I have been out of the storage auction business for about 20 years. I got arrested selling stuff from a locker i bought that had been stored there by ether a big time thief or a fence.
lucky i got cleared of the charges but had to go back to a regular job to pay the lawyers and the money i lost paying bail.
In those days i had a consignment store and a pawn shop that would buy many of the good items i found. but the arrest put a stop to those till i was cleared but broke.

I am thinking of going back to buying again now that i am retired.
i have a few tricks of my own.

Yes the good old days had a few a**h**es and a lot of crooked storage business owners that striped the units before the auctions.

in the last 20 years i worked construction and mining and moved a lot .

i live in a 30 foot motor home so i don't have much room and store my extras in storage places.
In the last 20 years i have never cleaned out any of the units i had i just took everything i wanted and left the trash and junk in nice clean boxes with nice high priced marking on the boxes.
Saved me from having to try to find a way to haul the trash off after i had filled up my truck with my stuff and had no room.

Wonder if anyone here bought my trash and junk.

I always wondered how many people paid way to much for my bait units

I never had any problem cleaning out the units i bought because i always had a few friends that did not work regular jobs that liked to help me cheap or some times i payed them in stuff i found in the units that i did not want.

I know a few full time swapmeeters that can sell items for me when i don't have the time. most are retired and just love swap meets.
Plus now you have the internet and Craigslist that i did not have 20 years ago. 



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I had one town i was buying a lot of units in and i rented a unit just to store the junk in and another next to it to store the trash.

After 6 months and after i sold off everything i could i quit paying the rent on the two units.

They both went up at auction and the one with the broken and unsaleable stuff went for $330.

The trash went for $30.

One self storage place i had worked for i filled 4 units with trash from units around town but they were crooks and when i worked for them they would clean out units after the renters had left and take all the trash and have my put it in boxes.

They would then claim that it was abandoned units and would sell the stuff at the auction.

The owners would also cut the locks and go through units the day before they sold them at auction and remove all they wanted.

Oh and mattresses? i would never store mattresses at a self storage place as many are now infested with bed bugs.

Even clothing stored in storage units should be packed in contractors bags and sealed with mothballs or you are taking a chance the bed bugs may get into them and spread to your home later.

If you are buying units don't take any clothing home unless its washed and dried at high setting at a Laundromat or bagged and treated for two weeks with mothballs.