You can learn a lot about people by going through their storage units

According to one site the storage unit business in the United States is about a $39 billion dollar a year business. The wealthiest individuals in Kentucky are the founders of a storage company in the state and his daughter. They are both billionaires. It is estimated that there are between 45,000-60,000 storage units in the country and that nearly 10 percent of Americans rent at least one unit.

Chances are you have watched the TV program Storage Wars at least once. When people rent storage units and do not pay their rent for several months the storage company is allowed to auction off the contents of the unit to recoup their expenses. The program highlights several buyers of those units in California. I find the program interesting even though one of the buyers has claimed the show is rigged. His claim is that some of the expensive items found in the units that are bought by the buyers are put there by the producers to make the show more interesting to the viewers.

I have bought an occasional storage unit in the past myself, and I can tell you I never found a Picasso wrapped in an old blanket nor have I found safes filled with money or gold and silver coins. A good unit produces enough good items to pay for itself and a little profit. Most of them contain a lot of junk that has to be taken to the dump. Much of what is found there is evidence of a lot of bad choices in the person's life that explains why they were not able to pay their rent. For the life of me, I can't understand why people would pay good money to rent space to keep much of what I find in storage units. Sociologists and other social scientists would have a field day exploring what people keep in storage units!

The buyers on Storage Wars often point out that buying these units is a numbers game. Some of them have said that for every 10 units they buy one pays off well enough to make it profitable. That's probably accurate. This article isn't to help you become a good storage unit buyer. I wouldn't know how to write an article like that based on my limited experience buying units! The purpose of this blog is to encourage you to make better choices in life.

The average cost of a storage unit according to the site I referenced earlier is $89 a month. That is over $1,000.00 a year with some units renting for more than twice that amount. To be completely transparent, I do rent a unit for slightly more than that, but my unit is rented to store items I sell at auction and my supplies. It is a legitimate business expense.  Many units are rented by small business owners for the same reason. This is much different than the typical renter who is spending money each month to store junk they don't want to pitch.

What does the typical storage unit renter store for his $89 a month or higher rent? You'll find a lot of dirty mattresses, broken toys, bags of clothes that usually ends up stiff and moldy in their black trash bags after a few months, broken and ripped furniture, broken bicycles, book and magazines, food items (which has attracted mice), personal papers, kitchen items such as plates and silverware, cardboard, bags filled with trash that should have been set out for trash collection and adult items. Based on the cobwebs and dust in some of these units these items have been stored for several years which means that thousands of dollars have been wasted on storing these items.

Before you respond that this was the property of these people and represented the best they may have had, I am not judging them. I am saying that based on how long these items had been in storage they would have been better off financially taking this stuff to the dump rather than storing it. Maybe they had been storing it because they had to move into a smaller place. They could have saved the money they spent on rental fees and bought new items and new clothing when they were able to find a larger place to live. I've talked to people who bought units and tried to wash the molded clothes to resell. They were not salvageable. Pitching these items would have been financially a better choice than spending money each month to store them, and the people would have been able to purchase better items that what they were storing.

Tomorrow we'll look at another lesson about choices learned from studying storage units.

Resuming the auctions

Yesterday I felt like I escaped a hostage situation when I scheduled my first auction in three months! Originally scheduled for March, the auction was put on hold due to the mandatory shutdown of public gatherings. I've been waiting to resume the auctions as soon as it was safe to do so, and that time is now.

A number of auctioneers I know have gone to online auctions during this shutdown. While I considered doing so, I enjoy the live auction. People who attend the auctions are like family, and I have missed seeing the family. Still, I considered doing online auctions because I had several consignors who I knew wanted to see their items sold. They have been very patient, and their patience is about to be rewarded.

The auction will be held at the Venture Out Business Center in Madison, IN on June 16 starting at 5:30. This is where we have been holding our auctions in the past. We have a lot of nice items that we'll be selling. A partial listing and pictures are posted on auctionzip.com. You can go directly to my auction by typing in my ID# 36965 in the appropriate box.

If you are not comfortable being in crowds and would like to place a bid on an item, I do accept absentee bids. Just contact me with information about the item you are interested in owning and your maximum bid amount. I DO NOT start absentee bids at the maximum amount people give me! You will need to pick your item up or it can be mailed to you for an additional fee. I have taken bids from Tennessee to California and shipped the items they won with no problem.

This auction season will be shorter than usual due to the pandemic which means auctioneers will fill their calendars quickly. If you have an estate you need to sell or have quality items you would like to consign, please give me a call soon. This auction is full, but we still have room in the next auction for more items.

Some of the things currently selling well at auctions are primitives, smaller antiques, quality stoneware and glassware, knives, tools, advertising pieces, gold and silver, fishing and hunting equipment, model trains, certain pottery and quality collectibles.

Items that are soft in today's auction market are common collectibles such as Beanie Babies, Boyd's, collector plates, etc., dishes, pressed and cut glass, books (except for rare collectible books), most furniture (especially larger pieces), common household items, computers and prints.

There are some items I, and many auctioneers, will not accept to sell. These include pianos, organs, TVs except for flat screens, most clothing items, pornographic items. There is little, to no market, for these items.

These lists are not exhaustive, and there are exceptions. In some auction markets some items do better than in others so it's always a good idea to ask potential auctioneers what is selling well at their auctions. If they tell you your items will not bring much at auction, believe them. Chances are, especially if its a family piece, your sentimental value for the item will be much more than what it will bring at auction.

I'm excited to get started back with my auctions, and if you live in our area I hope you'll join us. If I can serve you in some way, please feel free to contact me.