To specify the research problem and understand the problem
background, we visited 61 self-storage warehouses (see the Ap-
pendix, Table 6 ) in the USA, Europe, and Asia, between Decem-
ber 2007 and June 2013.
We collected price, design, and demand information, and interviewed managers, customers, and laborers.
It appears the operation modes are highly dependent on the geo-
graphical location. According to the 2013-2014 self-storage fact sheet
report , “the distribution of U.S. self storage facilities (Q4-2013) is as
follows: 32 percent urban, 52 percent suburban and 16 percent ru-
ral” (see selfstorage.org).