Auction

We had a storage auction where I work yesterday. Actually, 4 of our 6 facilities had one yesterday. The other 2 will have theirs later in the month. It was the second auction I've worked at/attended. My facility only had 3 units - because we were the only one to have an auction the last time - but the other 3 had 10, 10, and 11 units up for auction. It went okay.

It was a chilly, cloudy morning, so there were only a couple dozen people there. It is very similar to the show 'Storage Wars,' only maybe without quite so much drama. I still find it kind of exciting. I got to be the one to lead people around and open the doors so the bidders could walk past. I asked if I could bid as well, but my supervisor wasn't sure so I didn't push it.

Two of my units were basically full of junk - some furniture, an old piano, boxes, etc. But one unit had a Harley soft-tail, and the guy who bought it said there was at least one other motorcycle he could see that no one else saw. He hadn't cleaned it out yet when I left work yesterday. He did come back later after buying some units at other facilities. He showed me an antique watch that was still in the box, and the price tag on it was for $1250. He bought quite a bit of stuff, and claims to make a lot of money doing it.

These auctions are kind of sad though, because while there's the excitement of the bidding, and what people find, you also realize that someone has just lost a bunch of stuff that at some point must have been valuable to them. It's especially so when I know who the people are (from interacting with them as customers).

Anyway... that's about it. I'm sure today I will have to clean up. The winning bidder has 24 hours to empty the unit they buy, but they have to turn in any personal items like pictures and bank records and stuff to me. Oh, and all sales are cash only. Fortunately we took in just a tad over what the people owed in back rent and late fees. So... there ya go.