Celebrating or Working?

Those of us who work as part of corporate America are on the cusp of a long weekend, thanks to the Fourth of July holiday. But employees of self-storage, now considered a retail business, may not share the same luxury. It all depends on the viewpoint of the facility owner. In which camp are you?

I've been reading a thread about this topic on our Self-Storage Talk forum, and there seem to be two schools of thought. On the "store closed for the holiday" side are those who believe a) customers aren't shopping for storage this weekend (too busy roasting hot dogs and swilling icy-cold beverages by the poolside); or b) employees deserve to enjoy the holiday, potential profit be damned. Some owners simply follow a traditional holiday schedule, without giving it much thought one way or the other. In any case, they'll save on payroll and office energy costs.

Contrarily, there are those who see opportunity in serving the public over a long weekend, when many folks likely plan to take care of those nasty tasks they otherwise procrastinate over. I'm guessing the coming days will see some beginning-of-the-month moves and a few cleaned out garages. Other owners recognize the day will be slow, but that it can still be productive from a paperwork or maintenance point of view.

And many, many managers are noting that while their offices are technically closed, they're still catering to customers via extended gate hours and self-serve kiosks. With these kinds of tech tools, the facility never sleeps, even when personnel are otherwise engaged.

My heart goes out to "dirkwood," who says his facility lost its relief manager two weeks ago. The facility will close early today and stay closed for the fourth, but come Saturday, he'll be "back on the job forever, 'til we have a new relief manager." He'd better get the most out of this reprieve!

However your facility handles the upcoming holiday, I hope your weekend is safe and productive. Happy Independence Day.