I was watching Storage Hunters (yeah I know how fake the shows are).  But one couple keeps saying that they "did research" on the bin or the people who owned the bin.  How the heck would they know anything?

There was one storage place near me that advertised the peoples names when they said they were going to auction their stuff off, but that was the only time I saw names.

Would the storage places tell you the peoples names / background?

Just curious.

Most auction listings list the names of the tenant who's locker will be up for auction. Some people spend the time to Google or Facebook the names listed to get an idea about the people who are about to lose their locker. Problem is if you live in a large city the list tends to look like this

John Smith.............147 listings in the city
Andrea Walker........14 listings in the city
Don Adams.............22 listings in the city
Tammy Williams......18 listings in the city
Joe Johnson............87 listings in the city

How are you going to figure which one's unit is up for auction?

Now sometimes you get lucky and the owner is Fabio Carrlione Rainmaker, Whew, only one Fabio Carrlione Rainmaker in town, it must be his unit! Lets see, FCR's Facebook page says he is a retired banker and his hobbies are sailing, world travel, and coin collecting.

The day of the auction you are ready with this wealth of research in your hands and head. The door goes up on his unit and all you see is some average kid's furniture and a bunch of boxes. Hmmm, you know this guy is rich, sails, collects coins, there must be something great in there. You take a shot, you got the research, you bid $1000 & win! Now you start tearing through the boxes just like Barry on Storage Wars. 1st box-clothes, 2nd box-used toys, 3rd box kid's clothes, 4th box-stuffed animals, & again, & again, & again. Nothing but cheap worn clothes, old broken toys, stuffed animals, and other assorted garbage!! WTF!!

What you did'nt know is Fabio Carrlione Rainmaker has a beautiful 24 year old daughter, unmarried, with three kids, and a nasty drug habit. She doesn't have the money or credit to rent a storage unit by herself so she got dear old dad to rent the unit for her. Of course she promised to make the payments and daddy trusted his little girl, but she lied, needed money for drugs, so she let the unit go in default.

Now aren't you glad you spent all that time researching the owner of the unit?

The point of the story is, for the most part, when the door goes up on a unit, what you see is what you get. Finding out some juicy info about the owner may only lead you to make a bad bidding decision based on your belief that there must be soemthing great hidden in the unit. Of course gamblers have made big scores in the past by using this method, but you've got to be willing to risk and lose some serious money.

Good Luck!

Something of interest...

Last week in my area there was a unit up for auction that looked like a jewerly stores inventory. There was signage for the store along with shelves lined with hundreds of jewerly boxes. It sold for over $2000.

As expected... No jewerly just a whole bunch of empty boxes.

Without seeing the unit first hand that sounds like a crazy price, then again, depending on the size of the unit, had it been full of glass display cases the money might have been there without finding any jewelry in the boxes. You didn't mention if there were display cases or any other valuable items other then shelving.

A year ago, it would not have shocked me if that unit went for $5,000 - $10,000.

Not many auctions around here so far but since its the middle of the month already I thought I would chime in.

Auction crowds seem to be leveling out in the 20 to 25 people range. The average last year was around 50 to 60.

Most everybody is "coupled up", so actual bidders are in the 7 to 12 range.

Demographics of bidders are generally: 3 "Old Timers", 3 "3 month to 1 year" attendees, 4 "brand new newbies"

Prices are up and down. One auction they will bid "California TV Show" style, then the next they will be reasonable. No steals out there though. It just depends on what the fresh faces want to do. Sometimes they sit back and bid real reserved, and sometimes they go all "Dave Hester" on us.

I think I am pretty good at remembering faces so one of the new trends I think I am seeing is the brand new newbies are not sticking around as long. In the past it seemed like most would hang around at least a month to 3 months, now I notice a lot more show up for one auction or a couple of weeks and then dissapear. Maybe since the crowds are smaller it's easier to remember the faces so it's easier to remember when people only show up to one or two auctions then quit coming. generally I am talking about people who actually bid and win units, not the lookie loos.

I'm confused, you hate the shows but you keep refreshing topics about the shows and then create new topics about the shows. It seems you have a vested interest in keeping the TV shows on everyones mind. If you really hate the TV shows as much as you say then why don't you just let the threads die a natural death and stop starting new topics about them! 

Guess what, the popularity of the TV shows is fading, just shut up about it and they will go away. 

Cobia, thanks for your comment.  I lived for some time in the US, so I do have a sense consumption society.  Hell, I've been part of it.  As I left the US to live in South America (Uruguay), I became profoundly aware of such dynamics.  Although through the effects of globalization, Uruguay is adopting a similar approach to consumption, it is still very, very far from what I can see in the US. 

What interests me the most about this project is precisely approaching consumption through the view of storage and accumulation.  I want to find people who own a locker and do portraits of them with their belongings. 

Any suggestion on how is the best way to 'reach' these potential subjects?  Is there a way to reach a group of them?  Are any of you area of forums of users of storage lockers?  Or an association? 

Thanks for your help.  m.

Renting a storage unit is not really a sub-culture in the U.S. All types and demographic groups rent storage units. It's kind of like asking to speak to someone who has owned a microwave and to share their experience. There is no ritual, or pride, or community association with renting storage units.

I suppose a forum like this is your best option for finding people to interview.

I would be interesting if you could ask the guy whose unit I just finished sorting why he spent so much money keeping that stuff in storage. 10 x 20 unit, in storage for 16 years. Current value of contents $1000 - $1250. 16 years at $90 per month (assuming 2012 value of money for all years) equals $17,000 spent (in 2012 dollars) to store that stuff.

Yes, people will store garbage and pay for it for years and years. Don't assume a unit that has been in storage for many years means it is definitely full of valuable items.

I was waiting to dig into the kitchen stuff and sadly disappointed.  Lady spent on fashion only I guess.

Pulling out stuff and was ....crap...that's crap....put that in crap pile......more crap.....   

So I see your a glass-half-empty kind of guy. Noted. 

For all those who don't believe people keep high value items in storage units.....


As I've posted elsewhere, I've been on the look out for a Hoosier Cabinet to restore.  (to keep for myself)

Old co-worker/ pseudo girlfriend (still good friends) called last week and said her deceased mother has one in storage that I can have if once they load moving  truck I'd drive it....they are scared to.

Wasn't what I was looking for but helped out anyway.....

Turns out they didn't even know about storage unit until the lawyer was going thu old bills and called facility.  It was just going into the process to be auctioned.   

So open it and it is trashed.   This did not look good.  Lots of stuff but all boxes were water damaged. Place smelled.  I'm thinking this is, just from being so full, a $500 locker.

Hidden behind stacks of boxes;
there is the Hoosier ($700-$1000). Which you could see part of but didn't look like anything good
Brand new leather couch, still in original shipping plastic, and delivery reciept with price of $6500
Antique leather topped end tables with not even a scratch on them!
And.....the ladies safe.  Which ended up great for my friend since it was all investment papers.  Bonds. CDs.   Nothing we could have turned in.    But had about $400 in coins (retail, not sure what she'll get for them)

But the boxes?
OMG!   Thirty high end purses in like new condition.  23 pairs of high heals still in box and lowest price tag was $180.  Big box of scarves that my friend said sell used for $20-$30 each. 

Ton of other stuff.  Clothes, household, high end kitchen stuff...



And some of your holy grails was found too!   Gold and guns!

Okay, not much.  Piece here and there.  Few Tiffany pieces but the dime-a-dozen, low price stuff.  Pretty sure one bracelet is even fake.  But all told I'm guessing at $500-$1000 in resale value.....no clue on scrap value.

And same with guns.  Got a big smile when I found a derringer ....but it's new. They sell for $150 on the high end.
Other was a .380 that you can get for $100 used.



Anyways, we did a mental price count, totally conserviive, low end, price to sell......and still we figure she has an easy $10,000


Ton to go thru.  So much is water damaged.  Top boxes are all mice dropping and chewed up stuff.

Thought I'd give a little inspiration that thre are still good units out there slipping thru the cracks.
Another month or unobservant attorney and this one would have been ours!



Now it's just negotiating price on my services to sell it all!   

The MOST important part of your story is this unit did NOT make it to auction. It's not that we don't believe people store valuable things in units, it's that the most valuable units never make it to auction. Sure, there are always a few that slip through the cracks, thats why we talk about 1 in 100 units or 1 in 500 units, but TV shows make it look like 3 out of 5 units look like the one you just described.

Heck my 1 in 100-200? unit was in the first 25 units I bought so I get spoiled! 

Okay I'm confused. By all accounts this is a success story and should inspire people. Why is it considered an example of why people would quit?

Cause there was some good stuff, some pretty good stuff, some OK stuff, some junk, all the usual stuff we find that you got to hussle various ways to get it to sell. Too many people think every storage unit has the potential to make thousands of dollars. Just not the case. It's kinda funny cause I guess the average price for a storage unit on the TV shows is about $1500 - $2000, then I see newbies grin from ear to ear when they get a unit for $800 thinking they are going to find $3000-$5000 worth of stuff just like in TV. That same unit I would'nt go higher then $200, and I am pretty sure that unless they get lucky there is not more then $400-$500 worth of typical used household items in there, average furniture, used clothing, used kitchen ware, maybe a couple of console TVs, DVD player or two, random video games and components, used CDs used DVD movies, maybe a few tools, Christmas ornaments, used linens, used toys. No guns, No priceless antiques, No rare fady collectibles, No high-end artwork, No safes, No LARGE stashes of gold & silver jewelry, No gold coins, No Harley Davidson motorcycles, No Polaris ATVs, ETC, ETC, ETC...

Not so much an example of why they should quit as why they do quit.