Storage auctions/wars

Well, I have hit the bandwagon, which is rare for me as I am not a bandwagon jumper.  The beautiful part is I am off the bandwagon already.  Its only been 2 auctions.   What am I talking about?  Storage Auctions.Storage Auctions are when someone does not pay their storage bill at a place where they rent a storage unit and the Storage facility sells off the unit is a bidding war.  This has become very popular since the airing of "Storage Wars" on the A&E Network. 

Here's the basics.  You go to an storage place that has advertised an auction.  Look at the unit and determine how much, if any, you want to bid.  after everyone has looked at the unit, an auctioneer starts the bidding and the unit goes to the high bidder.  When looking at the unit for auction, your not allowed to enter the unit or touch anything so alot of it is guess work.Here's the rub.  At the 2 auctions I have been to, there have been 200+ people in attendance.  200 People.  Thats alot of potential bidders.  I have seen a 5 x 5 unit with two boxes and a bag of shoes go for $130.00.  The person who won it must have seen a brick of gold I did not see.  Yes its all speculation but for $130.00, just go to the casino and put it on black cause you ave a better shot at making money than turning the units I have seen.  The promise of a quick buck can be enticing.

 The fun part of the auction is watching the other people.  I may go to a few more just to watch the people talk in hushed whispers, try to out bid people and drive up prices.  It's actually amusing.  Alot of these people must think there are hidden TV cameras filming them as they act like its life and death.  

 Then you have the "whales".  Whales are people with alot of money who can get the unit if they really want it.  The problem is whales are also smart and know what a unit is worth so they seldom win a unit.  The best part about whale watching is to make fun of them.  They talk very loud and act like they are the best thing since sliced bread.  Just go to an auction and watch, the whales will make themselves known very quickly.  "Well, we used to do this and that and I got this unit for xxx amount and it had all kinds of valuable stuff in it"  This is a very common thread amongst whales.  Of course forget thet 20% of the units will give you 80% of the dollars.  To hear a whale talk, one would think they have never made a bad bid in their life and that every unit they ever won turned them a 500% profit.Seriously.  Go to an auction and people watch.  Its free and amusing.