Lonsdale Mini Storage Boosts AutoPay Adoption and Reclaims Time with Storable Collections
Despite a high occupancy rate and generally reliable tenants, collections remained a persistent operational challenge for Lonsdale Mini Storage.The facility’s manual collections process required management to individually track overdue accounts, send personalized reminders, make phone calls, and physically mail collection letters.
The Challenge
Lonsdale Mini Storage is a thriving self-storage business located 40 miles south of Minneapolis, MN. With 220 units, 100% occupancy, and plans to expand later this year, the family-owned facility has grown into a model of operational efficiency since changing hands two-and-a-half years ago. Its plans to add 28 new units later this year represents the next phase in a carefully planned growth strategy—balancing increased capacity with the personalized service that has fueled the facility’s perfect occupancy rate.
Despite a high occupancy rate and generally reliable tenants, collections remained a persistent operational challenge for Lonsdale Mini Storage. The facility’s manual collections process required management to individually track overdue accounts, send personalized reminders, make phone calls, and physically mail collection letters. A predictable pattern emerged with chronically late payers who required constant follow-up through multiple communication channels.
“Every month, it was the same routine—texting, calling, and eventually sending letters to the same group of customers,” explained Andrew King, owner of Lonsdale Mini Storage. “It was a significant time investment with minimal returns.”
The hours management spent chasing payments each month was valuable time they could have spent on strategic planning, customer service, or expansion efforts.
Finding a Collection Manager
After about two years of managing collections manually, Lonsdale Mini Storage discovered Storable Collections, Storable’s answer to one of the industry’s biggest pain points—late and missed payments.
After evaluating the ROI potential, management quickly recognized the monthly investment would pay for itself by eliminating hours of manual collection efforts while improving cash flow.
The implementation process proved remarkably smooth, with onboarding taking less than three weeks.
Lonsdale’s management team found the system both powerful and surprisingly straightforward to implement. Andrew highlighted Storable’s excellent support team, whose clear onboarding timeline and expectations enabled staff to prepare properly for the transition.
Key Results
Over 70% of Lonsdale’s tenants are now enrolled in autopay
The business reclaimed up to 10 hours monthly that were previously spent on collection activities
By automating payment reminders and follow-ups, tensions from tenant interactions were removed allowing positive relationships with customers
Storable Collections is definitely worth the investment for our size operation. The question is: what’s your time worth? Do you want to waste hours each week calling people, or do you want to invest that time back into growing your business?
Andrew King
Owner of Lonsdale Mini Storage