This week in Slate, Tom Vanderbilt writes about the rise in personal mini-storage units in one of those far-reaching cultural essays inevitably headlined “[fill in the blank] Nation.”
Vanderbilt posits a number of explanations for the rise in mini-storage in Self-Storage Nation (rising consumerism, increased mobility, eBay, etc.) and grapples with the mystery of America’s increased average house size coupled with diminishing storage space:
So, what the heck is taking up all that square footage?
Slate readers should know: It’s Labrador retrievers.
Last week, in a piece called “Top Dogs,” Brendan I. Koerner speculates on the increased popularity of Labs (Labrador Nation, anyone?) by suggesting:
The solution seems so simple: put those Labs in storage.
—Matt Haber