Sunday afternoon. Possible chance of rain. Netflix.
As I hovered my mouse uncertainly between Law and Order: SVU and No Reservations, a new addition caught my eye: Storage Wars. I won’t lie— my interest was piqued based solely off the name. Storage Wars? So was this a reality show about people’s quest to store things? Did they compete over who had the best self-storage unit? Did network executives seriously just come up with yet another thing to clog up our TVs?
by Val Doty, Storage Unit Auction List
When searching through potential storage auction winnings, you never know what historical treasures could be waiting for you. Without a trained eye, it’s very possible you end up discarding something that’s worth more than you buy the unit for. Before you pass over a sad-looking unit or decide to donate that “junk” to a thrift store, take a look at this list and see if any of these dusty gems look familiar.
With 5.1 million viewers last year, “Storage Wars” became the highest-rated show in A&E history. Eager to cash in on the success of “Wars,” TruTV and SpikeTV followed A&E’s lead, launching “Storage Hunters” and “Auction Hunters” respectively. These shows have all seen tremendous success, but by no means are they an accurate representation of the self-storage auction business; in fact, labeling these shows as “reality” television is a complete misnomer.
SpareFoot Auctions is our new national database of storage auctions that makes it simple to find upcoming storage auctions near you. We found that other storage auction directories were either not comprehensive (they only listed a few auctions) or not user-friendly (they were difficult to search, didn’t include phone numbers, or buried details within large blocks of information), and decided it was time to step into the arena ourselves.
Oh, “Storage Wars.” After weeks of learning about storage auctions and wondering how entertaining they could possibly be, I finally tuned in to my first episode of the A&E show that changed the game. Thanks to its influence, storage auctions are now bigger than ever. Ideally, this gives facility owners a better chance of recapturing lost revenue from abandoned units. It also brings a bit of welcome attention and excitement to our admittedly unglamorous industry.
The A&E television series “Storage Wars” and the SpikeTV series “Auction Hunters” have helped bring light to the world of storage auctions. They depict the plight of people who, for various reasons, haven’t been able to keep up with the monthly payment for their storage unit rentals, and have had their abandoned belongings auctioned off. If you rent self-storage and find yourself in this predicament, what are your options and how long do you have before your stuff is put up for storage auction?
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