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Short answer: Start with the basics: tenant insurance, retail (locks, boxes and moving supplies) at staffed facilities, and truck rental such as U-Haul where there is room to park. Once those are in place, Mark suggests exploring less common options suited to the trade area, such as EV charging, technology fees, package handling, mailboxes or wine storage.
The usual suspects #
- Tenant insurance: see the related answer.
- Retail: if a facility has an office and a manager, Mark always sells retail items and trains staff to sell them. Margins are typically healthy, and it adds up over a year.
- Truck rental: where there is room for a truck or two, Mark rents U-Hauls. Beyond someone to handle the paperwork, there is little cost, and trucks also bring in storage rentals. In one turnaround he replaced the previous owner’s single “free” move-in truck with U-Haul rentals.
Less traditional ideas #
- EV charging: a fee-based service that also brings visibility.
- Technology fee for smart-access features, in trade areas whose demographics would value it.
- Package handling for commercial tenants such as medical reps, charged as an add-on because it adds labor and liability. Check with your attorney and insurer first.
- Mailboxes, wine storage in higher-income urban areas, or acting as a parcel pick-up point.
Mark’s suggested goal is to add one or two new income streams a year, starting with the obvious ones you don’t yet offer.
Related answers #
- Should self-storage facilities make tenant insurance mandatory?
- How can self-storage owners control operating expenses?
- What is value-based pricing in self-storage?
Source: Mark’s posts Self-Storage Revenue Strategies for 2026 Part 3 – Increase Add-on Revenue and Turnaround Playbook: 4 Steps I Use to Revive a Storage Facility
