Trivia with a Metaphor #150

According to the September 21st New Yorker if you combined all the Starbucks, McDonald’s, Walmart, Home Depot, Domino’s, Dunkin’, and Costco locations you would still not have as many as there are of these. 

A hint may be that Texas has the most of these and Hawaii has the fewest. Another clue may be that industry leaders say their market is driven by four D’s: death, displacement, divorce, and downsizing. What is that industry? 

Self-storage. 

Americans love their “stuff.” According to a Black and Decker survey in 2022, more than one-third of residential garages are so full of “stuff” that owners don’t have room to park their cars in them. 

When we downsized, there was a strict rule: if you bring something in you take something out. If you downsize and are an avid fisherman you may need a place to store your boat and equipment. If you’re downsizing and are figuring out what to do with some “heirlooms” you may need a storage unit. 

But too often there is a fifth “D” about storage facilities: Delusion. What is precious to parents may not be of any interest to the children. Those of a certain age may hope [expect] our children to cherish sacred knick-knacks that meant a lot to us. But it means nothing to them and it is time to move on.

And maybe that’s the metaphor for storage sheds. It is time to move on from the personal stuff we carry, don’t store it, get rid of it. Collectively, we can move toward a nation where we dispose of mistaken beliefs and lies and move forward with hope and optimism. Come November we can get rid of the stuff that no one wants.