Storage Wars

[Trekker4747]

Anyone see this show on A&E?

It's a "reality show" centered around men who bid on storage lockers whose renters have defaulted on the lease, the storage place owner then auctions off the lockers the winner only gets a glance inside but collects all items inside to sell/do whatever with.

Actually an interesting show although I'm sure 90% of it is manufactured; pretty much every locker the central "characters" (the show only focuses on four specific bidders) end up winning ends up having something in it to sell of note, or comically nothing. I'm sure in the real-world the winners of these auctions gets just a lot of junk worth nothing, these guys seem to make a living off the stuff they sell.

Still, an interesting show.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Very interesting show, I like it. As for how realistic it is, I assume that these guys go to tons of auctions on a daily basis but they are editing out the boring ones and only showing us the ones of interest. There have been some boring ones though, like the furniture and kitchen appliances, but I guess every little thing adds up once you sell it, so that you at least break even.

I always wonder why the heck people didn't empty their storage lockers before letting them default. If you can't pay the rent, at least go there one last time to take the valuables or things you can sell for a good profit. Though in some cases it looks like the owner was probably an elderly person that passed away and their remaining family members either don't know or don't care about what's in the storage locker.

 

[Trekker4747]

Very interesting show, I like it. As for how realistic it is, I assume that these guys go to tons of auctions on a daily basis but they are editing out the boring ones and only showing us the ones of interest. There have been some boring ones though, like the furniture and kitchen appliances, but I guess every little thing adds up once you sell it, so that you at least break even.

I always wonder why the heck people didn't empty their storage lockers before letting them default. If you can't pay the rent, at least go there one last time to take the valuables or things you can sell for a good profit. Though in some cases it looks like the owner was probably an elderly person that passed away and their remaining family members either don't know or don't care about what's in the storage locker.

IIRC from the contract for my dad's storage locker if you get more than a few weeks or couple months delinquent on the locker the storage place puts its own lock on the unit (one you don't have a key for) to pretty much hold your stuff "for ransom" until you settle your bill.

So if the people who rented these lockers are so delinquent on their lease that the storage place has to resort to selling your stuff then the secondary lock has long-since been on the unit. (Making it impossible for the owner to get to it.)

It just may be a case, though, of people dying or simply just stuffing the locker full of stuff they want to forget about. From what I've seen on the show's forums (and take this for what it is worth) the people involved with the show are also pretty open with previous owners of the locker getting a hold of them to retrieve items of "value" that've not yet been sold. (Like, say, family photos or other documents.)

I was a bit suspicious when the "Young Gun" guy got a locker full of still sealed in the box electronics (Including a VCR! WOW!). A locker full of new electronics, for me, would set off alarm bells unless the lessee owned an electronics store or something and was using the unit as excess storage space for inventory but that leaves me dubious as when his business went under one'd think any creditors would've went after the locker. :shurg: Also? That guy's wife might be hot but she's a shrewish harpie who likely keeps that guy's balls in her purse.

 

[Spot's Meow]

^I agree with what you're saying, but what I really meant was, before the storage place puts its own lock on the door, if you know that you aren't going to be able to make your payments in the future, why not get the stuff out then? If you are that delinquent then some amount of time must have gone by where you knew you couldn't pay before they took ownership of it.

 

[Trekker4747]

^I agree with what you're saying, but what I really meant was, before the storage place puts its own lock on the door, if you know that you aren't going to be able to make your payments in the future, why not get the stuff out then? If you are that delinquent then some amount of time must have gone by where you knew you couldn't pay before they took ownership of it.

People are idiots. Plenty of people go severely delinquent on their rent-payment and come home one day to find their entire apartment sitting in the parking lot. Some people don't realize or anticipate consequences to their actions nor expect other people to act in a severe manner like putting belongings on auction or setting them in a parking lot.

 

[gh4chiefs]

I just started watching this show, and I have to agree that it's an interesting concept. I also have to agree that I wonder how much of it is contrived/scripted/staged. Given that disclaimer, based on what they show us, is it just me or is this Dave Hester guy an asshole of epic proportions?

 

[Trekker4747]

I just started watching this show, and I have to agree that it's an interesting concept. I also have to agree that I wonder how much of it is contrived/scripted/staged. Given that disclaimer, based on what they show us, is it just me or is this Dave Hester guy an asshole of epic proportions?

Dave is an asshole of epic proportions.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Yeah, I'm not a Dave fan. Even when he was talking about his kids a few episodes back he spoke of them like employees. It was a bit odd.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Yeah he's way too smug and takes way too much pleasure in F'ing with the other buyers.

 

[Trekker4747]

I hate when he waits until the auctioneer is right on the cusp of ending the auction for one of the other buyers, he gets right up in either the auctioneer's or the competitor's face and goes: "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!"

I'd deck him if I was one of those other guys.

Cracked my shit up, though, when Barry with the remote-viewers made Dave get all butt-hurt and storm out!

I enjoy all of the other buyers though I think Jarrod needs to get his balls out of Brandi's purse. Hot as she is she's a complete bitch.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Hot as she is she's a complete bitch.

Agreed. On both counts.

 

[TheSeeker]

I like the show but it's not something I regularly tune in to. If there isn't anything more interesting on Discovery or National Geographic then I'll watch it.

 

[Nick086]

I like the show, but who leaves old comic books, silver coins sets, sports trading cards, cash, and old framed picasso drawings in a storage unit?

 

[Sephiroth]

other than wanting to strangle that little bastard who is there just to make everybody pay more (is he an asshole for assholes sake or is he doing it for the camera?) it's an all right show

 

[OmahaStar]

other than wanting to strangle that little bastard who is there just to make everybody pay more (is he an asshole for assholes sake or is he doing it for the camera?) it's an all right show

Ah yeah, Dave. Class A Jerk, he is.

I guess it's more about the characters than whatever is inside the lockers.

First, we've got the clown ... Oh, and the only one whose name I remember is Dave, so I'm going with descriptions. Anyway, there's this guy who has got to be in his 70s, and just reminds me of a slimy used car salesman. At one point, he brought in a midget on stilts (who ended up being two inches taller than he was) to get a better read on whatever was in the various lockers. And then last week, he brought in a pair of psychics so he would make sure he got the right lockets. Um, what?

Then there's the tall guy with the son he's training. He seems bipolar. Maybe it's the editing, but he seems to go from "tree hugging hippie" to "we're going to kill you now" back and forth within the same breath. He's a jerk at times, but nothing like the screamer Dave.

The husband and wife duo ... Oh she has him whipped for sure. He can't (and won't) do anything without her approval. And even when he does do exactly what she tells him to, she criticizes it. The only time she's happy is when she gets a locker and it's worth more than she thought. Otherwise, it's entirely his fault.

Then there's Dave. He's got more money than he knows what to do with, and throws it around. He *thinks* he's a lot smarter than he is. One example, he was looking in this locker and starts loudly criticizing it, for foreign made tools or something. Then we get to the "confessional" part, and he says he has tricks that nobody can figure out, and that's one ... criticize it and nobody else will bid, so he can get it cheap. Um, nope. He's transparent.

Everyone else is content to nod their heads or make hand gestures. He has to do the loudest "yeeeeeppppp" he can, to make sure everybody notices him.

If he doesn't want something, but thinks somebody else does, he bids against them just to cost them more money. The more he can do that, the less money his competition has.

And he keeps making more money. Like the locker full of newspapers. He had no idea what it was, but somebody else wanted it. He couldn't have that, so he outbid them ... Then found out the couple hundred bucks he paid turned into around 60 grand. They were all about Elvis and his death, were valuable, and he had no idea what he had on his hands. Except a lot of profit.

I have nothing against someone making profit, and if they have money, using it to make more money, but he really is an arrogant asshole. Were he nicer, I'd probably enjoy his antics. But he's not.

 

[Trekker4747]

To be fair, on a couple of occasions Darrell (the heavier-set guy in the wife-beaters) often falsely bids-up the lockers too in order to cash-out the competition. He just does it in a bit less obnoxious manner.

But that one guy is so whipped it's not even funny.

But I really like the old guy, Barry, and his antics (the midgets, the "psychics") make me laugh. He seems more into the "collecting" part and not as interesting in cashing in as the other guys seem to be.

 

[propita]

These guys have to have pretty good amounts of cash on them.

I dislike Dave, too, for bidding up just to bean ass. I understand that if a person bids more on THIS locker, they can't outbid him on another, but his pleasure in costing others goes beyond business. He does have a good system of sorting the stuff though, what with his "higher end" store and his thrift store next to it. At least that's what think he was doing.

Brandon? The whipped guy? Yeah, he's whipped, but he's kinda a fool too. He says he's going with his gut, but his instincts aren't all that great.

 

[propita]

These guys have to have pretty good amounts of cash on them.

I dislike Dave, too, for bidding up just to bean ass. I understand that if a person bids more on THIS locker, they can't outbid him on another, but his pleasure in costing others goes beyond business. He does have a good system of sorting the stuff though, what with his "higher end" store and his thrift store next to it. At least that's what think he was doing.

Brandon? The whipped guy? Yeah, he's whipped, but he's kinda a fool too. He says he's going with his gut, but his instincts aren't all that great.

 

[Trekker4747]

I dislike Dave, too, for bidding up just to bean ass.

Bean Ass: What you get after a meal at Taco Bell.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Brandon? The whipped guy? Yeah, he's whipped, but he's kinda a fool too. He says he's going with his gut, but his instincts aren't all that great.

I kind of feel the same way. Brandi may say things in a rather bitchy tone but she is almost always right, while her husband is too impulsive and airheaded. I guess they both need each other to balance out the other.

I do like Brandi though, she usually says exactly what I'm thinking!