Kids at Auctions

Any one els fed up with people bringing their kids to the auctions?  When we have a few min to look and determin what we want to bid before the auctioneer starts the bidding, there's no time for some oneS kid standing in front of a unit with mommys flashlight and looking to see what's in there. 
Unless the auctioneer wants to wait until the kids get out of the way they should hold off on starting (and sometimes finishing) the bidding.
Rant over

Any one els fed up with people bringing their kids to the auctions?  When we have a few min to look and determin what we want to bid before the auctioneer starts the bidding, there's no time for some oneS kid standing in front of a unit with mommys flashlight and looking to see what's in there. 
Unless the auctioneer wants to wait until the kids get out of the way they should hold off on starting (and sometimes finishing) the bidding.
Rant over

Once you have a good relationship with an auctioneer just ask them to say something to the crowd in general about keeping kids away from the door. The auctioneer will generally comply as it is a common sense thing to do....unless you're a parent who just isn't with the program.

You will also hear here from buyers whose children help them spotting things and even some of whom's children place bids (not sure how legal that is, but it happens as long as a parent is along).

Age makes a difference for the most part (and maturity), but I know what you mean and sometimes I will ask a child (or the parent) "Is this little one bidding?"  They usually get the point but not always.

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The corollary is the parent (ususally a lard-ass, lame-brained mom) who pushes the stroller in front of her and thus is taking up extra space in a "line-up" that goes past the door.  Typically, this mom is using a $1.00 flashlight and a bar-room vocabulary along with her trailer-park trash husband who is scratching with one hand while pulling a cigarette out from behind his ear with the other.  But that's another story.

We have a couple of companies here that have gone to no one under 18. I understand the rule but there is one mother and daughter team that brings the two year old. She never gets out of her stroller and they take turns looking in the unit. I really don't see a problem with them. Then there is me who takes my sixteen year old as ofter as I can. He is my electronics expert. He looks older than he is so he has never been questioned.

It is sad that a few ruin it for those that make their kids mind and most of the time the parents are newbies and you never see them again.

I don't have a problem with teens as sometimes they are with their parents learning the family business. There has just been a proliferation of YOUNG. 7 and under just getting in the way. Parents giving them flashlights and pushing them up front to look.  They have no buisness there. I've also never seen the parent bid on anything either. 

Previous discussion: http://storageauctionforums.com//index.php/topic,2107.msg13197.html#msg13197

Yea, we've discussed this before. Little kids following the lookie-loos & newbies are a pain, but I bring my kids too so they can appreciate how the food the eat gets on the table.

My favorites are the ones between the ages of 7-12 who yell out everything they see in the unit.

"Mom, mom, a playstation! a flat screen TV! Mom, they got a go-cart!!" Too Funny! 

Last auction I was at a kid yells out "look, there's guns".  They were right at his eye level at the front corner but behind something and somehow he saw him.  Manager says "that's going to be a big problem".  He pulls them out and decides they were pellet guns and puts them back.  If they were real guns he probably wouldn't have been able to auction the unit and that kid would've screwed things up.

I too can see a problem with younger kids (4-12 or thereabouts) as for the most part they can get in the way real easily.  Younger than that & they tend to be in a stroller which, providing weather isn't too hot or cold, isn't a big deal assuming that they aren't crying/fussing (I remember when my kids were young, sometimes they just HAD to come where we were going for various reasons).  In that case (kids in strollers/very young kids) the auctioneer should say something in the beginning that they're welcome as long as they don't cause a disturbance to others.  If they do then they'll have to leave.  Said at the beginning hopefully it won't cause a problem later if the kid does start to cry. 

13-18 though, not allowing them there I feel is wrong.  As has been mentioned, some of them are there learning a useful skill. Beyond the obvious of locker buying, there is learning to read other people, how to quickly evaluate a proposition (when the door goes up), bargaining, learning to deal with other adults in semi stressful situations, etc.  Learning that at an early age would have given me a nice step up in my 20s when I was just starting out as an adult on my own.  Also as it is summer & school is out, my kids (14 & 16) are a big part of my labor force if I do win a locker.  They have a great time looking through things for the first time (& have gotten quite an education when they ran across the tote full of sex toys....  ) & helping load up the truck.  They've even got a friend or two to volunteer to help out with the offer of picking out some small things from the locker (you can easily see who's read Tom Sawyer & who hasn't....  ).  For me, having them there is priceless.  Being away from the house & away from the things that cause confrontations (phone, tv, rooms not picked up, etc) we have these great conversations while working together, am able to impart some valuable life lessons in easy to understand ways (even though we're going to make a lot from this locker we can't go buy something for us or go out to eat right now because we haven't sold any of it yet, try to keep your 'stuff' to a minimum, etc).

So if places want to ban children, I'm somewhat ok with 12 & under.  However there are many legitimate reasons that teenagers have to be there (with a parent).

Think myself and my daughter are one of the people Movieman was talking about.  As we have one facility (he is the owner) that will accept her bids.  Of course the contract is in my name, etc.  She will be 14 thursday and I'm sure will read this post monday...yes - she reads the boards.

Outside of my daughter we have normally only 2 semi-regulars that have young kids.  They don't act up, get in the way, etc.  So for the most part any kids at the auctions in my area are fine.  We have had a few newbies bring screaming toddlers, the rat pack, etc.  Those days it can be very trying at times.  With the lower crowds of late most people are not as pushy/bad mood, even with the 100+ degree heat as they were last year.

FYI - the one auction that takes my daughters bids also has his son there helping many times.  So in a way it's a bit more kid friendly then other auctions may be why he does it.  For myself I get to spend time with her and teach her buying / selling.  Granted if she keeps buying the winning lockers I'll retire and let her do all the work.

We had our baby girl about two and a half years ago and we brought her with us to every auction we went to. We never had any problems except for one time when an auctioneer decided to enforce the no children rule and asked my wife and daughter to wait in the lobby.

It was really funny how quickly my daughter picked up on things. She had been to so many auctions by the time she was one year old that she started yelling "yeah" and raising her hand during the bidding process. Everyone thought it was really funny and cute.

i imagine kids see the show and want to go with their parents and i get paretns trying to teach kids how to be independent, find your own ways to make money, hustle, teach kids the value of money, etc, etc, etc.

taht said it can be annoying too. i agree if its learning the family business or something i think the parents take it seriously and keep kids in line and out of the way. othertimes however its people rolling thru with a double stroller or toddlers ontheir shoulder.

that just slows down the whole auction process, clutters the narrow isles at indoor facilities, etc.

yes I am going to have to agree with the walkways and halls being cluttered already. It would be nice if people left their kids out of the auctions if they aren't there for a reason pertaining to learning the business or how to make extra money.

note: on the other hand sometimes people get distracted by them and winning bids get to be lower