Compulsive Hoarding and the Self-Storage Manager

“Hoarding: Buried Alive,” a TLC show depicting people’s struggles with compulsive hoarding, featured a self-storage manager last Sunday.

The 65-year-old woman has already filled her and her husband’s home and even rents three self-storage units at a cost about $400 a month. Not surprisingly, a large percentage of the woman’s possessions come from stuff left behind in units or at the dumpster, or by tenants themselves who bring stuff to her office.

As a self-storage manager, you have access to stuff on a daily basis, and a place to store it all if you have a unit, discounted or paid for. So how do you draw boundaries? Does your facility’s ownership have written guidelines regarding accepting tenant property either because it was given to you or left behind? Are you tempted to take things left behind? Do you consider yourself a hoarder?

I posed the above questions to the members of Self-Storage Talk, the industry’s best online forum. Join the discussion on this thread or post a comment below.
 
Note: Compulsive hoarding is recognized as a mental disorder marked by the need to collect possessions. The people featured on the TLC show have real issues and are seeking help. I applaud them for recognizing this and their desire to get better.