M-Taliesin
01-12-2011, 01:07 PM
Howdy Folks!
Me and Pipster, like many Americans, have watched a couple of tv shows about guys who hunt storage unit lockers. These are units that you rent to store stuff that won't fit in your home or place of business. When the rent isn't paid, they put the entire storage unit up for auction, and whatever is in there goes to the highest bid. They don't let you go inside, don't let you touch anything, but simply look into the unit from the open door, and then you only have a short time to look because there are other folks also wanting to see what's in there.
Anyhow, Pipster and me decided we might give that a shot. Some of those guys on the television make outrageous finds that would be the envy of any metal detector hobbyist.
Except, these finds are what you pay for. Still, in one of the television episodes we saw, one pair of guys found an old military issue Colt Peacemaker from back in the 1800s. They sold that weapon for around $2,000 bucks. Not too shabby, assuming they paid much less for the locker itself. Plus there was other good stuff in there to boot!
The first unit we saw had lots and lots of possibility, and it was huge. Musta been like a 15' by 40' unit. We saw all manner of fishing poles, some likely antique. There was camping gear galore, and toward the back, Lots of boxes neatly stacked. I figured it would be a gold mine, but purely outside what I could spend. That unit went for $1,200 bucks.
Another went higher than we liked, and the third at that location also went too high.
The next location was different. The herd had thinned out from one place to the next, and we saw a unit that Pipster liked. It was jam packed, and Pipster started bidding. He went up to $750, but got upped over his limit. That one sold for $900 bucks.
I got into the action on a unit I figured I might go $200 max. It had some boxes, a couple of gym type bags bulging at the seams, and some other stuff that made me feel we could easily double our money on $200 bucks. I got into the bidding right off, and went back and forth with another particular guy. He upped my bid with his own of $175. I stared at him as the auctioneer tried to get another bid out of him, but he backed down. I thought I had it locked up as mine, but as the auctioneer was bringing the bidding to a close, some yokel behind me kicked it up to $225, and took the unit because I felt the tab was getting out of hand for what I could see.
Eventually we arrived at the last auction at that location, and when the door swung upon, folks toward the front chuckled and walked away. I looked inside and saw a little potential. Very little.
Before the auctioneer started officially taking bids, I shot him mine I go one dollar on that! The guy smiled at me and said Minimum is $5 dollars! ":daydream:kay then, I'll go $5.00 on that unit!
Well, he made a perfunctory attempt to draw out other bids. Nobody bid against me, probably figured I'd up 'em. I didn't think I would myself, but they seemed to believe it. So I ended up with a locker for $5.00
In it were a gas powered bar-b-que grill, and I don't know if it works or not. I'd need to get a tank of gas and see if everyting functions. Even if it don't, parts shouldn't be terrible costly, and I can do the work on my own to get it working. Once the smoke clears, I got me a grill that would cost easily more than I paid for that shed! Other things were a set of 4 weights and a bar to stick 'em on, a small kitchen table (in decent shape), Jacks to raise up a car (2 of them), jacks to put under a car so you can get beneath it, an STP oil filter (worth about $3.59 at the local Auto Zone!), a battery that may or may not be useful, but still has recycle value at the local recycling plant, a shelving unit with some junk inside, and a dolly with handle that can be used to move heavy stuff around. Also, there was a hose in there that likely cost much more than $5.00!!!
There were some other things in there not worth mention, but you can see from the photos that I should be able to sell stuff I got and at least double, probably much better than triple, the money I spent on my bid.
This was a first time deal for Pipster and me, and we enjoyed it a whole bunch. We will be doing this again before much longer.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin
Me and Pipster, like many Americans, have watched a couple of tv shows about guys who hunt storage unit lockers. These are units that you rent to store stuff that won't fit in your home or place of business. When the rent isn't paid, they put the entire storage unit up for auction, and whatever is in there goes to the highest bid. They don't let you go inside, don't let you touch anything, but simply look into the unit from the open door, and then you only have a short time to look because there are other folks also wanting to see what's in there.
Anyhow, Pipster and me decided we might give that a shot. Some of those guys on the television make outrageous finds that would be the envy of any metal detector hobbyist.
Except, these finds are what you pay for. Still, in one of the television episodes we saw, one pair of guys found an old military issue Colt Peacemaker from back in the 1800s. They sold that weapon for around $2,000 bucks. Not too shabby, assuming they paid much less for the locker itself. Plus there was other good stuff in there to boot!
The first unit we saw had lots and lots of possibility, and it was huge. Musta been like a 15' by 40' unit. We saw all manner of fishing poles, some likely antique. There was camping gear galore, and toward the back, Lots of boxes neatly stacked. I figured it would be a gold mine, but purely outside what I could spend. That unit went for $1,200 bucks.
Another went higher than we liked, and the third at that location also went too high.
The next location was different. The herd had thinned out from one place to the next, and we saw a unit that Pipster liked. It was jam packed, and Pipster started bidding. He went up to $750, but got upped over his limit. That one sold for $900 bucks.
I got into the action on a unit I figured I might go $200 max. It had some boxes, a couple of gym type bags bulging at the seams, and some other stuff that made me feel we could easily double our money on $200 bucks. I got into the bidding right off, and went back and forth with another particular guy. He upped my bid with his own of $175. I stared at him as the auctioneer tried to get another bid out of him, but he backed down. I thought I had it locked up as mine, but as the auctioneer was bringing the bidding to a close, some yokel behind me kicked it up to $225, and took the unit because I felt the tab was getting out of hand for what I could see.
Eventually we arrived at the last auction at that location, and when the door swung upon, folks toward the front chuckled and walked away. I looked inside and saw a little potential. Very little.
Before the auctioneer started officially taking bids, I shot him mine I go one dollar on that! The guy smiled at me and said Minimum is $5 dollars! ":daydream:kay then, I'll go $5.00 on that unit!
Well, he made a perfunctory attempt to draw out other bids. Nobody bid against me, probably figured I'd up 'em. I didn't think I would myself, but they seemed to believe it. So I ended up with a locker for $5.00
In it were a gas powered bar-b-que grill, and I don't know if it works or not. I'd need to get a tank of gas and see if everyting functions. Even if it don't, parts shouldn't be terrible costly, and I can do the work on my own to get it working. Once the smoke clears, I got me a grill that would cost easily more than I paid for that shed! Other things were a set of 4 weights and a bar to stick 'em on, a small kitchen table (in decent shape), Jacks to raise up a car (2 of them), jacks to put under a car so you can get beneath it, an STP oil filter (worth about $3.59 at the local Auto Zone!), a battery that may or may not be useful, but still has recycle value at the local recycling plant, a shelving unit with some junk inside, and a dolly with handle that can be used to move heavy stuff around. Also, there was a hose in there that likely cost much more than $5.00!!!
There were some other things in there not worth mention, but you can see from the photos that I should be able to sell stuff I got and at least double, probably much better than triple, the money I spent on my bid.
This was a first time deal for Pipster and me, and we enjoyed it a whole bunch. We will be doing this again before much longer.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin