Consumers are increasingly attracted and driven to use self-serve tools in the retail world, from self-checkout aisles at the grocery store to ATM machines at the bank to, you guessed it, self-service kiosks at self-storage facilities. Here an attendee tries an INSOMNIAC kiosk by OpenTech Alliance Inc. during the ISS Expo in Tacoma, Wash., complete with a video phone-conference feature that allows customers to get live help when they need it. OpenTech now offers seven models of kiosks, with one to suit every facility budget.

Not convinced self-storage customers are embracing the kiosk? According to a white paper released by OpenTech in February,  customers used INSOMNIAC kiosks to rent 19,089 storage units, make 171,938 payments, and purchase 9,736 locks in 2010. That's a total of $18.8 million in self-service transactions throughout the United States and Canada.