Yesterday was the first time we had a storage auction since I've been working there. It didn't go so well. I guess they normally have them every 2 or 3 months - at all of our facilities (6). The one I manage is apparently always the first one. It started at 10 am, and then they go from place to place and hold auctions on the hour at each location until they're done.
Well, I apparently someone forgot to publicize the auction until 3 days before, instead of 30 days before. So there were only about a dozen people. The GM was expecting the usual 50-75. So he was not happy from the start. Then, when we didn't get very many good bids, he decided to cancel the auction at the rest of the facilities. He was not happy with the auction company.
Anyway, we had 5 units to auction (not counting 2 others that just didn't have anything worthwhile in them). The first one had half a dozen really nice office tables in it. It went for $10. That was a steal. The next one had an old, old resonator guitar, plus quite a bit of other stuff. It only went for $90. We finally did get one unit to go for $400, but it had a really nice dining room set in it that could easily sell for $1500. So... the people that bought stuff made out really well. One person bought 3 units himself. We didn't come within sniffing distance of reclaiming even a portion of the money owed us for the units. So now they have 24 hours to empty the units. They also needed to pay in cash on the day of the sale.
It was pretty interesting nonetheless, but I wish it had gone better. Things seemed a little tense there for awhile. Not a good way to start the day.
Today is another day though. Time to go to work. Renting storage units.
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