosk for rentals and payments. So people got used to it. And now many still use it even though the office is open. Especially those who are particularly fearful of the virus and try to avoid people if they can.

I hated having it before because it was just THERE. But now there is some life breathed into it.


For another perspective, and to answer Pac's concerns for those considering a kiosk:

Most kiosks are not in a vestibule situation, so most of the time the homeless camping doesn't happen...it's never happened here. Not to say it doesn't, it's just not typical overall.

It has never been vandalized.

It's only a backup for the office, so we are still here to offer assistance during office hours, if needed.

We've never had even an attempt at a break-in.

And while I can't vet the new customer before rental, I could always evict them if they became trouble. But that hasn't happened here, either.

[RandyL]

I feel a Cell Phone can serve the same purpose as a Kiosk so there is not a need to invest in one.

[Kevin SC]

I think that it really depends on the size of your facility and the demographic of your area for a kiosk to really shine. That being said, the newer models that have 2 way video chat, can upsell products, and dispense locks are pretty awesome.

[RMRSS]

I am adamantly against unmanned facilities, and that is the only scenario where I see a need for a kiosk. Like pacnwstorage, I want to meet every tenant and be sure to go over all policies with them personally. As for payments, it's 2021. If people can't figure out how to pay online, then I don't know what to say. If someone insists on paying by cash, they can simply come during office hours or get a money order if they can't come until after hours (we have a payment slot for checks/money orders).

I want to add we do use a call center (XPS), which is awesome for after-hours issues and inquiries. We simply get an email summary of each call (or callers can leave a voicemail which gets emailed to us). Tenants can also pay over the phone via IVR (interactive voice recognition). I love being able to handle things remotely at my leisure during closed hours to relieve the burden of returning after the weekend to 12 voicemails and people lined up at the door waiting to pay or ask questions.

[fudgemasterultra]

It depends on scalability. So I don't really need to meet every tenant face to face. We have 9 facilities all across the state, and we ain't hiring someone for each facility. We have one central facility where calls come through, we gauge red flags over the phone. We read our critical items line by line, takes about 5-7 minutes. So if the Kiosk had a manned operator that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Some people HAVE to meet each tenant face to face, and I don't think that's necessary, but definitely at least talking to them is.

[Steve_hajewski]

I have a previous generation of an INSOMNIAC at my unmanned 280 unit property. It's not perfect but for the most part it works well. In addition to taking rentals, I get a lot of people who use it to make payments. I like that rather than calling me, they can use the machine to pay with cash. Also the machine does not have the ability to listen to sob stories. It just collects their rent and late fees.

There is no high speed internet available in my location so it runs on a cellular modem. Not the best way to connect but it gets the job done.

[Tall Terri]

Worked at a property that had one. It did not earn it's "keep" during my tenure. I'm sure until Covid-19 is controlled, they are probably using it more now. It was very expensive to purchase and put into place. Upkeep was minimal - ink, paper, locks for sale.

[KrisinWA]

We had one in San Diego (not indoors, just out front of the office) and it was vandalized by people trying to get money (of which there was none) , and no one used it beyond that so we returned it. But that was 2013.