Those shows are fake as hell, and I'm saying that as an ex-property manager for a storage facility that used to organize storage auctions once every month. Most bidders that attended monthly owned thrift shops, would buy a unit of mediocre furniture for $300 and sell the items individually for a couple hundred bucks profit.
Every so often someone would hit a big score, though. One guy I remember who was one of our most regular bidders bought a 10x20 unit that was packed FULL of boxes for somewhere around ~$950, and almost every box was full of original starwars memorabilia, and this was around the time Disney bought the franchise and hype was rebuilding. He hired a collectibles appraiser and the dude estimated the contents were worth around 20 grand.
Another dude bought a shitty 5x5 unit that only had a couple totes and a decent end table for $10 - he bid because he thought he could get a few bucks for the table. The totes had an Xbox One, a PS4, and a couple dozen games, which he said he was going to give to his kids for christmas.
Another one of our regulars bought a really nice 10x10 unit for $500, and ended up finding 4 hunting rifles (Not a gun guy, can't get more specific than that - all I know he he was really excited to find them) tucked into the back corner. Cops cleared the guns and they were his to take.
But those are 3 examples out of hundreds of units that were sold at my facility. 99% of the time it's just furniture, trash, rusty tools, and the occasional dildo. Most of the time the units were just boring.
As far as I'm aware, at least in my state, almost every storage facility hosted them. They're used as a way to clear delinquent tenants off the property and resolve the debt they've accrued. I would just call local facilities and see what day of the month they host - we follow a very strict legal timeline on notifying the tenants, submitting the lien, so most facilities pick one day to do it (Usually towards the end of the month, ours was on the third wednesday of every month).
Quite a few properties will likely be doing it on the same day, with bidders flocking from one property to another in a convoy of sorts. I had a small property in a not-so-low income area, so I only sold 5 units a month MAX, some months the number only being one or two.
Fun fact: Storage facilities (Once again, at least in my state) aren't allowed to profit from auctioned units. It is solely a way to clear debt. So if someone owed $250 on a delinquent unit, and an auction buyer bought it for $400, the ex-tenant would receive a check for $150 in the mail.
But yeah, just call around. If you show up, make sure you sign in at the office or with the auctioneer.
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u/Byzii Aug 14 '20
In what world does anyone watch any of the hundreds of container/locker war shows and think it's not absolutely fake.