The Storage Auction

My husband as we waited for the auction 

The idea for this adventure, as with most of my adventures, began with television. There was a marathon of "Storage Wars" on and I watched it. I was mildly intrigued by how these people buy these storage units full of junk and make money with it. Just imagine, a person's life summed up in 10x10 ft space full of stuff and another person just shifting through it to make a profit or find a treasure.  Luckily for me my husband, Randy, and our friend Joe decided to try this and it made me want to do it even more.

Joe and Randy did each purchase a storage unit. Joe found a bunch of change that was pretty close to the amount of money he paid and many other items that will be easily sold on Criagslist or eBay. The second storage unit that they went in on hasn't yielded any profits yet, but it did contain some very promising items. Seeing all the "booty" they collected from their adventure made me want to go to an auction even more. I found one for the very next day and Randy and I registered for it.

When we arrived at the storage facility there were already many people waiting around. Randy went and registered. When he was registering people kept walking up and asking the auctioneer what it was like. He kept telling them it's just like storage wars. In reality it's not exactly like storage wars because the show really only highlights the "good stuff" that is found. There is a lot of junk. As time grew closer more and more people showed up. I don't know how many people are typically at these auctions but there was at least 100 people at the one we went to and they were all very anxious. Each time the lock was broken and the door was opened a line formed and people were allowed to walk past and glance in before the auction started. 

One of the units

The first thing they explain at these auctions is that all things must be cleaned out of the unit within 48 hours. One auctioneer said, "It's just like Marriage, for better or worse you own it". It is a lot of junk with maybe some treasures inside, but really it's kind of a crap shoot. You don't really know what you are going to get inside there or what you can do with it. 

Each unit we saw was different. Randy and I spoke to the owner of the facility and he told us about all the issues he has with these auctions. All the legalities he goes through because some people pay several months in advance, then they forget. He ends up contacting them. He gives them so many months to pay up. Then he has to fill out legal papers. One of the units that we saw that day belonged to a man who had committed suicide. It just reminded me that each of the units we saw had their own story. A reason why the items were put there and why they may have been forgotten or left behind.

It felt like modern day pillaging, but at the same time it was all stuff that was long forgotten. If it were old it would be an anthropologist's dream come true. It makes me wonder about the future. Are we going to have digital storage wars? Is there going to be a place with caches of old blogs and music that one can upload and pick through? Only time will tell.