Maybe i'm being a bit paranoid. Yes, large sums of money should probably not be made public. Not sure what else would be a great find that should be kept private. I guess I was thinking if you found something that was so valuable that it could change your life (at least for a couple of years) you would want to keep it out of the public view.

I like the idea of best find of 2013 thread, Travis you gonna run with it?

Sometimes the ole' eyes play tricks on us. I know there have been times when I stared at a locker and the more I looked the worse it got. Conversely, there have been times the more I stare at a locker the better it gets! When that happens it's usually time to take a short miny break and evaluate whats happening. Am I hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Aggravated cause I haven't won any units yet? Satisfied cause I already have a unit or two won for the day?

I thought it might be fun to have a contest to see who could buy the most storage units next year, but it would be real hard to varify anyones claims. I guess we could just use the honor system and not necessarily have the contest connected to a prize so there is less incentive to "fudge" the numbers.

Or maybe we could do a thread/contest for best find of the year (photo included)? One problem with that is the truly best finds probably need to be kept secret. 

I don't see how you could invest in diamonds other then owning stocks or ETFs in diamond mines or technology companies that make synthetic industrial diamonds. DeBeers did a good job of fooling the public into believing diamonds are rare and valuable.

I thought I read a chart line not to long ago that showed the value of diamonds on the market has dropped over the last 10 years or so relative to gold and silver and even compared to inflation adjusted US currency.

Reviving old thread alert! 

Can you get keys and combos from other safe makers besides Sentry, or is Sentry the only manufacturer that provides that service and you just have to have the safe picked or cut?

I agree, I think the "droves" of newbies is over, but they will still continue to trickle into the scene more so then before the TV shows. The economy is really not getting any stronger in most parts of the country. A lot of people looking for jobs and more importantly, people who have jobs but are looking for extra income. Many will watch the shows, some for the first time, and never here about Dave's lawsuit, so they will hit the auction scene with a fresh wad of cash and stars in thier eyes!

All in all, I believe the damage is done, the inferno is just now a dying blaze, and who ever is left that can really make a living in this VERY TOUGH business will pick up the pieces and carry on. I just can't imagine the auction scene being any worse then it was between February 2011 to March 2012, but "who knows"? 

Here's a couple of good "what not to noobie do" stories from this weeks auctions.

Noobie #1: Wins a 10 x 10 1/2 full, no problem, then wins a 10 x 20 full, somewhere between winning the bid and arriving at the next location he decides he doesn't have anywhere to put the contents of said 10 x 20 and so proceeds to walk through the crowd looking for someone to buy the room off of him at face value (what he paid). Duh! There's a reason why the HIGH bidder wins! It's cause nobody else wants to pay that much or more for the unit! Duh! Think you might know how much space you have BEFORE bidding on the unit? Of course that doesn't stop him from bidding on MORE units throughout the day! 

Noobie #2: Wins a 10 x 20 3/4 full, proceeds to clean out the unit and then asks me "So, where do I sell all this stuff I got?" I tell him, "You could always take it to the flea market and start there." His response: "I don't have time to be selling things at the flea market!, this is my first time and I just bid for fun!" Duh! don't bid on units if don't have any plan or idea of what you are going to do with all that inventory! Then he said "there's bags and bags of clothes, do you buy clothes?" My reply, "Hells No!!"  Now put on your big girl panties and figure out what you are going to do. 

I will gamble a litte bit more but not much. For instance say there is a 10 x 10 unit 1/3 full and there is a small 18"-24" cube size floor safe in plain view from the door. I look at everything else in the room and set my high bid at $250. Since there is the unknown factor of the floor safe I might add another 20-25% to my high bid, so I might go $300-$325, maybe $350 if someone I don't care for is bidding. Doesn't really matter though cause typically that unit will sell for around $500-$600.

Point being, I generally will gamble a little bit, but there is always two or three people in the crowd willing to gamble a LOT! 

I don't really have the "gamblers" personality. I don't play the lottery, I don't go to casinos; but I can see how "gambling" on a unit with a safe in view could be just as exciting as going to a casino and playing slots. "Who Knows", the odds of finding valuables in a safe from a storage unit might be better then the house odds at the casino.