I didn't know Bryan (the author of this product) took my picture (with the cash) at the last unit I bought! 

....on Tuesday, November 15, 2011.

Chances are they are going to be talking about the pirate treasure recently uncovered in a lkr (see related post in the IN THE NEWS section)

Oh well...a new newbie invasion !

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Do a Google search for "pirate treasure found in locker" and you'll get a lot of hits.

Here's one:

http://www.tmz.com/2011/11/13/storage-wars-half-million-dollars-worth-pirates-gold-found/

In my opinion if fraud is going on then 90% of the time it is the managers who are perpetrating this.

Yes, some reader here will say (and has said) "if the lkr owner shows up and stuff is missing there would be hell to pay" and that would be true, but sometimes the managers just plain KNOW that the lkr stuff owner isn't going to show; the stuff owner might be in jail, might have moved out of state or out of country, might have died, etc.

The property mgr is in the best position to know this info.

I won't go to two separate facilities (each done by two separate auctioneers) for this reason.

Also, time manipulation is in the hands of the prop mgr.  They can cut locks (see good stuff) list the sales in the legal notice and when lkr owner doesn't pay up, they can just NOT sell the lkr. Now it is THEIRS  to do with what they want.

They can go in and get the good stuff, sell it or give it away, whatever. THEN when the goodies are gone and they have already settled the legal notice aspect first time out, they can  sell the lkr the next time out. If asked why it wasn't on the NEWEST legal notice, they can just say "It was listed before" which is of course true.  As I said, they can manipulate TIME to their advantage...they are there 24 hours a day.

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On the other hand, auctioneers are sometimes in colusion with prop mgrs. The auctioneer might KNOW that a lkr has just plain been SETUP for sale; or that prop mgr has gone through and pulled the good stuff, etc etc.  The auctioneers are only doing their job, but they aren't going to share with us any SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE they have of the site or units in question.

This is just my opinion (based on my experience) your opinions may vary and you (dear readers) are entitled to them as I am to mine.

1) Not all auctions are taking credit cards.
2) If some goofball goes hog wild and pays big bucks only to find no pay-off...TOO BAD !

The theory that "the fittest survive" is certainly true in this biz; being smart is part of being "fit".

But quite frankly, it irks the hell out of me when people show up to an auction without a flashlight, then ask to borrow mine. My response is like, "really, you come unprepared and then want to use my tool so that you can get a better look at stuff to bid against me?"


So am I being reasonable or just being a jerk?

This happens to me once in a while too and I totally agree with the quotes I provided just above. No you're not a jerk. This is a business.

A fellow who lives 40 miles away from my city drops in once in a while to my area. He has been buying for about 6 months so is an "old" newbie.  We greeted each other in the hallway and at the second unit he lined himself up right behind me. After I had looked at a dark unit he asked if he could use my light. I told him no and asked "Would you like to borrow some money too?"

When that unit finished I waited for him to pass me and said to him "Next time I forget to bring my light you can say "no" to me."  Didn't hear a word from him for the rest of the sale, and I won't be forgetting my light !

It's a rare occasion when I loan my light even to one of my regular cronies. If I have looked at a unit and I'm not going to bid on it, I MIGHT, but not always. If I did and then the next time that person failed to return the favor to me because HE did want to bid on a unit it just would not work out that he was helping me to possibly bid against him. I think I have come up with a DEAD flashlight twice in 8 years....my fault for not having a backup.

LESSON FOR NEWBIES....bring your flashlight!

If you mean technique, approach, etc....."here". 

If you mean where and when auctions are located: legal notices, online sites which sell lists.

Use the search button above for the latter. 

I love finding stamps in units since they are just like cash to me.  Found a book of old .34 stamps in a $27 unit the other day.

Good luck with the unit Movieman.  Let us know what else the boxes contain.

Yep, stamps are just like cash to everyone I think....will take me a while to use up $81 worth though; I think I only mail about 6 letters a month. I also found another $6 in stamps, so they are adding up.

Went through more boxes this afternoon. While the first 10 had a good ratio of 1 bad to 9 good, the next batch of about
20 or so fell more in the 8 bad 12 good.  On the other hand, the good were really good...the kind of small collectible stuff I like. Here's some of it:

Zippo lighters: just two, but new in the box with seals on back of lighters.
Camel Cig memorabilia: 20 pieces.
Toys: good quality and quantity...will put out a full table of Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh, etc.
DVDs: 20 children's; 15 regular.
Etc, etc.

The stuff I am calling bad would still sell, it's just not the kind of stuff I sell, so it goes as a lot to several different buyers who basically give me 20 to 30 cents on the dollar; fine with me...they handle it, I don't.

I had one exciting moment when I saw a pistol in a nice nylon holster; the fact it was in a teenager's box made me suspect it though even before I picked it up. It was too lightweight and turned out to be a made in china replica of a 9mm; the holster was good though...Uncle Mike's good to go at $8 to $10 I would think.

So, the lkr is coming out good...better than I thought. My list looks to total up to about $1700 so far. I still have about 40 boxes to go through. Also I found a dresser to go with the dressing table and two matching nightstands too...almost a complete bedroom set except for the bed.

owns the thrift  store that always gets the units he wants? This guys always out bids you if he wants the unit. He doesnt buy them all but he does get what he wants. How would you handle this?

You could keep bidding. You may pay more than you want to, but then again, so might he if he counters your last bid.

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Meanwhile (and off topic) could you answer my question in another thread which regards your source for your belief that the buyers on "Storage Wars" are paid around $11,000 each per person per episode? Thanks, I always like to see attribution on such statements so I can look at the source and give it more consideration or comment.