[klatchex_too]

Where I live none of the storage companies will let you pre-pay 1 year of rent let alone 5.

A major part of their business model is giving low initial rates and then raising the rent over and over knowing what a pain it will be for the renters to move to a different storage place.

The industry acronym for the strategy is "ECRIs", existing customer rate increases, and it is a profitability metric they track.