# Auction Hunters and Storage Wars



## pmyers

2 new shows I've been watching and enjoying. Same concept for both: Guys by storage units at auction and hope that something good is inside to resell. Check them out and let me know what you think.

It actually has me thinking about what is entailed in finding out how these auctions come about and how you find out about them.


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## Jayjoans

I own a storage facility, and although the laws are different depending on the state you're in, generally the sales are advertised in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to the auction date. Since this show has aired, the frequency of calls to my facility asking when our next auction is has increased dramatically.

Having been in this business for 25 years, I can tell you without reservation that 99.9&#37; of the sold units consist of dirty underwear, tupperware, broken furniture and pornography. Periodically something of value is in there, but not pen and paper Picassos and million dollar baseball card collections. You can see that a couple of these guys own consignment stores or secondhand stores, did you see all of the crap stewn about at their stores? That's the crap in storage. Unless you have an outlet to get rid of the stuff like a store, or are willing to spend your weekends at the swap meets with the dregs of humanity, auction buying/selling is probably not for you.

In California, the management is required to do a cursory inventory of the unit, which is then listed in the sale notice in the newspaper. Typically, the list is something like: HHG (household goods), tools, furniture, plastic bags, misc. Since the goal of the manager is to get as much money as possible for the unit to offset the unpaid back rent, you can bet that under normal circumstances the manager would have uncovered that BMW and made sure it was visible from the door.

Another misleading aspect is that they show them cutting off a lock and then throwing the door up, as if nobody has ever been in the unit prior to the sale. Since that facility is in CA, and the lien laws supercede the need for drama on the part of the producers, that is clearly an editing misdirection. The unit had most certainly been entered, inventoried and relocked with a facility padlock. I'm guessing that for $5 the producers wanted the drama of sparks flying as they cut off the lock.

It's not cheap to go to the dump here in CA, and that's where most of the stuff ends up.


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## Magister

Jayjoans said:


> I own a storage facility, and although the laws are different depending on the state you're in, generally the sales are advertised in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to the auction date. Since this show has aired, the frequency of calls to my facility asking when our next auction is has increased dramatically.


What happens to the money? Do you as the owner keep it all? Can you keep anything you find in the storage or do you have to auction? How does that work in reality?


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## Jayjoans

The contents must be auctioned off, I cannot just keep the contents of the unit if I'm interested in it. In rare occasions, the actual tenant will show up at the auction and buy his/her own stuff back for less than what is owed on the unit in back rent. In my case, I typically let people go much longer than I should before selling their contents, so the amount owed to me has always been much higher than the amount I've ever gotten for the unit at an auction. In that case, the money bid does stay with me and offset the loss of rent I incurred. If more money than is owed is bid at auction, the excess is available for the tenant to claim in a timely manner and then it reverts to the state. (that's never happened at my facility)

There are very specific codes to stay in compliance with lien laws in CA, and there are people out there that are just waiting for you to make a misstep in the process and sue you. It is the one aspect of the business that is fraught with land mines all along the path. We double and triple check each step along the way. Even if you KNOW the contents are quite literally trash, you still have the auction. When there are no bidders then I've satisfied the requirements and can dispose of it myself, at my cost.


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## Jayjoans

Here's a funny story, I had a young (20 something) lady come and rent a relatively small unit from me. Soon after she moved in she stopped paying the rent. I called and called, sent letters, tried every name on the contract to reach her, could never get to her, just left messages. After 6 mos. of not paying her rent, I finally got around to getting her through the lien process (I can legally do it at 14 days late). When I cut her lock off to inventory the unit, it was the typical trash, clothes bags, broken stuff and just all junk. I placed the ad, had the auction, nobody bid on it, it was now mine. 

I loaded up my pickup truck with all her junk in it and was heading out the dump with it. As I drove off the facility I had to stop back in at the office to get cash for the dump fee, as I pulled to a stop in front of the office, a briefcase I had thrown on top of the pile in my truck slid off and fell into the street, breaking open.....

Now, blowing in the light wind all over the street and surrounding area, were naked pictures of this fine young lady in all manner of compromising positions and in various states of engagement.  Apparently, she was rather popular with most everyone she met, and was not choosy about gender...

So, realizing I had yet one more opportunity to get my rent back, I made one last call to her cell phone which I had called dozens of times prior. I left a short message saying that I was on my way to the dump with her things and wondered if she would like to come in and buy her briefcase back or if she'd rather it be delivered to the dump workers... I got a call back from her within 10 minutes.

That briefcase cost her about $900 in cash.


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## DanB

Well, it is TV so I take all of the shows with a heaping spoonful of skepticism.

Heck, even I knew that


Spoiler



a storage room full of commercial grade restaurant equipment was worth more than $2800.00


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## pmyers

Jayjoans thanks for the insight and great story! Would love to hear any others you might have.

I was wondering why the storage place didn't just keep the contents and now I know why.


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## JFriday

Jay what percentage of the winning bid goes to the auctioneer?


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## Jayjoans

I auction my own units, there is no legal requirement to use an auctioneer. The sale just has to happen in a "professional manner".

Some feel that they get more for the units due to the fact that more people may show up because they follow the auctioneer rather than scour newspaper ads. It's in the auctioneers interest to generate a following of buyers so he can say he adds value to sales, hopefully covering his fee. Bottom line is, I don't know the answer to your question, sorry.

By the time one of my units goes to auction, I've written it off as a loss. I don't plan on getting what is owed, or really anything near it. Rather than have 100 people of varying reputation and inclination crawling all over my facility doing who knows what, I like my auctions very small, very quick and hassle free. I comply with all the regulations, but don't go out of my way to generate a lot of interest. I typically have 5 guys at my auctions, they know where I advertise and find my ads. I only have auctions probably 3-4 times a year at most, I really hate selling people's stuff. I've thrown away family albums, baby pictures, legal documents, letterman's jackets, wedding dresses, etc... Not something I like to do, so I give people WAY too much time to redeem the unit. 

Right now I have 10 units that I can auction at any time, collectively I'm owed about $25,000 on them, and some haven't paid in well over a year. Unless I get down to only a few vacant units of the size these deadbeats are occupying, I let them ride along in the hopes that they pop up and pay their bill. It's happened where someone was in jail for a year and then called and asked if I still had their stuff. They were amazed that I did, and they settled up with cash and got their stuff back, but that is VERY rare.

I probably will sell all of these units in the next few weeks though, I like to start the year off deadbeat free. Some I've already inventoried and some I haven't yet. Trust me, nothing exciting in any of them.


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## JFriday

When you inventory stuff can you open boxes?


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## Jayjoans

I don't, I just say "misc. boxes". What I don't want to do is to ever be accused of cherry picking unit contents. If the auction buyers feel that you've already been through stuff and know the contents and/or taken things out, then your auctions will be fruitless and you expose yourself to some serious legal trouble. Additionally, the delinquent tenant could show up at the auction to bid on their own stuff, and they know exactly what was in that unit. If it's gone, you have trouble you don't need. 

I pretty much stand at the door like they show on the tv program, look in and get an idea what is in there. I also have an employee videotape us cutting the lock and opening the door for the first time. Having said that, I would have probably looked under a blanket over a large item in the middle of the unit to see what it was, and after finding a BMW, made SURE that was in the ad I placed and allowed it to be visible from the threshold. That's why the show is misleading, they want you to believe that the opening of the door could reveal stacks of gold bullion that have never seen the light of day. To your original question, I didn't open the briefcase in the story I related above, it was the impact with the street that made me $900. 

I'm in the storage business, not in the selling other people's trinkets business...

There is also some exposure to me if I were to knowingly sell stolen, illegal or hazardous items. Another reason to do a relatively decent job of inventory. If you were to find drug paraphernalia or weapons, then there is another path to take prior to the auction.

This is a family business and I have 4 kids, I learned early on to get them involved with the operation of the business just so that they could contribute to the business. What I didn't expect was to find that over 50&#37; of the deadbeats seem to store pornography (which was show in one of the Storage Wars episodes). My kids haven't helped me inventory a unit since the first year we opened 25 years ago....


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## Bob Coxner

Thanks for all the inside dope on the storage business! I'm guessing this series is picking up on the popularity of Pawn Stars and American Pickers. Pickers is my favorite, so I'm also enjoying Storage Wars.


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## Gregor

Jayjoans, thanks for the professional insight!


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## Donbadabon

I agree. The info from Jayjoans was very enlightening! 

Have you ever had an auction where the unit contained something illegal? What would happen if you auctioned a unit with something illegal inside?


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## MikeMar

yeah VERY interesting stuff. Screw the show, just keep posting up stories!!!!


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## terpfan1980

Add another "thanks for all the info and insight" to the pile here. Definitely good stuff and awesome getting the information from someone that knows the business.


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## Jayjoans

I haven't knowingly sold anything at an auction that I knew to be illegal or hazardous, but if I were to run across drug paraphernalia, firearms or explosives I would notify the authorities before the auction. Periodically, law enforcement will come to my office asking whether or not someone they're looking for is one of my customers. They'll show me a mugshot and a list of aliases to see if I recognize anything. Using an off-site storage facility to warehouse drug making items has been relatively common.

Since I am the owner/operator here, I've developed a pretty good sense of trouble, and can usually determine between the curb and my office door whether or not you're going to store your crap with me. Most facilities are nationally franchised chains, and to their own detriment, they "bonus" their managers based on occupancy statistics. You can see the problem they inflict upon themselves with that program. Those managers will rent to ANYBODY, just to get the money from their employer. Doesn't matter to them one bit that they reek of ether, have missing teeth, open sores and 3 sizes of bolt cutters hanging off their belts. I am often turning away business in one way or another for the protection of every other tenant I have and for my own desire to limit issues for myself. I look at my facility as a neighborhood, and I don't want the riff-raff moving in. Every "good" tenant I have is paying me for nothing more than safe and dry. Dry is easy, safe takes some experience and willingness to turn away a paying customer you don't feel good about.

In the early years, storage facilities (at least in my area) were more commonly found in the outlying areas where the land was cheaper. As they became more popular and financially viable, they moved into the cities and closer to populations. When they were further out, they were very popular with the druggies. Since making drugs is volatile and often very smelly, it worked well to rent a unit out in the boonies, cut a hole in the roof for a vent, and cook the drugs inside the unit with no prying eyes and few people to smell it. For bonus points, the crackheads could also rip off other units while they were waiting for the drugs to be made. Unless a facility is way out and doesn't have onsite management, those easy days of drug making are pretty much past now.

Onsite management that actually cares and is somewhat astute is vital. A properly built facility has the most to do with the safety of your belongings, long before the quality of your padlock comes into play.

Here's something that should tip you off as to the overall quality of what is in 99.9% storage units that are auctioned. Have you ever heard of an auction where the potential buyers are not allowed to even look at what they are buying? Cattle? Cars? Estates? Art? With storage facilities, the trend (not requirement) is to not allow people past the threshold as shown in the show. That is not a legal requirement, it is just a widely held storage industry practice. Why would you suppose that is the case? Because it's junk. As a company, you get more money bid based on people's hopes, dreams, and assumptions, not on reality. If they were really such a great buy every time, I would empty all of the units and set everything out on a table and sell it item by item. If I let the people go through the unit and see what's in those boxes before bidding, I would get nothing. I can however, point to "Storage Wars" now and tell them it could very possibly be a million dollar comic book collection or banded stacks of $100 bills.


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## pmyers

I like what the one guy said about when he's trying to size up a unit before bidding: "If I see trash bags I worry, because people put trash in trash bags" or something like that. If he see's boxes (especially boxes that have been purchased) he get's excited because soembody spent money to protect their stuff.


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## Jayjoans

If you go to an auction, ask the management to tell you why the person is delinquent. If they'll tell you, you're looking for an answer like "the tenant died". That means that there's a better chance there MIGHT be stuff in there worthwhile. If the answer is something like "they were good tenants and just stopped paying", that more likely means the tenant already took all the good stuff and didn't want to deal with the trash.


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## SeanC

Add me to the list that finds your comments/perspective on the whole thing very interesting!

The part about it that I don't get is why the hell do people pay for storage for junk?

I mean, sure there are going to be people that have sentimental attachment to items that will be junk to anyone else, but it sounds like sometimes people are actually storing TRASH! WTH is up with that?!?


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## WhiskeyTango

If you like the auction aspect, you might want to try Hollywood Treasure on SyFy. It's about an auction company that searches out H-Wood memorabilia from collectors and actors and auctions it off. It's crazy watching someone drop $90,000 on the carpet bag from Mary Poppins or $45,000 on a Willy Wonka 'golden ticket'. You also get to see a lot of cool stuff from tv/films that doesn't make it to auction.


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## terpfan1980

SeanC said:


> Add me to the list that finds your comments/perspective on the whole thing very interesting!
> 
> The part about it that I don't get is why the hell do people pay for storage for junk?
> 
> I mean, sure there are going to be people that have sentimental attachment to items that will be junk to anyone else, but it sounds like sometimes people are actually storing TRASH! WTH is up with that?!?


My guess is that the people keeping trash are much like, or could even be, the people we see on Hoarders. People that just can't bear to part with stuff and rather than parting with that stuff they pay good money -- for at least a minimal period of time -- to store whatever that stuff is.

I don't believe my wife had ever put stuff in storage, but I know she had thought about it as our home became more and more cluttered. She had a definite hoarding problem (which my son/daughter both have some of, more so my daughter, but we're trying to work on the issue) and if she was faced with deciding between having to throw away some of her stuff or paying a storage facility to keep the stuff in, she might very well have spent her last dime to save her stuff.


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## Jayjoans

I only half-jokingly say that I could shoot a cannon down my facility and hit nothing of value... Except for the odd Porsche, Corvette or classic Shelby.

I've had tenants in my facility for almost the whole 25 years I've been in business, that's probably rent they've paid in the range of $40,000. I know for a fact that the people can live without it, as they mostly haven't even come to the unit in 10 years. One gentleman stored with me for 10 years, he had 5 large units. He paid me roughly $120,000. When he died, his heirs came to look at his units. They were completely full of junk and cans of food (which I prohibit). Apparently, as a product of the depression, he always felt he needed to squirrel away supplies in case times got tough, and never threw away something he thought he could use or fix. Undoubtedly the heirs would have rather had the $120k much more than the rotten cans of vienna sausages and SpaghettiOs.

Since the economy has turned downward my tenant profile has changed a bit too. Although my overall occupancy has remained about the same, I've had more turnover than normal. The people that rent for convenience have cut back and eliminated their units, but they have been replaced by people that lost homes and had to downsize or move back in with friends/family.

I always get a kick out of the people that come to my office and say "do you have any units available? I'm being evicted from my house for not paying the rent....I need somewhere to put my stuff"

Oh, you mean like my RENTAL facility? Well, that was just a little bit too much information, now wasn't it? 


SeanC-- shhhhh, keep your voice down, somebody might hear you around here.

I'm often amazed that people will put a $50 couch, a $50 refrigerator, $100 dining set and $50 worth of knick knacks in a unit that costs them $100 a month. Then after having it in there for a year or so come to me and tell me that they don't know why they keep paying on that stupid unit, as they write me another check.. I could see value in their sentimental items, but do you become attached to a couch and a Norge?


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## scooterboy

Jayjoans said:


> I'm often amazed that people will put a $50 couch, a $50 refrigerator, $100 dining set and $50 worth of knick knacks in a unit that costs them $100 a month. Then after having it in there for a year or so come to me and tell me that they don't know why they keep paying on that stupid unit, as they write me another check.. I could see value in their sentimental items, but do you become attached to a couch and a Norge?


That part I can understand. They had those appliances and that furniture in their home at some time. Then tragedy struck (job loss, whatever), and they had to move in with relatives or to a smaller place.

Storing their stuff with you represents to them the hope that they will eventually get their life back to the way it was, and that they will someday come and get their couch and fridge back. If they didn't store their stuff with you it would represent a pretty major setback in their life, and they probably don't want to face that reality at the point they rent from you.


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## Bob Coxner

If 99&#37; of the storage material is junk, why do the buyers keep coming back for more? I can see rookie buyers trying for awhile but some of the buyers on the show seem to have been at it for many years.

I guess I could see it if the buyers had specialized knowledge, like the guys on American Pickers. A storage facility owner would see total junk in much of what they pick but a trained eye can spot real treasure in a rust encrusted ancient bicycle. However, if the buyer isn't allowed to inspect the unit first then even a good picker wouldn't go for it.


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## MikeAndrews

Jayjoans said:


> ...I'm often amazed that people will put a $50 couch, a $50 refrigerator, $100 dining set and $50 worth of knick knacks in a unit that costs them $100 a month. Then after having it in there for a year or so come to me and tell me that they don't know why they keep paying on that stupid unit, as they write me another check.. I could see value in their sentimental items, but do you become attached to a couch and a Norge?


That's me. I rented a unit to store my Mom's stuff because my place, which is huge, already has 3 bedrooms used for nothing but storage of junk.

I just recently had the inspiration that I can invest $3000 in erecting the storage shed in the backyard and put the dining set in my kitchen, and be ahead on my $89 a month in no time.


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## vertigo235

Bob Coxner said:


> If 99% of the storage material is junk, why do the buyers keep coming back for more? I can see rookie buyers trying for awhile but some of the buyers on the show seem to have been at it for many years.
> 
> I guess I could see it if the buyers had specialized knowledge, like the guys on American Pickers. A storage facility owner would see total junk in much of what they pick but a trained eye can spot real treasure in a rust encrusted ancient bicycle. However, if the buyer isn't allowed to inspect the unit first then even a good picker wouldn't go for it.


Well it's pretty simple I guess, if 99% of them are junk, all they have to do is look at 100's of units, which I'm sure they do. They will eventually find somethig good.

The Auction Hunter show gives a better idea on how they work. Those guys say they ONLY bid on boxes that they know they can make money on, and they stick to only half of what they think it's really worth. They were also pretty up front about how most of the units they bid on don't really pan out to anything. Although when they find one that has something valuable in it, I'm sure there is a huge rush out of that.


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## dcheesi

I wonder if some of the "junk" phenomenon is simply laziness. People throw stuff into storage just to quickly get it out of the way, then never go back to sort through it properly. Eventually the pile becomes so big that the task of sorting through it all seems overwhelming, and they'd rather just keep writing the checks so they don't have to deal with it. 

And they don't want to just throw it all out of it because they honestly don't know if any of it might still have value or even be important in some way.


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## ElJay

It sounds like this is a great way to get rid of 'hazardous' waste you don't want to dispose of properly. Rent a room and then fill it with your old tires, CRTs, UPS batteries, etc. Lapse on the rent and then it's somebody else's problem.


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## Jayjoans

ElJay- I've worried about that for many years, that's why I'm often nosing around on the facility when someone is moving in or out, just trying to get a peek at what they're moving. My greatest fear is to notice some glowing ooze from under a unit door one day.

Goes back to good management, and highlights the industry problem of paying managers based on occupancy.


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## Bob Coxner

Jayjoans said:


> ElJay- I've worried about that for many years, that's why I'm often nosing around on the facility when someone is moving in or out, just trying to get a peek at what they're moving. My greatest fear is to notice some glowing ooze from under a unit door one day.
> 
> Goes back to good management, and highlights the industry problem of paying managers based on occupancy.


If you watched American Pickers last night then you know your facility is in the wrong location.  They picked a storage unit on Staten Island. The unit went for $5000 a month and the client had been renting it for several years! To be fair, it was an enormous space so maybe $5000 a month was reasonable.

Despite the amount of money that was spent to store the stuff, the pickers actually didn't find anything truly exciting.

I assume either NY laws are different than California or else the facility owner worked it out with the renter but there was no auction. He simply opened it up, with the usual blaze of sparks from the cutting saw, and let the pickers go at it.

[The episode will be repeated Friday at 7pm PT and Saturday at 11pm PT if you want to see your Eastern competition]


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## generaltso

ElJay said:


> Lapse on the rent and then it's somebody else's problem.


Sounds like a great way to ruin your credit rating.


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## Honora

When my aunt went into a nursing home, we cleaned out her apartment and put some of her things in storage. It was cheaper than paying rent on the apartment, but if she wanted something for her room, like a lamp or something, we could get it. When she died we went through it again, took some of the things with sentimental value and let a consignment shop take care of the furniture. It worked out well for us.


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## JFriday

netringer said:


> That's me. I rented a unit to store my Mom's stuff because my place, which is huge, already has 3 bedrooms used for nothing but storage of junk.
> 
> I just recently had the inspiration that I can invest $3000 in erecting the storage shed in the backyard and put the dining set in my kitchen, and be ahead on my $89 a month in no time.


3 bedrooms of junk, building a shed to store more junk? Perhaps you should contact Hoarders.


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## rawbi01

Because of the this thread I 've watched both shows. I think I like Auction Hunters better. I'll probably watch both though...


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## MikeAndrews

JFriday said:


> 3 bedrooms of junk, building a shed to store more junk? Perhaps you should contact Hoarders.


But, but, but there's not a opossum in any of the piles. 

I have two households worth of stuff that has to be sorted and disposed of. I will be working on it.


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## DevdogAZ

Bob Coxner said:


> If you watched American Pickers last night then you know your facility is in the wrong location.  They picked a storage unit on Staten Island. The unit went for $5000 a month and the client had been renting it for several years! To be fair, it was an enormous space so maybe $5000 a month was reasonable.
> 
> Despite the amount of money that was spent to store the stuff, the pickers actually didn't find anything truly exciting.
> 
> I assume either NY laws are different than California or else the facility owner worked it out with the renter but there was no auction. He simply opened it up, with the usual blaze of sparks from the cutting saw, and let the pickers go at it.
> 
> [The episode will be repeated Friday at 7pm PT and Saturday at 11pm PT if you want to see your Eastern competition]


Was it actually a storage facility, or was it just a regular warehouse? Perhaps the laws governing storage facilities are different than a traditional landlord/tenant relationship with a warehouse.


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## Bob Coxner

DevdogAZ said:


> Was it actually a storage facility, or was it just a regular warehouse? Perhaps the laws governing storage facilities are different than a traditional landlord/tenant relationship with a warehouse.


They said storage facility and there was a separate door for that unit. Being New York, it was a multi-story building rather than the more common single story facilities elsewhere. Anyway, as I noted, the episode will be repeated on Friday and Saturday so you can check it out for yourself.


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## pmyers

Just watched 2 new Storage Wars. Pretty funny to see Daryl get stuck twice trying to run the price up on 2 units. Amazing that he found that coin/silver collection in there!

It is strange that we never get to see ANYBODY else bidding on a unit. It's just always between these guys.


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## ElJay

Storage Wars has great cinematography.










What?


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## Ment

Don't stare at those too long or you'll end up stupid like the husband. Brandi's 'I can't believe I'm married to this moron' glares at her hubby are pure gold.


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## pmyers

I think I'm liking Storage Wars better as you get to see the whole story: how most of it is either just trash or $1 and $2 trinkets they use to stock their thrift stores. Auction Hunters seem to be just about the 1 in a million scores.

If I ever thought that my wife had such a low opinion of me, as Brandi seems to have about her husband....let alone would go on tv and say it....we'd have some BIG problems!


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## Ment

pmyers said:


> If I ever thought that my wife had such a low opinion of me, as Brandi seems to have about her husband....let alone would go on tv and say it....we'd have some BIG problems!


Don't worry, she only says it to her girlfriends..


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## pmyers

Just as long as I don't know about it! lol


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## Hank

This thread is better than either/both of these shows! Thanks for the true "reality" Jay.



pmyers said:


> It is strange that we never get to see ANYBODY else bidding on a unit. It's just always between these guys.


It's just like IRT -- they need to make the audience identify with certain characters -- people who have signed deals to be filmed, etc. Unless it's a real documentary, I can't imagine the producers filming everyone who bids and wins on a unit. After a couple of shows, you start to see how the producers intentionally portray each character and their story, and if they're a good guy, bad guy, newbie, old fart, *******, bickering couple, etc. It's much more about drama than actual "reality".


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## MarkofT

Reality is drama. There are nice people, mean people, bickering couples everywhere.

I've seen other bidders on some of the lockers. There will be a bid that they don't attribute to one of the main characters but the big guys always get the win. Most of the crowd is looking to pick up a small locker with items they can hawk at the local swapmeet. They are not going to spend money unless the locker is full and it goes cheap.


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## jradosh

There are a couple of auctions within a few miles of my house next week (30th). Maybe I'll take the day off and buy a few units and make thousand$ of dollar$.


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## YCantAngieRead

I watched a couple of episodes of Storage Wars last night. I made the mistake of watching one episode at 2 AM, and then I was up another hour and a half watching it. 

This thread, also, is awesome.


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## Frylock

pmyers said:


> Really? I think he needs to be counting his lucky stars he landed Brandi!


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## vertigo235

Yeah the sad thing is, it seems like everything she says is right.


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## MatrixOutsider

Picking up on this old thread...

Storage Wars is highly edited and/or staged. A stack of money behind an old painting? And Darryl knew where to look right away? Give me a break!

A stack of valuable newspapers? A storage unit filled with unopened (probably stolen) electronics? A huge unit filled with brand new restaurant equipment? 

If did not intend to pay my monthly bill, I would run down to my unit and remove all the valuable stuff at the very least.


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## Frylock

MatrixOutsider said:


> Picking up on this old thread...
> 
> Storage Wars is highly edited and/or staged. A stack of money behind an old painting? And Darryl knew where to look right away? Give me a break!
> 
> A stack of valuable newspapers? A storage unit filled with unopened (probably stolen) electronics? A huge unit filled with brand new restaurant equipment?
> 
> If did not intend to pay my monthly bill, I would run down to my unit and remove all the valuable stuff at the very least.


I don't see how this is really surprising. If it was a show about buying a bunch of junk every week, who would watch? I am sure these places are auctioning off more than 3 units at a time. So they clearly are not showing every auction or every unit. So they likely just film A LOT and then edit it down to the more interesting parts. No surprises there.


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## Jayjoans

I just read about a new scam that recently happened at a storage facility auction. The unit sold at auction for over $2500. It was a very clean and well organized unit, with boxes labeled with the names of power tools on them. It showed all of the signs of a unit with items of value in it. The winning bidder was not a rookie, he was a seasoned veteran of storage auctions.

After winning the bid and entering the unit, he found all of the boxes were either empty or filled with trash. There was no value whatsoever.

Turns out that the people that had rented (and defaulted) the unit were auction bidders themselves. They rented the unit, filled it with the crap from other units they had won and organized it in such a manner that they knew it would look inviting at an auction. They stopped paying the rent, and it went to auction. The amount owed on the unit to the facility was $900. When it sold for $2500, the unit renters (and scammers) received the amount over what was owed on the unit, $1600.

That's one way to make trash pay, but you can bet the story won't end here. I'm sure there will be claims of fraud and collusion on the part of the facility manager, and maybe there was.


----------



## Hank

Wait? Is that the way it works? That the renter gets all proceeds above and beyond the past-due rent? Doesn't sound right to me. Unless state law superceeds it, I'd write the rental contract that if the unit rent goes unpaid for x months, that all contents become the property of the landlord. And the landlord should reap the bonuses above and beyond the past-due rent.


----------



## scooterboy

I agree with Hank - that makes no sense at all (unless the OP did a horrible job describing what happened).

Why would the "unit renters" profit from this at all? They don't get the money from the auction, do they? And there's nothing in the story that indicates the facility manager(s) was in on it, either.


----------



## vertigo235

Hank said:


> Wait? Is that the way it works? That the renter gets all proceeds above and beyond the past-due rent? Doesn't sound right to me. Unless state law superceeds it, I'd write the rental contract that if the unit rent goes unpaid for x months, that all contents become the property of the landlord. And the landlord should reap the bonuses above and beyond the past-due rent.


Well, according to JayJoans who owns a stowage facility in CA, yes that is how it works.

See his post in this thread, #4 to be exact. 
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8262966#post8262966


----------



## scooterboy

vertigo235 said:


> Well, according to JayJoans who owns a stowage facility in CA, yes that is how it works.
> 
> See his post in this thread, #4 to be exact.
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8262966#post8262966


Thanks for that reminder. Now I see how the scam might work. Interesting...


----------



## Jayjoans

Hank- I wish it was as easy as that. Every state has specific storage statutes that govern what happens in the case of a tenant not paying the rent. There are VERY specific, and one misstep on the part of the facility in following those statutes to the letter can lead to financial catastrophe.

The real downside to the industry due to this TV show is now it seems that judges are inclined to believe the delinquent tenant when they say their unit was full of valuable items. The Judge thinks back and remembers seeing a TV show where the guy found gold bullion in a trash bag and awards the delinquent tenant huge damages. The upside to the industry is that the number of auction attendees has tripled, and in many cases the units are selling for far more than they used to.

In the case of an auction, if the person actually did have some items of value in the unit and the bid went way over what was owed for the storage rental, it only makes sense that the overage belongs to the tenant, not the facility. The proceeds are kept for a period of time for them to claim, after which it goes to the county or other prescribed government entity. If storage facilities got to keep all of the proceeds, you could see how that could be abused to the detriment of the tenants.

Renting to an active military member that goes into delinquency is a whole different kettle of fish. Selling their items without going through all the hoops is a federal criminal offense, punishable by prison time.


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## Hank

Wow.. thanks for the refresher. So how can you the bidders protect themselves from such a scam designed to take advantage of bidders like that?


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## vertigo235

Hank said:


> Wow.. thanks for the refresher. So how can you the bidders protect themselves from such a scam designed to take advantage of bidders like that?


Well just bid for what you can see basically.


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## Azlen

It would be very difficult to actually prosecute anybody for that type of scam because it would be very difficult to prove intent. There is nothing illegal about putting complete junk in a storage unit but making it look like it is something expensive.


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## pmyers

That is some scam!


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## gbamber

Last week's episode was interesting (the one with the old large hearing "aid".)

It must have been filmed after some episodes had aired.

Instead of the usual dozen potential bidders, there were dozens and dozens. Some were there to see the "stars" while others probably wanted to be seen on tv.

The auction quality was far more realistic, including actual crap/junk/garbage!

I bet that the powers-that-be were told that people all over were bidding/winning storage auctions in the sincere belief that they would always/almost always find treasures. This must have generated quite a few complaints from the jaded and poorer buyers about the lack of realism.

I predict that henceforth there will always be large crowds and never the same lustre of a treasure in every storage locker.

Caveat Emptor!


----------



## Frylock

Well, the show's been on for some time, so I am sure that will start to bring in more people at all auctions. It seems what's in the units really does depend on what they can show. If there is really exciting stuff, they will focus on that. If it's just standard stuff, well, that's what they have to go with.


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## gbamber

Except that before they undoubtedly filmed quite a few auctions and only showed the best of the bunch. Now they are throwing in some of the duds for balance.


----------



## Ment

gbamber said:


> Except that before they undoubtedly filmed quite a few auctions and only showed the best of the bunch. Now they are throwing in some of the duds for balance.


THIS. Doubtful that the guys/gals are going to location to view 2-3 auctions, it wouldn't be worth the time and man power. It's a half hour show so they have to edit for time.


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## pmyers

How about that auctioneer driving a Masarati! Must pay nice! haha


----------



## vertigo235

pmyers said:


> How about that auctioneer driving a Masarati! Must pay nice! haha


I'm guessing he probably gets a percentage of the amount, since the whole idea of an auctioneer is to maximize the sale price I would guess that would make sense.


----------



## Jayjoans

I'm dealing with an auctioneer right now on the sale of some commercial items (not at my facility) and he's charging 35% of the proceeds AND charges a 15% buyer's premium tacked on top of the high bid.

My understanding is this:
High Bid $100
Auctioneer take $35
Seller take $65
Buyer's premium paid to auctioneer by buyer $15.

He pretty much makes 50% of the winning bid, but does it in a way that the cost is shared by the seller and the buyer. From the seller's point of view, the auctioneer brings value in that the auctioneer will advertise the auction and the items to be sold in addition to managing a large following of bidders that he brings to the auctions.

I would guess he got the Maserati at an auction, and after his first breakdown probably wishes he hadn't. :down:


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## ElJay

pmyers said:


> How about that auctioneer driving a Masarati! Must pay nice! haha


That cracks me up. I wonder if they live in a cardboard box to afford the car.


----------



## storageauctions

On average you will find something collectible or expensive about 1 in every 50 units you buy.

J.R.
StorageAuctions(dot)TV


----------



## pmyers

storageauctions said:


> On average you will find something collectible or expensive about 1 in every 50 units you buy.
> 
> J.R.
> StorageAuctions(dot)TV


Guess that's why all these guys have to have a thrift store, to sell all the junk in between the gems.


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## MarkofT

About half the people you see setup at a flea market will have been hitting the storage auctions as well. They other half are dreaming of setting up a dollar store with cheap good from China.

I would venture a guess that the thrift stores came first and then they realized it was easier to buy stuff from auctions then from the general public.


----------



## Magister

I had to revive this thread. I am almost thru the first season of Storage Wars on Netflix. Can the auctioneer get a better hair piece? Or just go bald, it looks horrible and obvious.

I don't like how the scores are tallied. 'This could be worth between 5-500 bucks'. Then the score says 500 bucks. Now way are they always getting top dollar. I would like to see what the guys really end up making.


----------



## JFriday

Anyone see that a guy from San Jose bought a locker that had $500,000.00 worth of silver and gold in it?

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19335846


----------



## MikeMar

That is crazy, I was wondering how someone leaves that in a locker, but then read that the guy passed away. Guess he didn't have any relatives or tell anyone about it.

Crazy


----------



## xuxa

JFriday said:


> Anyone see that a guy from San Jose bought a locker that had $500,000.00 worth of silver and gold in it?
> 
> http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19335846


With no sources named just the word of the auctioneer that might be trying to drive the ratings of the tv show he is on, not buying it.

Also this show is completely staged and not just halfway, the auctions days seen are just for the show and not public auctions. The 'general public' are just hired extras. Otherwise you would have the general public getting the way and saying things that would not work in the story. The actors are told the general story line for the bit, "everyone gang up and outbid Hester", or "new guy in town", etc and then set out to bid as if it is a real auction.


----------



## Frylock

xuxa said:


> With no sources named just the word of the auctioneer that might be trying to drive the ratings of the tv show he is on, not buying it.
> 
> Also this show is completely staged and not just halfway, the auctions days seen are just for the show and not public auctions. The 'general public' are just hired extras. Otherwise you would have the general public getting the way and saying things that would not work in the story. The actors are told the general story line for the bit, "everyone gang up and outbid Hester", or "new guy in town", etc and then set out to bid as if it is a real auction.


Are you saying this as your opinion, or you know it as a fact? I was under the impression they just film a lot and cut it down to what they want to show, just like any other reality show.


----------



## JFriday

xuxa said:


> With no sources named just the word of the auctioneer that might be trying to drive the ratings of the tv show he is on, not buying it.
> 
> Also this show is completely staged and not just halfway, the auctions days seen are just for the show and not public auctions. The 'general public' are just hired extras. Otherwise you would have the general public getting the way and saying things that would not work in the story. The actors are told the general story line for the bit, "everyone gang up and outbid Hester", or "new guy in town", etc and then set out to bid as if it is a real auction.


Please name your source.


----------



## pmyers

JFriday said:


> Please name your source.


yeah...with no sources...I'm not buying it. Wait, where have I heard that before?


----------



## Hank

Parts of the show are staged, like cutting off the lock... go back and read Jayjoans's posts in this thread for how it really works (whether or not the show is scripted).


----------



## Frylock

Hank said:


> Parts of the show are staged, like cutting off the lock... go back and read Jayjoans's posts in this thread for how it really works (whether or not the show is scripted).


I agree that part of it is staged. I am sure them following them to the "experts" is staged, but I seem to remember them saying they don't win all the auctions. They just don't show the ones they don't win, as you'd have no idea what was for sale in there.

Also, Brandi wasn't originally part of the show. She just start coming with Jarrod, because she wanted to see what he was doing. I don't think that was staged. Just part of reality.


----------



## Jayjoans

I can say that of the dozen or so storage managers/owners I've spoken to in that past few days, that every one of them feels there is a fix in on this "$500,000" auction find. It's too coincidental that the Dotsons were involved and the news hit the media the very week of the Storage Wars season premier.

Additionally, the facility is unnamed and the auction buyer is either beyond stupid or doesn't exist. Certainly the IRS will be asking questions about this auction buyer and where they might find him. Keep his mouth shut and he "makes" $500,000, pop off to Dotson and the media and he pays $200,000 in taxes.

I'm looking for the rest of the story to come out soon....

As far as the show goes, just like Alaska Gold Rush, I'm assuming that the personalities are making far more from their time on the hit show than they are/were selling storage garbage. I also don't doubt that the production company may seed the players with cash to overspend on the units to insure they have auction wins to tape for the show. This way they can outlast any random public bidder. 

I saw one comment that someone wrote saying they called one of their secondhand stores asking to purchase one of the items they saw found on an episode. According to them, they were told that those items belonged to the production company and weren't available for sale.....


----------



## JLucPicard

This begs a question - are the owners/operators of these facilities required to make any effort to watch obituaries to see if one of their renters has died? Or check out that possibility of payments stop coming in? If a person remains current on their rent and then passes away, and there is nobody to come forward and notify the storage facility of the person's passing, can they just auction off their unit for non-payment? It sure would seem to me that there could be some estate issues.

And if someone is in arrears, and passes away before an auction is held on their unit, can it still be auctioned off, or again, is there any requirement that the facility attempt to determine if the renter has not died?


----------



## DanB

Hank said:


> Parts of the show are staged, like cutting off the lock... go back and read Jayjoans's posts in this thread for how it really works (whether or not the show is scripted).


Well, I wouldnt really consider that staged, just showmanship. Look at it this way, how many viewers would think something's fishy if they just walked up to an unlocked storage unit?

I'd consider staged to be along the lines of the folks already know whats in the unit, they already know who's going to win and/or for how much, the complete "auction" is basically a closed set with only cast and extras.

Also, if it were "real" I know I'd be pretty skeptical about going to any auction held by Dotson since he and Hester are in business together now. Seems too easy for Hester to just raise the bids to get more commission $$ for his partner.


----------



## Hank

Yes, the lock parts ARE staged for TV (read Jayjoans's posts). Entirely fake, fabricated.. i.e.: STAGED. Since Jayjoans already explained it very well already, I'm not going to repeat it here.


----------



## Jayjoans

Dan- the units are secured after the customer lock has been cut off and the unit has been inventoried, more than a month before the cameras arrived. The facility still has a duty to care for the stored property until it is sold at auction. The staging is the cutting off of the lock that the facility management put on the unit. The guy with the key to the lock is probably standing just out of the frame. I see your point about showmanship vs. staging, the flying sparks certainly are more exciting than a maintenance guy twisting a key, but beyond showmanship is the insinuation that nobody has seen any of the stored items since the customer put them in there. In CA (if the facility obeyed the law) that's 100% false.


----------



## VegasVic

I think most of us realize that these "reality" shows are at least partly to mostly staged. They don't have cameras rolling 24/7 for Pawnstars just hoping someone will bring in an item of interest 

I appreciate the insider insight Jay has provided, it's as interesting as the show itself.


----------



## pmyers

Jayjoans said:


> ...Additionally, the facility is unnamed and the auction buyer is either beyond stupid or doesn't exist. Certainly the IRS will be asking questions about this auction buyer and where they might find him. Keep his mouth shut and he "makes" $500,000, pop off to Dotson and the media and he pays $200,000 in taxes......


I never though of any tax implications. Are there any? If I buy something at a garage sale and then sell it privately to somebody else, am I suppose to pay taxes on that?

I understand if I had a store and sold something then there would be sales tax.


----------



## Squeak

pmyers said:


> I never though of any tax implications. Are there any? If I buy something at a garage sale and then sell it privately to somebody else, am I suppose to pay taxes on that?
> 
> I understand if I had a store and sold something then there would be sales tax.


Of course, it is a capital gains.

No different then buying a stock at $1 and selling it for $100.


----------



## MikeMar

pmyers said:


> I never though of any tax implications. Are there any? If I buy something at a garage sale and then sell it privately to somebody else, am I suppose to pay taxes on that?
> 
> I understand if I had a store and sold something then there would be sales tax.





Squeak said:


> Of course, it is a capital gains.
> 
> No different then buying a stock at $1 and selling it for $100.


Can you deduct the losses on lockers that don't have anything from what they make? I'm sure they can


----------



## Squeak

MikeMar said:


> Can you deduct the losses on lockers that don't have anything from what they make? I'm sure they can


Most likely they are running this as a business, separate from their personal returns.

In that case, yes. They only would pay taxes on their net income for the year, would include offsetting any costs to purchase lockers.


----------



## MikeMar

Squeak said:


> Most likely they are running this as a business, separate from their personal returns.
> 
> In that case, yes. They only would pay taxes on their net income for the year, would include offsetting any costs to purchase lockers.


Except for that old guy who is doing it for collector stuff (what the heck his name is)


----------



## VegasVic

Barry


----------



## Hank

Separate business or personal return -- doesn't matter really. Net Income is taxable.

So yes, even Barry is obligated to pay taxes on any gains he has, and can still deduct his losses against those gains.


----------



## Ment

Hank said:


> Separate business or personal return -- doesn't matter really. Net Income is taxable.
> 
> So yes, even Barry is obligated to pay taxes on any gains he has, and can still deduct his losses against those gains.


I don't think Barry is making any net gains. 

Paying taxes on net gains from personal sales is like paying state taxes on online purchases. Unless the retailer tacks it on who does it.


----------



## Hank

Ment said:


> I don't think Barry is making any net gains.
> 
> Paying taxes on net gains from personal sales is like paying state taxes on online purchases. Unless the retailer tacks it on who does it.


But he can deduct the losses from his venture against his regular (other) income as a "hobby"... but you can only do that three years three years until (a) you have to make a profit (and pay tax on it) or (b) no longer declare the losses against income.

You can bet that as a vendor who buys stuff from "Barry", I'd be writing that off as a business expense. I might even have to send Barry a 1099-misc. If I get audited and show that as an expense, they might look to see that Barry declared it as income (or at least the income less his cost).


----------



## Jayjoans

JLucPicard said:


> This begs a question - are the owners/operators of these facilities required to make any effort to watch obituaries to see if one of their renters has died? Or check out that possibility of payments stop coming in? If a person remains current on their rent and then passes away, and there is nobody to come forward and notify the storage facility of the person's passing, can they just auction off their unit for non-payment? It sure would seem to me that there could be some estate issues.
> 
> And if someone is in arrears, and passes away before an auction is held on their unit, can it still be auctioned off, or again, is there any requirement that the facility attempt to determine if the renter has not died?


At my facility, and I think at most facilities, when a customer fills out a rental contract there is a space provided for the customer to give us a name of an alternate contact. We use that contact once the unit falls into lien status, by statute we must send out notifications to the tenant and any alternates they provided. About 30% of the time, the customer fills in N/A if they don't want to provide that alternate information or don't have somebody they want us to contact. We are not required to scour obituaries, that would be nearly impossible anyway, as many of my tenants are out of the area. If this coin story is true, it's possible she had no heirs so there was nobody looking into her affairs when she died.

If a tenant stops paying their rent, we do everything we can to contact that renter and get the payments started up again. That's the goal, get paid. Worst case is an auction, not only is it a drag to sell people's stuff, but from a business point of view it is ALWAYS a financial loser. CA statutes allow us to auction off a unit for non-payment provided the lien process is followed. There is no change in the process if we are unaware that the person died.

If a family member comes to me and says grandma died, then I ask for a copy of a death certificate and a court order allowing me to give them access to the unit AFTER any arrears are paid. I'll take money from anybody, but I will only give access to the actual contracted tenant or by order of a judge.

I had a Sheriff's deputy come to my office a few years back, he wanted access to a unit that belonged to someone that was involved in a fraud case going through the court system. I ask him for a court order, he immediately got very belligerent with me and said if I didn't give him access he'd take me to jail. I put my wrists out and told him I was ready to go.... He said he had to go back to his car and get his cuffs and promised me this would be the worst day of my life. I watched him go to his car and get on the phone. In the meantime, I called the Sheriff myself and explained to him what this deputy was threatening me with. When he came back to the office with his handcuffs in his hand, I gave him the phone and told him the Sheriff would like to speak with him. That was the end of that.

You might be surprised by some of the creative stories I've heard to try to gain access to a storage unit. Not gonna happen without my butt being covered.


----------



## MikeMar

If you lose money on the unit defaulting and such. In a slow time when you are let's say only at like 50% full, do you just wait as long as you can to auction it off, just for the chance of getting paid?

Is there any law that you have to auction it off after x months and such?


----------



## Squeak

Hank said:


> But he can deduct the losses from his venture against his regular (other) income as a "hobby"... but you can only do that three years three years until (a) you have to make a profit (and pay tax on it) or (b) no longer declare the losses against income.


You can only deduct up to $3k net loses per year against your personal income.


----------



## CatScratchFever

unless you set up a sub s corp


----------



## MrGreg

I'm fairly certain all of these shows (auctions, pickers, and pawns) are almost entirely scripted, or at least setup with planted "finds".

There is a new pickers type of show that focuses on military stuff coming to Discovery next month. They filmed a segment featuring my brother that was 100% fiction. I can provide more details after it airs (Dec 7th, I think), but it's really turned me off of these types of shows.


----------



## vertigo235

MrGreg said:


> I'm fairly certain all of these shows (auctions, pickers, and pawns) are almost entirely scripted, or at least setup with planted "finds".
> 
> There is a new pickers type of show that focuses on military stuff coming to Discovery next month. They filmed a segment featuring my brother that was 100% fiction. I can provide more details after it airs (Dec 7th, I think), but it's really turned me off of these types of shows.


That sucks.


----------



## Frylock

MrGreg said:


> I'm fairly certain all of these shows (auctions, pickers, and pawns) are almost entirely scripted, or at least setup with planted "finds".
> 
> There is a new pickers type of show that focuses on military stuff coming to Discovery next month. They filmed a segment featuring my brother that was 100% fiction. I can provide more details after it airs (Dec 7th, I think), but it's really turned me off of these types of shows.


If its on TruTV, then it's not real. As for A&E, I don't see what about it would not be real. People do this all the time. They are likely to find items. I am sure they play up the better finds, and probably play up the values to increase entertainment as well. But what about it would not be real?


----------



## xuxa

Frylock said:


> Are you saying this as your opinion, or you know it as a fact? I was under the impression they just film a lot and cut it down to what they want to show, just like any other reality show.


Just experience in production of reality tv shows. To make it profitable you aren't going to shoot a ton of stuff, much easier and economical (which is most important) to have a closed set. There is no reason at all to shoot it real, when it is easier to fake it and it passes as 'real' nowadays. Maybe the first few were real auctions with still with showmanship (cutting of the locks) but once the show was picked up it is all staged.


----------



## Frylock

xuxa said:


> Just experience in production of reality tv shows. To make it profitable you aren't going to shoot a ton of stuff, much easier and economical (which is most important) to have a closed set. There is no reason at all to shoot it real, when it is easier to fake it and it passes as 'real' nowadays. Maybe the first few were real auctions with still with showmanship (cutting of the locks) but once the show was picked up it is all staged.


Again, you are making comments "once the show as picked up it is all staged" as facts, but it seems you don't know that for a fact. Could it be? Yes. Does that mean it is? No.


----------



## Jayjoans

MikeMar said:


> If you lose money on the unit defaulting and such. In a slow time when you are let's say only at like 50% full, do you just wait as long as you can to auction it off, just for the chance of getting paid?
> 
> Is there any law that you have to auction it off after x months and such?


I wait as long as possible. Since I own the facility, I don't have to answer to any suits that are asking questions as to why I have delinquent units staying on the books month after month. I have an auction scheduled at my facility next week, the only one I've done all year. I'll be selling off 15 units, and on average these people haven't paid me in nearly 18 months. I'm doing it more to clean stuff out for 2012 than anything else. Since I have open units that are the same size as the ones I'm auctioning, I don't feel the pressure to get them emptied out. I have had experience of someone popping up after a year (in jail) surprised I still had their stuff, they paid me and moved out. If there's no demand for the space, I don't see a need to get it sold ASAP.

To answer your question, in CA there is no legal guideline prohibiting me from waiting forever and never selling the unit for nonpayment


----------



## Jayjoans

Shoulda kept his mouth shut. Auction buyer will end up with nothing.
http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/e..._host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=us&.lang=en-us


----------



## VegasVic

Well I actually learned something from Storage Wars last week. I had never heard of those rose colored chicken glasses that Barry found in his unit.


----------



## pmyers

Jayjoans said:


> Shoulda kept his mouth shut. Auction buyer will end up with nothing.
> http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/e..._host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=us&.lang=en-us


I agree he should have kept quite but that whole story sounds hokey.


----------



## vertigo235

Jayjoans said:


> Shoulda kept his mouth shut. Auction buyer will end up with nothing.
> http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/exclusive-original-owner-500k-storage-unit-identified-090008615.html?orig_host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=us&.lang=en-us


Hmm why? Isn't the sale legal since they didn't pay the rent etc?


----------



## mike_k

vertigo235 said:


> Hmm why? Isn't the sale legal since they didn't pay the rent etc?


Yeah - the article didn't say that the bidder couldn't keep the gold, did it?


----------



## 2004raptor

If they linked the man to this unit as well as the contents to any illegal actions then I would imagine they could seize them, right? 

Same as if someone stole a tv and then sold it to you.


----------



## Jayjoans

I'm not a lawyer, but if the feds are involved and there has been fraud committed, I'm going to assume they will seize every asset they can identify. Selling stolen goods at an auction doesn't magically make the goods not stolen anymore.


----------



## vertigo235

True that's certainly possible.


----------



## Jayjoans

This story could be false too, I think the Dotsons initially said that the storage tenant was a deceased woman, and this story reports it belonged to an incarcerated man. I'm not wholly convinced that the website that is reporting this story is accurate either, but whatever is going on it's a mess. I'm wondering now if the storage buyer gave permission to the Dotsons to talk about his find, if he didn't and it ends up that he gets the booty confiscated, I think the Dotsons could find themselves in hot water. The Dotsons may have gone off half-cocked using the auction to promote Storage Wars and inadvertently hung the buyer out to dry.

There's still much more to this story.


----------



## Hank

Jayjoans said:


> I'm not a lawyer, but if the feds are involved and there has been fraud committed, I'm going to assume they will seize every asset they can identify. Selling stolen goods at an auction doesn't magically make the goods not stolen anymore.


Can you imagine if the buyer didn't say anything.. cashed in his gold and silver haul, invested in some real estate or other investments, and maybe even lost a large portion of the proceeds. Then 5 years later the feds come looking for the stolen assets, and they're gone (assuming the statute of limitations hasn't run out). That must suck.


----------



## pmyers

Jayjoans said:


> This story could be false too, I think the Dotsons initially said that the storage tenant was a deceased woman, and this story reports it belonged to an incarcerated man. I'm not wholly convinced that the website that is reporting this story is accurate either, ...There's still much more to this story.


yeah...I was calling BS on the story. Inmates/ex-cons always try to cash in on stuff like this.


----------



## DevdogAZ

Jayjoans said:


> This story could be false too, I think the Dotsons initially said that the storage tenant was a deceased woman, and this story reports it belonged to an incarcerated man. I'm not wholly convinced that the website that is reporting this story is accurate either, but whatever is going on it's a mess.


Except that's explained in the story. It says that the incarcerated guy rented the storage unit using an alias, so it makes sense that the records of the storage place wouldn't show his name.

Assuming the storage unit actually did belong to the felon, if the funds used to buy the gold were ill-gotten and the felon hasn't already made restitution, the Feds will likely seize the gold and claim that the storage place didn't have the right to sell it. But if the funds he used to buy the gold were the felon's and were not ill-gotten, or if the felon has already paid restitution with other assets, then it's probably fine that the storage place held the sale. If I had to bet, I'm guessing it's the former.


----------



## warrenn

Does anyone know what Barry does with all the non-collectibles he gets from a locker? Most of the lockers he buys are filled with stuff but he's only interested in one thing. What does he do with all the rest?

I was watching a marathon of this over Thanksgiving and noticed a few places where it seems special items were placed in the lockers. First, one episode had Dave bidding against his estranged brother for a locker full of junk. As they are clearing it out, Dave says "Wait a second. What's this?" and pulls up a piece of folded cardboard filled with old rock posters. In a locker full of junk, why would he think a piece of cardboard would be special?

Second, Darryl bought a junky locker. As they are clearing it out, he picks up a painting and puts it to the side saying, "I'll just put this here". It was at the end of an edit and looked strange. A few minutes later he picks it up, pulls off the back and goes "Wow! Look at this!" There were 100's of dollars taped to the back of the painting. It looked totally staged.

But even if it's mostly fake, I still enjoy watching it.

I wonder if the way it works is like this. The producers go to real auctions and buy units. They then decide which units will be in the show. They may or may not toss extra goodies into the units. They give each person in the cast $X. They then stage a fake auction with the units they previously bought. The cast is free to use the money to bid on the units or walk away with it. This way it's sort of a real auction but not really.


----------



## secondclaw

I've seen on occasion (at least once) he dropped off things at Jarrod's and Brandi's store ... it would actually make sense - if he's only looking for cool collectibles, to have an arrangement with J&B to dispose of the rest, maybe for some nominal amount. I doubt he has such an arrangement, but it would make sense.

My problem with Barry (as cool as the guy seems to be to hang out with), is that either:
1 - He's not a true collector, or
2 - He knows in advance where the neat stuff will be.

Why - i watch him throw closed boxes and bags on the concrete floor while digging - can even hear things breaking ... what if there was something valuable there (pottery, crystal, etc) ... a true collector wouldn't do it unless he was absolutely certain there was nothing of value.

In addition, the way he dumps things like tables and chairs, damaging them in the process - it makes no sense to me - either let J&B have them or donate them to Salvation Army or something - don't just damage it. Stupid ...



warrenn said:


> Does anyone know what Barry does with all the non-collectibles he gets from a locker? Most of the lockers he buys are filled with stuff but he's only interested in one thing. What does he do with all the rest?


----------



## Ment

I don't think they go that far to place items.. It would make sense for somone to alert the production crew that is following the cast to come to a locker where something good is found and then 'recreate' the find process. Each buyer goes thru tens of purchasedlockers before finding something worth being on show so it would be too time intensive to follow each and every locker from start to finish.


----------



## pmyers

Funny that I just mentioned to my wife last night that J&B should team up with Barry and just buy the "shelf fillers" from his locker and let him have the one nice thing.

I have seen him do this a couple of times in the past so maybe they already do.


----------



## Hank

On one of last night's episodes, Jarrod was just watching Barry trash an entire locker -- don't know why he didn't offer to pay him $100 to take the "junk" away before Barry trashed it all.


----------



## Jayjoans

At this point, I don't think Jarrod and Brandi are in the second hand selling business, they're in the "be a TV star" business now. Him with his Outlaw clothing and her with her potential other opportunities... No doubt they get paid pretty well to be on the show, just like every other reality show participant, especially if it's as much a hit as Storage Wars is.

Still strikes me a little bit funny that Dave Hester and the Dotsons are in business together, especially when they showed Mrs. Dotson telling Dave in private on last night's episode that one unit hadn't been opened in 20 yrs. Seemed as if everybody knew it by the time the auction happened, but the auctioneer could have some insider info from the management and choose to pass it on to only one bidder.


----------



## uncdrew

pmyers said:


> Funny that I just mentioned to my wife last night that J&B should team up with Barry and just buy the "shelf fillers" from his locker and let him have the one nice thing.
> 
> I have seen him do this a couple of times in the past so maybe they already do.


I too was just thinking that last night as Barry left a locker full of all kinds of things and left with one little item in his hand. 

He's a cool cat. Seems to have way more energy and style than most people his age, and he has a lot of neat toys. Seems he's pretty wealthy through other means and is almost happy wasting money on storage units.

I bet if someone tracked the success of all these people Barry would be on the bottom, financially.


----------



## uncdrew

Jayjoans said:


> At this point, I don't think Jarrod and Brandi are in the second hand selling business, they're in the "be a TV star" business now. Him with his Outlaw clothing and her with her potential other opportunities... No doubt they get paid pretty well to be on the show, just like every other reality show participant, especially if it's as much a hit as Storage Wars is.
> 
> Still strikes me a little bit funny that Dave Hester and the Dotsons are in business together, especially when they showed Mrs. Dotson telling Dave in private on last night's episode that one unit hadn't been opened in 20 yrs. Seemed as if everybody knew it by the time the auction happened, but the auctioneer could have some insider info from the management and choose to pass it on to only one bidder.


Agreed. Jarrod and Brandi have their eyes set on a TV future. I do like her two main assets and could see her doing some new stupid reality thing.

What's up with Outlaw clothes? His or is he getting paid to wear them? I'm sure orders have picked up quite nicely for those shirts.


----------



## Jayjoans

This is from the outlaw apparel website:

"Outlaw Apparel started back in 2002, with 2 friends (Danny Herron& Jarrod Schulz) looking to make a clothing company for them and their boys .... "

It's ugly stuff though, at least what he wears on TV. Seems like a VERY narrow market.


----------



## ElJay

Storage Wars: Texas starts next week.


----------



## VegasVic

Yeah I saw that on the guide. Is that a whole new series or a one time thing?


----------



## uncdrew

Jayjoans said:


> This is from the outlaw apparel website:
> 
> "Outlaw Apparel started back in 2002, with 2 friends (Danny Herron& Jarrod Schulz) looking to make a clothing company for them and their boys .... "
> 
> It's ugly stuff though, at least what he wears on TV. Seems like a VERY narrow market.


Gotcha, thanks.

I wouldn't wear any of the stuff, but it'll have appeal to thugs, bangers and... err... I can't think of any hip words for the types of people who would never be watching Storage Wars.


----------



## mike_k

uncdrew said:


> Gotcha, thanks.
> 
> I wouldn't wear any of the stuff, but it'll have appeal to thugs, bangers and... err... I can't think of any hip words for the types of people who would never be watching Storage Wars.


I can't imagine anyone seeing him in those stupid shirts and wanting one. Jarrod is a putz. For the life of me I can't figure out why Brandi is with him.


----------



## scooterboy

mike_k said:


> I can't imagine anyone seeing him in those stupid shirts and wanting one. Jarrod is a putz. For the life of me I can't figure out why Brandi is with him.


This may be weird, but the thing about Jarrod that bugs me the most is when he and Brandi are cleaning out a unit and Brandi finds some item and says "look at this". Jarrod always marches up to her, says "lemme see that", and just grabs it out of her hands. Very rude. Makes him look even more like a d-bag.


----------



## Frylock

VegasVic said:


> Yeah I saw that on the guide. Is that a whole new series or a one time thing?


It's a new series. They had a promo for it on their get together and talk show. Sadly, it seems to be another show to make all people from Texas out to be hillbillys or cowbows.


----------



## pmyers

Jayjoans said:


> ...Still strikes me a little bit funny that Dave Hester and the Dotsons are in business together, especially when they showed Mrs. Dotson telling Dave in private on last night's episode that one unit hadn't been opened in 20 yrs...


What do you mean by "in business together"? Of course the Dotsons would take care of their regular clients but I don't see anything more than that.


----------



## secondclaw

Probably talking about this:
http://newsguide.us/de/arts-enterta...ster-and-dan-dotson-team-to-start-orange.html



> ...
> A&E hit series Storage Wars stars Dave Hester and Dan Dotson partner on Orange Countys newest auction house.
> ...





pmyers said:


> What do you mean by "in business together"? Of course the Dotsons would take care of their regular clients but I don't see anything more than that.


----------



## pmyers

ahh didn't know that. What I found cool is this:



> StorageTreasures.com, is a free online self storage auction information portal and storage facility directory covering the US and Canada. StorageTreasures.com offers compressive storage auction schedules and site specific guidelines for auction hunters and facility owners throughout the US and Canada.StorageTreasures.com is a proud supporter of the Self Storage Association.StorageTreasures.com consults with industry leaders to develop best practices that ensure storage auctions are conducted within the law, and that facility owners, tenants, buyers and auctioneers are protected.More information at StorageTreasures.com or by calling 1.800.213.4183.


You can find local auctions anywhere in the country. I might go just to people watch!


----------



## Frylock

Neat. I found a local place with an auction in 2 weeks. I may go check it out just to see what its like.


----------



## DevdogAZ

pmyers said:


> ahh didn't know that. What I found cool is this:
> 
> You can find local auctions anywhere in the country. I might go just to people watch!


What does "compressive" mean?


----------



## DanB

This week's Storage Wars had them grinding a lock off and opening the door only to have a sign standing up in the locker with "date of auction" (I think it was 9/2011) and "locker number" (or something similar) on it. In the next shot the sign was upside down laying down.


----------



## 2004raptor

Jsut saw this on TMZ.

'STORAGE WARS' STAR
I Need BIG MONEY
... or I'm Off the Show!!

I wonder how much they do get paid. It seems they could afford to buy crappy lockers if the paycheck for being on the show is big enough.


----------



## The Flush

I have decided that I like Auction Hunters better than Storage Wars just because the characters on AH are nicer than those on SW. Plus AH shows them trying to actually sell what they buy instead of just making pie-in-the-sky estimates of their stuff's value. It won't bother me a bit if Hester and SW disappears, although I will still watch SW if I have the time.


----------



## JFriday

2004raptor said:


> Jsut saw this on TMZ.
> 
> 'STORAGE WARS' STAR
> I Need BIG MONEY
> ... or I'm Off the Show!!
> 
> I wonder how much they do get paid. It seems they could afford to buy crappy lockers if the paycheck for being on the show is big enough.


Let him go, he'll soon find out when you're not on TV all the perk that go with it soon disappear.


----------



## Hank

2004raptor said:


> Jsut saw this on TMZ.
> 
> 'STORAGE WARS' STAR
> I Need BIG MONEY
> ... or I'm Off the Show!!
> 
> I wonder how much they do get paid. It seems they could afford to buy crappy lockers if the paycheck for being on the show is big enough.


Yeah, screw him... there are plenty of other colorful people they've already started to introduce on the show that can easily take his place. I'm getting pretty tired of him already just being an ass all the time.


----------



## jradosh

To hell with all of them! I'd rather that they just had random people buying stuff each episode. Then bring the 'treasure' to an expert for appraisal.


----------



## MrGreg

For those interested...

There's a new military themed "pickers" type show starting on discovery this week called Combat Cash.

My brother is featured as one of the "buyers" in either episode 3 or 4 (not sure which).


----------



## DevdogAZ

jradosh said:


> To hell with all of them! I'd rather that they just had random people buying stuff each episode. Then bring the 'treasure' to an expert for appraisal.


Didn't PBS already do that?


----------



## vertigo235

MrGreg said:


> For those interested...
> 
> There's a new military themed "pickers" type show starting on discovery this week called Combat Cash.
> 
> My brother is featured as one of the "buyers" in either episode 3 or 4 (not sure which).


I guess that's the one you said was completely staged right?


----------



## pmyers

2004raptor said:


> Jsut saw this on TMZ.
> 
> 'STORAGE WARS' STAR
> I Need BIG MONEY
> ... or I'm Off the Show!!
> 
> I wonder how much they do get paid. It seems they could afford to buy crappy lockers if the paycheck for being on the show is big enough.


From an article I read with Jarrod and Brandi, they didn't mention salary but they did say that the publicity they have gotten has really helped with the traffic at their thrift store and that business was great.

That being said, this is A&E's #1 show, so these people do deserve to be compensated fairly.


----------



## Frylock

The Flush said:


> I have decided that I like Auction Hunters better than Storage Wars just because the characters on AH are nicer than those on SW. Plus AH shows them trying to actually sell what they buy instead of just making pie-in-the-sky estimates of their stuff's value. It won't bother me a bit if Hester and SW disappears, although I will still watch SW if I have the time.


The problem with Auction Hunters is that its completely fabricated. That. and they ALWAYS win. They find too many amazing things in lockers, so it feels even more fake.


----------



## gschrock

The Flush said:


> I have decided that I like Auction Hunters better than Storage Wars just because the characters on AH are nicer than those on SW. Plus AH shows them trying to actually sell what they buy instead of just making pie-in-the-sky estimates of their stuff's value. It won't bother me a bit if Hester and SW disappears, although I will still watch SW if I have the time.


Although I'm skeptical of the numbers that AH claim they're selling stuff for. The numbers for the episode that they had with the RC jet in it were a little tough to believe, given what I know of the market for used RC jet stuff. (I don't do jets myself because they're well out of my range, but it's a market that's been far more of a buyers market than a sellers market for a couple years now.)


----------



## pmyers

Are you telling me that NES system wasn't worth $10k?


----------



## Frylock

Yes, Storage Wars clearly pads their numbers a bit. But Auction Hunters I think they start throwing extra zeros on the end. Some things I've seen on there I know what they would see for, and perhaps it's where they are, but their prices are sky-high. Usually they seem to use higher than brand-new retail for some items.


----------



## CharlieW

Frylock said:


> The problem with Auction Hunters is that its completely fabricated. That. and they ALWAYS win. They find too many amazing things in lockers, so it feels even more fake.


Exactly.

Never do we see an episode where these guys completely tank and wind up with a locker full of crap. It ALWAYS works out in the end. Makes the show completely uninteresting for me.

The personalities on Storage Wars and the fun banter between the regulars earns it a place on my Season Pass list. I enjoy all of them. Even Hester. Sure, he's the villain -- but every show needs a good villain. Since this is A&E's top rated show, the participants should be compensated fairly.


----------



## Satchel

Hester is a complete ass and I'd be much happier watching it without him. 
My least favorite part of the show is watching them bid up a locker just to make the others pay more.
I'm convinced the production company "pre-buys" the lockers and then lets the main cast members do the bidding on camera. If you notice that when the SW regulars are bidding, none of the other "bidders" are in the mix...or if they are, it's shown quickly.


----------



## scooterboy

Frylock said:


> The problem with Auction Hunters is that its completely fabricated. That. and they ALWAYS win. They find too many amazing things in lockers, so it feels even more fake.





CharlieW said:


> Exactly.
> 
> Never do we see an episode where these guys completely tank and wind up with a locker full of crap. It ALWAYS works out in the end. Makes the show completely uninteresting for me.


Not saying the show isn't scripted, but why would the producers bother to waste screen time on a locker they got nothing out of? How do you know that they don't throw out 80% of what they shoot and only save the 20% in which the guys found something interesting?

Oh, and they don't always win. They show plenty of auctions that they lose.


----------



## CharlieW

Satchel said:


> Hester is a complete ass and I'd be much happier watching it without him.


What drives me most nuts about Hester is when he's going through his locker and overvaluing his swag for the camera. He'll have a pile of old used DVDs sitting there and say, "That's a ten dollar bill each..." Uhhh.. Dave, here on Earth, that's $1 garage sale fodder.


----------



## warrenn

The SW prices are a joke. Many times the values they quote are the new, retail prices. Like when they open up a locker with a bunch of beat up tools. They'll point to a shop vac and say it's worth $75. Maybe new it was that price, but it's not worth that now when it's banged up and covered in paint drips. I'd be surprised if they get $10 for it.


----------



## CharlieW

scooterboy said:


> Not saying the show isn't scripted, but why would the producers bother to waste screen time on a locker they got nothing out of? How do you know that they don't throw out 80% of what they shoot and only save the 20% in which the guys found something interesting?
> 
> Oh, and they don't always win. They show plenty of auctions that they lose.


Sorry, I wasn't clear in my original post -- by "win", I meant that we never see them buy a locker that's a complete loser. I've seen them lose plenty of bidding wars, but my point was that whenever they win the locker, they always make a mint. It would be much more interesting if they showed them buying a locker thinking they had something valuable and seeing it not pan out. Unless the show is completely fabricated, it would have to happen once in a while -- so show it.


----------



## Kablemodem

CharlieW said:


> What drives me most nuts about Hester is when he's going through his locker and overvaluing his swag for the camera. He'll have a pile of old used DVDs sitting there and say, "That's a ten dollar bill each..." Uhhh.. Dave, here on Earth, that's $1 garage sale fodder.


Like the locker than contained the inventory of a used book store. He estimated the value at $18,000, but he'll be lucky to get 25% of that.


----------



## DevdogAZ

Frylock said:


> Yes, Storage Wars clearly pads their numbers a bit. But Auction Hunters I think they start throwing extra zeros on the end. Some things I've seen on there I know what they would see for, and perhaps it's where they are, but their prices are sky-high. *Usually they seem to use higher than brand-new retail for some items.*


Sounds like the price tags at just about every pawn shop I've ever been in.


----------



## CharlieW

Kablemodem said:


> Like the locker than contained the inventory of a used book store. He estimated the value at $18,000, but he'll be lucky to get 25% of that.


We were cracking up about his "math" in that episode.


----------



## The Flush

CharlieW said:


> Sorry, I wasn't clear in my original post -- by "win", I meant that we never see them buy a locker that's a complete loser. I've seen them lose plenty of bidding wars, but my point was that whenever they win the locker, they always make a mint. It would be much more interesting if they showed them buying a locker thinking they had something valuable and seeing it not pan out. Unless the show is completely fabricated, it would have to happen once in a while -- so show it.


There have been a very few that they did not make their money back on.

What I would like to see is a peek in the lockers that they got outbid on to see what they missed out on.


----------



## ElJay

Kablemodem said:


> Like the locker than contained the inventory of a used book store. He estimated the value at $18,000, but he'll be lucky to get 25% of that.


That was definitely one of the more blatant "WTF" sort of pricing schemes I'd seen on this show. Most of the books probably sell for a penny on Amazon. Dave's got to pay one of his goons to list them, hope somebody bites, and then ship them. I bet overall he'd be really lucky to pocket fifty cents profit on each one.


----------



## Mikeyis4dcats

CharlieW said:


> Sorry, I wasn't clear in my original post -- by "win", I meant that we never see them buy a locker that's a complete loser. I've seen them lose plenty of bidding wars, but my point was that whenever they win the locker, they always make a mint. It would be much more interesting if they showed them buying a locker thinking they had something valuable and seeing it not pan out. Unless the show is completely fabricated, it would have to happen once in a while -- so show it.


based on that remark I'm certain you've never seen more than one episode.


----------



## CharlieW

Mikeyis4dcats said:


> based on that remark I'm certain you've never seen more than one episode.


And you'd be wrong.

I've seen probably 12-15 episodes.


----------



## Mikeyis4dcats

CharlieW said:


> And you'd be wrong.
> 
> I've seen probably 12-15 episodes.


Then you'd know that on average, 1 or 2 of the bidders lose money, or in many cases don't even win a unit.


----------



## Einselen

Mikeyis4dcats said:


> Then you'd know that on average, 1 or 2 of the bidders lose money, or in many cases don't even win a unit.


He was talking about Auction Hunters and not Storage Wars.


----------



## Mikeyis4dcats

Einselen said:


> He was talking about Auction Hunters and not Storage Wars.


Ah, if that's the case, my apologies. I've seen exactly one episode of that show.


----------



## CharlieW

Mikeyis4dcats said:


> Ah, if that's the case, my apologies. I've seen exactly one episode of that show.


No worries, Mikey.

Yep, we were discussing Auction Hunters. I prefer Storage Wars because unlike Auction Hunters, you see the bad along with the good.


----------



## vertigo235

Well the auction hunters show does start out saying that they followed them for a whole year throughout the country and that those are the best finds.


----------



## MrGreg

vertigo235 said:


> I guess that's the one you said was completely staged right?


I can't speak to the other segments, but the one with my brother is 100% fabricated. I'll go into the details when it airs, and if there are unanswered questions, I'll pass them on to my brother.


----------



## wendiness1

I can't stand that one guy on Auction Hunters. Not the tattooed head guy; the other guy. He's just slimey.

As for Dave Hester, yes, he can leave and I won't miss him. He's smarmy, too. 

Now Barry is another matter . . .


----------



## billboard_NE

I hope they pay Barry whatever he wants, he is sure to go broke if Discovery does not compensate him for his losses.

He is the best part of the show.


----------



## Frylock

The Flush said:


> There have been a very few that they did not make their money back on.
> 
> What I would like to see is a peek in the lockers that they got outbid on to see what they missed out on.


Yeah, they don't always make money. In last week's episode, Jarrod bought a dump. So did Dave in another episode. They definitely have lost money on SW.


----------



## Frylock

wendiness1 said:


> I can't stand that one guy on Auction Hunters. Not the tattooed head guy; the other guy. He's just slimey.
> 
> As for Dave Hester, yes, he can leave and I won't miss him. He's smarmy, too.
> 
> Now Barry is another matter . . .


+1. I hate that guy. He just is way too cocky and annoying.

Barry could have his own tv show. I'd watch it.


----------



## jradosh

I don't get the Barry love


----------



## SeanC

Because he's a nut, he doesn't take himself or what's going on too seriously, he's endearing.


----------



## wendiness1

SeanC said:


> Because he's a nut, he doesn't take himself or what's going on too seriously, he's endearing.


And handsome.


----------



## CharlieW

I think Barry's self-deprecating humor and nature are a vital part of a show that's mostly about people churning out a living in a tough business. Judging from Barry's collection of cars, his collection of friends and his sense of style, it doesn't appear that he's in this business for the money. He's in it to find items he wants to add to his personal collection. If he makes a few bucks along the way, great -- if he doesn't, I don't think it's putting him in the poor house. I enjoy his comic relief. We root for him, although it's pretty funny when he gets suckered in by yet another empty trunk.


----------



## jradosh

that's exactly what I don't like about him... he's a dilatante (sp?)


----------



## VegasVic

Barry is the only one on the show who isn't a pretentious jerk.


----------



## Hank

Barry and Brandi make the show worth watching.

I'm getting a little tired of Darrell.


----------



## Mike Wells

Anyone know the terms of these sales, when the storage places sell off the stuff?


I wonder how long they have to get the stuff out of there. I'm guessing they also HAVE to take everything, especially the junk, to accomplish emptying the unit.


I remember many years ago after my grandparents died they had an auction. the big stuff had a lot of bidding, but then there were tons of these little lots. They'd stick some random stuff together and sell it for $1. The auctioneer would emphasize they won the "whole" lot. We still found stuff people dumped down the driveway. All that stuff got collected and re-sold. I can see these guys taking the good stuff and leaving the junk.


----------



## mike_k

Hank said:


> Barry and Brandi make the show worth watching.
> 
> I'm getting a little tired of Darrell.


This. I think without Darrell I'd like Dave more. Dave and Barry have had some funny interactions. Jarrod is a tool. If it was just Barry and Brandi I'd watch all day long - as long as it didn't have that moronic twitter feed that they do for the new episodes. The "Yuuuup" tweet wasn't even clever the first time. Why do these idiots think it's clever the millionth time.


----------



## warrenn

Mike Wells said:


> Anyone know the terms of these sales, when the storage places sell off the stuff?
> 
> I wonder how long they have to get the stuff out of there. I'm guessing they also HAVE to take everything, especially the junk, to accomplish emptying the unit.


A real storage auction will be listed in the public notice section of your newspaper. How often they appear depends on how often the storage places decide to do an auction. There's no set schedule. If you bid on a locker and win it, you typically will have to pay the full amount you bid plus a deposit in cash.. The deposit is returned when you've cleared out the locker. You may only have 24-48 hours to clean out the locker.

I'm pretty sure the auctions we see on TV are auctions of lockers owned by the production team. In that case, they probably have as long as they like to remove the stuff. They probably can leave behind whatever they don't want and the show will take the rest to the dump.


----------



## mike_k

I'm watching a rerun of Storage Wars - "Santa Ana Street Fight" OAD 7/27/2011

So they come to a new locker - Laura says her usual "you know the rules, do not go inside, get a good look from the door." They open the door and it looks like:









Then they cut to Dave for a few seconds, and back to the locker and it looks like:









Oops.


----------



## JFriday

Lol, nope the shows not staged.


----------



## MarkofT

How is it those two screencaps means it isn't staged? Seems like they just grabbed the wrong shot in editing.


----------



## Kablemodem

Maybe the Santa Ana winds blew the contents around.


----------



## Donbadabon

Kablemodem said:


> Maybe the Santa Ana winds blew the contents around.


heh heh heh


----------



## The Flush

I wonder if the buyers ever donate their low value stuff like clothes to Goodwill or some other charity? They always seem to talk about taking stuff to the dump, but it seems like someone could still get some value out of it. I don't think I have heard them say they are donating stuff. I assume they could still get a tax deduction, plus it would offer some redeeming qualities that most of them appear to lack.


----------



## Maui

I loved last night as Dave was valuing his items. 

Now, maybe I don't know anything about bar stools but I am pretty sure he said "4 bars stools - that's a thousand dollars" and i just bust out laughing.


----------



## Kablemodem

So did I. More like $50-75 each.


----------



## CharlieW

Maui said:


> I loved last night as Dave was valuing his items.
> 
> Now, maybe I don't know anything about bar stools but I am pretty sure he said "4 bars stools - that's a thousand dollars" and i just bust out laughing.


And the old, non-HD, 4:3, giant Mitsubishi rear-projection dinosaur TV that he valued at $150.

More like he'd have to pay someone $150 to haul it away.


----------



## Jayjoans

Amen.

I had a tenant leave one of those behind, and after a few Craigslist ads at $75, $50 and $25, I gave it to a hauler that said he could recycle it and get $10 for the electronic parts.

Dave is full of crap, he can't bear the thought of being a loser on a unit, so he sits with an adding machine and inflates the prices of everything to make himself feel better. Delusion at it's finest.


----------



## wendiness1

CharlieW said:


> And the old, non-HD, 4:3, giant Mitsubishi rear-projection dinosaur TV that he valued at $150.
> 
> More like he'd have to pay someone $150 to haul it away.


No kidding. I tried to sell a non-flat screen TV/DVD player that worked perfectly at our yard sale. Not. One. Offer. I couldn't give it away. Literally.


----------



## Magister

2 years ago I just gave away a Sony Wega 36in tube to who ever could carry it away. No one wants a big deep tv that takes up your room.


----------



## CharlieW

Magister said:


> 2 years ago I just gave away a Sony Wega 36in tube to who ever could carry it away. No one wants a big deep tv that takes up your room.


I did the same about three years ago, also a Sony WEGA 36 inch. I was thrilled that the people who wanted it came over and moved that 265 pound monstrosity out of my house!


----------



## pmyers

I laughed at the bar stools too.


----------



## Frylock

OK, Dave was annoying enough. Nabila (sp?) is even more annoying. They don't need 2 annoying people on the show. This whole "my neighborhood" and "bidding others up" strategy make these people out to be even bigger morons than when they claim they can sell a $20 item for $150.


----------



## Maui

I do love that Barry came out ahead the last couple of episodes on lockers the others said were junk.


----------



## uncdrew

Magister said:


> 2 years ago I just gave away a Sony Wega 36in tube to who ever could carry it away. No one wants a big deep tv that takes up your room.


Two years ago I scored a Sony Wega 36in for FREE. All I had to do was go get it.

Still use that TV in our play room.


----------



## uncdrew

Maui said:


> I do love that Barry came out ahead the last couple of episodes on lockers the others said were junk.


Agreed.

I'm sure the other characters see that eventually. Hope that makes them realize that it's mostly luck and none of them are much better than the other at this.


----------



## pmyers

Of course there is a lot of luck, but that's not everything. Some of them are better at this than others. It's not what you find in the locker, but if you can squeeze every dollar out of it that you can. Dave is a master of that.


----------



## Frylock

pmyers said:


> Of course there is a lot of luck, but that's not everything. Some of them are better at this than others. It's not what you find in the locker, but if you can squeeze every dollar out of it that you can. Dave is a master of that.


True. It also depends on what you do. Dave and Jarrod/Brandi have stores. That makes it easier to unload stuff. Darrell seems to do swap meets, which has to be tougher. Barry I wonder what he does with the stuff he doesn't want. He can't be crazy enough to just trash it. I wonder if he is just selling the remaining stuff to anyone else who comes and lets them deal with it after he picks through the locker first, and then they just don't air that... But with Barry, who knows...


----------



## pmyers

Frylock said:


> True. It also depends on what you do. Dave and Jarrod/Brandi have stores. That makes it easier to unload stuff. Darrell seems to do swap meets, which has to be tougher. Barry I wonder what he does with the stuff he doesn't want. He can't be crazy enough to just trash it. I wonder if he is just selling the remaining stuff to anyone else who comes and lets them deal with it after he picks through the locker first, and then they just don't air that... But with Barry, who knows...


Exactly...you are going to make your money on all of the $1/$2 items and you have to have a way to sell that stuff. You aren't going to be able to profit with the random "big score".

I actually think Darrell and his swap meet might be an easier outlet as the overhead is much lower and that's where people go to buy that type of stuff.

I would predict (and they've showed Barry do it once) that Barry ends up selling the leftover junk to B&J or Hester.


----------



## Snappa77

Is Nabila going to become a regular?


I hope so.


----------



## Gregor

The Flush said:


> I wonder if the buyers ever donate their low value stuff like clothes to Goodwill or some other charity? They always seem to talk about taking stuff to the dump, but it seems like someone could still get some value out of it. I don't think I have heard them say they are donating stuff. I assume they could still get a tax deduction, plus it would offer some redeeming qualities that most of them appear to lack.


Saw an ep last year where Dave took a bunch of stuff he couldn't sell in his store to Goodwill.


----------



## Azlen

Snappa77 said:


> Is Nabila going to become a regular?
> 
> I hope so.


I read somewhere that Dave is playing hardball with his salary for next season. I think they brought in Nabila in to have a bit of leverage. It looks like she could step into his role pretty easily


----------



## uncdrew

pmyers said:


> Of course there is a lot of luck, but that's not everything. Some of them are better at this than others. It's not what you find in the locker, but if you can squeeze every dollar out of it that you can. Dave is a master of that.


Yeah, I meant the "winner" of each show is usually due to luck. Whichever drawer is hiding that thing that puts them on top.


----------



## Bob Coxner

Magister said:


> 2 years ago I just gave away a Sony Wega 36in tube to who ever could carry it away. No one wants a big deep tv that takes up your room.


I have a 34" Sony HD CRT. Yeah, it weighs almost 200 pounds, but it's the best tv I've ever owned and the picture will blow away every LCD in existence. I still want it.


----------



## Hank

Just read this on Wikipedia:



> In a recent highlight episode, Darrell revealed that he once uncovered a plastic-wrapped human corpse in a storage locker. He was interviewed by police and it was determined that the previous owner of the locker had murdered his wife and left her in the unit.


Also, this was interesting:



> Executive producer Thom Beers has stated that the vast majority of the storage lockers investigated during production contain nothing of interest and therefore do not appear in the final show. Beers has explained that the series avoids delving into back stories of the lockers' original owners because, "All you see is misery there, and I didn't want to trade on that."


And this little tidbit:



> While Barry is a lifelong antique collector, he had no involvement in buying storage units until his friend and Storage Wars executive producer Thom Beers suggested he join the show


----------



## pmyers

I got an interesting email today. I belong to this website (which I heard about here) that notifies you of upcoming local storage auctions. They sent this to me:

Another Red Flag Scenario

Dear patrick,
The storage door rolls open and immediately you know you want this unit. Brand name boxes galore - everything from Sony and Pottery Barn to Ralph Lauren shoe boxes. But take a second look before you assume you just made this months rent.
Given the recent interest in storage auctions, it's no surprise that the frequency of scams has increased. We've already warned you about staged units and pilfered lockers, but you also need to beware of tenant scams. Recall that when a unit sells for more than the amount owed to the storage facility any additional money goes to the tenant. On occasion, a tenant may allow a unit to go delinquent to make a profit.
If the tenant simply abandons the unit to allow it to go to auction, you as a bidder are not in danger. But if someone collected brand name boxes, and deliberately placed them in a unit to generate higher bids, then you'll overpay for a unit full of empty boxes.

We don't mean to suggest that this is the norm, but it does happen. Here's a few tips to help you avoid tenant scams.

#1 Scrutinize every unit. Don't be dazzled by brand name boxes - always consider whether the unit looks natural. Are all the brand names facing you so you can easily read them? Is there anything to indicate the boxes have anything inside of them? Does the unit look too clean to be a genuine storage unit? Too empty to justify the cost of paying monthly rent?

#2 Find out how long the unit has been rented. If the unit was only rented three or four months ago (just long enough for the unit to end up at auction) then bells should go off.

#3 Find out how much delinquent rent is due. If the rent due is $500 but the unit would likely only go for $500 or less, it's not likely a tenant scam because the tenant won't make any money. On the other hand, if the tenant got their first month free or for $1, then their delinquent rent might only be $100 and they could make an easy (albeit unethical) $400. 
Protecting You on Auction Day,
Your Storage Treasures Crew

Forward Me!

Check us out on Facebook & Twitter for weekly Giveaways!

Here are a few links you might find useful:
Professional Self Storage Auction Tips
How To Locate A Storage Auction
Self Storage Units Containing Cars
Please do NOT reply to this message. If you would like to contact us please use [email protected]

© 2011 StorageTreasures Inc., All Right Reserved. 500 Damonte Ranch Parkway, Ste. 1008, Reno, NV 89521, P 800.213.4183, F 775.376.5721 StorageTreasures respects your privacy. To unsubscribe from emails like this, click here.


----------



## Jayjoans

Storagetreasures.com = owned by Dan and Laura Dotson and Dave Hester.


----------



## pmyers

Jayjoans said:


> Storagetreasures.com = owned by Dan and Laura Dotson and Dave Hester.


Interesting. I'm in AZ so I get alerts for here.


----------



## FiftyoneFifty

Azlen said:


> I read somewhere that Dave is playing hardball with his salary for next season. I think they brought in Nabila in to have a bit of cleavage. It looks like she could step into his role pretty easily


Fixed it for ya.


----------



## Boston Fan

Jayjoans said:


> Storagetreasures.com = owned by Dan and Laura Dotson and Dave Hester.


Are you sure? The website show Lance Watkins as the CEO and "concepualizer" and the Dotsons as two of the co-founders, but no mention of Hester.

http://www.storagetreasures.com/info/about-us


----------



## Jayjoans

hmm.. I had heard through the storage grapevine that Hester was a partner too. He is often pimping for Storagetreasures.com, in his tweets, websites and interviews. There may be just a synergistic relationship there, since Dotson and Hester are also partners in an auction house.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/5/prweb8458957.htm


----------



## jradosh

Meh... I've grown tired of this genre.


----------



## Boston Fan

It is getting a wee bit overplayed. We only watch a couple of this genre as filler, so there is still a bit of interest for us.


----------



## CharlieW

jradosh said:


> Meh... I've grown tired of this genre.


At it's core, I still find Storage Wars entertaining for the "characters". A&E has truly done a disservice to this show though by overplaying it to death. It's not the type of show that lends itself to repeated viewings, yet they seem to have marathons of this show at least twice per week.

SW Texas, Auction Hunters etc -- none of them really hold my interest. I think we still have a season pass set up for SW Texas, but it's always one of the last things on the DVR that gets watched.


----------



## secondclaw

Part of the problem is the longer i watch it the more obvious the fake aspects get (like Barry bringing along psychics, a marine with a 'thopter, a guy on stilts,etc ) and the 'characters' aren't really improving or changing. Really getting boring, so i just fast-forward to them digging through the lockers. Some other things that have been irritating me :
- Fake exclamation when they 'find' something - right before commercial break - which half the time ends up being nothing at all. At least its predictable and i can FF sooner.
- The appraisals are obviously set up (like the awkward 5-second pause before the appraiser announces the price)
- Funny money calculations (not just Hester, who's just too blatant)
- Jarrod with his stupid outlaw t-shirt (if this was 'reality' would he really only wear one damn shirt ... its obviously a marketing push for his company)
eh ... there is so much, will stop now ... and I deleted SW:Texas already - the cast was completely un-watchable. Frankly if not for Brandi and Barry i'd have deleted SW by now as well.


----------



## Frylock

Hop on over to Shipping Wars. It is pretty good.


----------



## MarkofT

I signed up for that Storage Treasures website and on Thursday they sent an email with the following subject:


> Want to be on a Reality Show?


I guess part of the production company behind Pawn Stars is looking to cast for a reality show that follows pickers around garage sales and asked the folks running the site for help. The best part is this:


> Here's their wish list - but they are willing to color outside the lines:
> 
> Pickers with a picking partner preferred (submit separate videos)
> 30 - 60 years young
> In Texas or the South
> Pick for a living
> "Rough appearance" .... tattoos welcome!
> Southern accent preferred


----------



## pmyers

LOL...I was just coming here to post the same email that I received!


----------



## warrenn

Looks like Barry is getting his own show:

*"What Are You Worth" Storage Wars Spin Off Now Casting*

Now casting dynamic, energetic families who have a compelling need for some extra cash.
Barry Weiss, a stylish antique collector known for his outlandish buying tactics and his great one-liners on the hit series "Storage Wars", will soon star in his own series, "What Are You Worth".
The program will feature a respected team of estate sale, auction, and antique experts, led by Mr. Weiss, as they examine the contents of various homes and determine the worth of everyday American families.
For more information or to apply, please visit www.metalflowersmedia.com or call 310-857-8575


----------



## ElJay

Without Barry I'm not sure I would care to continue watching Storage Wars.


----------



## Mikeyis4dcats

also from that casting link above, it appears Storage Wars Miami and SW NYC are on the way.


----------



## pmyers

Anybody watch the last episode of Auction Hunters where they went up to Alaska?

That auctioneer (as portrayed) sure was something...stall for an outsider and then quick close for a local and then (possibly) ghost bid.

Anybody remember or know that term that he called "Ton"?


----------



## scooterboy

Cheechako


----------



## pmyers

Anybody watch the New Jersey episode? A silent auction? Why would they do that?


----------



## DanB

pmyers said:


> Anybody watch the New Jersey episode? A silent auction? Why would they do that?


Didnt they say it usually makes more money for the auctioneer/facility? People have only one shot so they have to put in a decent bid which usually means close to the max they were going to bid anyways.


----------



## Frylock

Mikeyis4dcats said:


> also from that casting link above, it appears Storage Wars Miami and SW NYC are on the way.


Oh good. Now we can have more variations of the same people. All with awful stereotypes.

It makes sense. This show has to be dirt cheap to produce. And clearly its popular.


----------



## pmyers

DanB said:


> Didnt they say it usually makes more money for the auctioneer/facility? People have only one shot so they have to put in a decent bid which usually means close to the max they were going to bid anyways.


maybe I missed that. I can't wrap my head around that that would create higher bids over the long run. Interesting.


----------



## Donbadabon

They mentioned it was cheaper because they didn't have to hire an auctioneer.
But I would think the auctioneer could pull more money from the crowds, especially if he called out ghost bids like the one in Alaska did. (rolling eyes)


----------



## Magister

Auctions around here are silent too.


----------



## uncdrew

Frylock said:


> Oh good. Now we can have more variations of the same people. All with awful stereotypes.
> 
> It makes sense. This show has to be dirt cheap to produce. And clearly its popular.


A friend of mine owns a few of the facilities in Texas where they film this. I said "sweet, that must be a welcome revenue stream for you."

He said they don't get paid a dime.


----------



## Hank

uncdrew said:


> A friend of mine owns a few of the facilities in Texas where they film this. I said "sweet, that must be a welcome revenue stream for you."
> 
> He said they don't get paid a dime.


Then either he gets a lot of great fee advertising, or he's a bad negotiator.


----------



## Win Joy Jr

Hank said:


> Then either he gets a lot of great fee advertising, or he's a bad negotiator.


If these are truly public auctions, I am not sure what sort of position the owner of the facility can take on extracting a fee for production.


----------



## Boston Fan

Win Joy Jr said:
 

> If these are truly public auctions, I am not sure what sort of position the owner of the facility can take on extracting a fee for production.


Seems quite simple, really: Don't allow them to film on the property.


----------



## vertigo235

I bet having them there might increase some of the bids.


----------



## pmyers

vertigo235 said:


> I bet having them there might increase some of the bids.


absolutely. I remember they original guys saying there would be like 10 people at an auction and now there are 100. Of course some of them just show up hoping to be on TV, but I bet the avg price per locker is way more than it used to be.


----------



## Donbadabon

With all the success they show from the Auction Hunters, I would think a good strategy would be to always *just* outbid them until they reach their max. That way you could win it by just barely beating them out.

Sure you may get stuck with some duds, but you'd also get some of their big scores too.

Of course this strategy would require you to have cash-on-hand, and some good contacts to offload the stuff.


----------



## pmyers

Donbadabon said:


> With all the success they show from the Auction Hunters, I would think a good strategy would be to always *just* outbid them until they reach their max. That way you could win it by just barely beating them out.
> 
> Sure you may get stuck with some duds, but you'd also get some of their big scores too.
> 
> Of course this strategy would require you to have cash-on-hand, and some good contacts to offload the stuff.


You sound like the perfect customer! hehe

What you don't see is the other hundred lockers they bought that had trash in them.


----------



## Frylock

New season of Storage Wars starts on Wednesday.


----------



## Ment

Ads for the next season of SW are ridiculous. Hope it's not a portend of more manufactured drama.


----------



## pmyers

In the latest ep of Storage Wars they said Hester sold his stores....I wonder how he's been selling stuff and wonder if that's why he hadn't been buying anything but still showing up at auctions just to keep his name out there


----------



## secondclaw

And if I remember correctly he joked that with all the prices he's driving up he should go in business with the auctioneer. Which i think has already happened in some way.



pmyers said:


> In the latest ep of Storage Wars they said Hester sold his stores....I wonder how he's been selling stuff and wonder if that's why he hadn't been buying anything but still showing up at auctions just to keep his name out there


----------



## Boston Fan

He sells through the auction house he started in partnership with the auctioneer.


----------



## Frylock

I know he started his own auction house, but I think he's hurting. He's working out of a 2,000 sq ft warehouse. He stopped bringing that ridiculous truck he had. He no longer comes with a crew of guys. And he doesn't buy anything ever.

All adds up to his business is hurting more than he'd like to let on. I guess those ridiculous valuations he used to throw out weren't as valid as he'd like the audience to believe.


----------



## secondclaw

Couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow ...
For all the times he drove up the price to suck money from others .. (disclaimer - it could all be fake I know ... )



Frylock said:


> I know he started his own auction house, but I think he's hurting. He's working out of a 2,000 sq ft warehouse. He stopped bringing that ridiculous truck he had. He no longer comes with a crew of guys. And he doesn't buy anything ever.
> 
> All adds up to his business is hurting more than he'd like to let on. I guess those ridiculous valuations he used to throw out weren't as valid as he'd like the audience to believe.


----------



## Azlen

Didn't Darrell bring it up last season that he had heard Dave was hurting financially?

You would think people would start dumping lockers on him. That would keep him from driving the prices up.

I think this show may have been a contributing cause to his hardships. More people have been going to auctions and driving prices up and people don't like him which is going to keep them from going to his store or doing business with him.


----------



## ElJay

Azlen said:


> You would think people would start dumping lockers on him. That would keep him from driving the prices up.


It would be great to see an entire episode of people dumping crap on Dave. Maybe he'd eventually get the message.


----------



## Azlen

I wonder if Dave is gone for good. 

The storyline with the new guy was kinda silly. I don't believe the friction with him and the auctioneer for a second.


----------



## marksman

I have only been watching recently because of viggle but is Dave the yup guy?


----------



## pmyers

LOL...poor Darrell!


----------



## Ment

new guy in SW is even worse than Dave. Boy does he think the world is out to screw him.


----------



## ElJay

There were reports of Dave being a pinhead during contract negotiations, plus the show has made it pretty clear he's got some financial problems. Maybe he overvalued himself out of a job?

The new guy seems to be a total moron, even more so than Dave Hester.


----------



## DanB

That auctioneer better not be in cahoots with Barry. 

Like there's anything on this show that isnt staged? I always like how they complain about not buying enough units but always have time to go look through a unit they just bought while the auction is still going on.


----------



## pmyers

ElJay said:


> There were reports of Dave being a pinhead during contract negotiations, plus the show has made it pretty clear he's got some financial problems. Maybe he overvalued himself out of a job?
> 
> The new guy seems to be a total moron, even more so than Dave Hester.


I wondered the same thing. Dave Hester does not make or break this show.


----------



## JFriday

I think the only person that would be missed is Brandy, because she's the only woman and she's hot.


----------



## Ment

JFriday said:


> I think the only person that would be missed is Brandy, because she's the only woman and she's hot.


Not sure if its a personal or producer decision but she flaunted it more in S1.


----------



## verdugan

JFriday said:


> I think the only person that would be missed is Brandy, because she's the only woman and she's hot.


I absolutely detest her husband. I wish he would only stay in the shop and Brady did the auctions.


----------



## pmyers

I actually like Brandy and Jarrod's interactions. They really seem to like to needle each other which I find funny.


----------



## ElJay

I hated the guy to begin with, but now I feel like Jarrod is mostly putting on a show... The Chumlee of Storage Wars.



Ment said:


> Not sure if its a personal or producer decision but she flaunted it more in S1.


I noticed that too. Maybe she then saw herself on TV and decided to dial it down a bit. I think this is season 1:


----------



## JFriday

I saw a promo at the movies last night, she didn't tone it down in the commercial.


----------



## Einselen

I am shocked that no one would bid at least $1 on the one locker. Sure you have to clean out the locker, but the plastic hangers alone were worth at least the $1 plus whatever bonus items you may find.

Also why is Dave off by himself? Was this part of his contract to come back? I almost feel the producers are taking Dave's own crap he can't sell and placing it in the "units he wins" so it looks like he is still doing business.


----------



## DavidTigerFan

The Dave stuff is just ridiculous. I don't care that he "won" a locker. I want to see him bidding against the other guys. Also, can darrel STFU about Brandon "pulling his own weight"? Its getting old.

What was with a few episodes ago where Darrel won like 6 lockers and they do a quick montage of him saying he got $23k. I mean WTF? Why didn't anyone else bid on those.


----------



## pmyers

I wonder if Hester being at other auctions has to do with his business relationship with Dan the auctioneer....meaning the are distancing themselves from each other.


----------



## pmyers

pmyers said:


> I wonder if Hester being at other auctions has to do with his business relationship with Dan the auctioneer....meaning the are distancing themselves from each other.


well, I watched the next episode and there was Hester. I guess I have no idea why they are showing him go through lockers he bought at other auctions, but I don't like it.


----------



## JFriday

I was wondering that too, it would appear that there could be potentially an unfair advantage if someone you're partners with is bidding on lockers in your action.


----------



## DanB

pmyers said:


> well, I watched the next episode and there was Hester. I guess I have no idea why they are showing him go through lockers he bought at other auctions, but I don't like it.


but at least it got rid of the new guy, Jeff Jarred or whatever his name was, for a couple shows.

also, not a fan of the "tweet" popups.


----------



## warrenn

pmyers said:


> well, I watched the next episode and there was Hester. I guess I have no idea why they are showing him go through lockers he bought at other auctions, but I don't like it.


It seems weird to have him doing his thing on the side. And I really believe all the treasure he finds just happened to be in the locker. There's no chance he put a few goodies in there before the camera came.


----------



## scooterboy

At this point, I'm really only watching for three reasons: the first is Barry (who reminds me of a dear deceased uncle), and Brandi.


----------



## DavidTigerFan

scooterboy said:


> At this point, I'm really only watching for three reasons: the first is Barry (who reminds me of a dear deceased uncle), and Brandi.


And the third?  or does Brandi count as two?


----------



## pmyers

scooterboy said:


> At this point, I'm really only watching for three reasons: the first is Barry (who reminds me of a dear deceased uncle), and Brandi.


well played sir...well played!


----------



## Einselen

DavidTigerFan said:


> And the third?  or does Brandi count as two?


Woosh!


----------



## DavidTigerFan

Einselen said:


> Woosh!


----------



## Maui

Nice to see dave lose a bet (and a sizable one) to Barry, proving that Dave does not know everything and probably overvalues everything he finds for the cameras (but we already knew that (27" tube tv - 200 bucks))


----------



## ElJay

Jarrod needs to start dropping lockers on Dave. I don't think we've seen a single instance where Dave has bid up Jarrod and it's been worth the money.

I was really happy to see Barry win the bet... I'd suspect the sofas from the Victorian era are more elaborate than this one, which his probably why Barry was so confident going in.


----------



## verdugan

Add me to the list of people who are happy that Dave lost the bet.

I was surprised at Barry's German attornery plan. Wonder if the other guys will take it out on him.


----------



## Ment

verdugan said:


> Add me to the list of people who are happy that Dave lost the bet.
> 
> I was surprised at Barry's German attornery plan. Wonder if the other guys will take it out on him.


I'm sure everyone knows by now that anything out of the ordinary at the auctions means Barry is involved.


----------



## verdugan

Ment said:


> I'm sure everyone knows by now that anything out of the ordinary at the auctions means Barry is involved.


I don't know. Darrel sounded pretty serious when he was talking about his possible new German venture.


----------



## Frylock

Maui said:


> Nice to see dave lose a bet (and a sizable one) to Barry, proving that Dave does not know everything and probably overvalues everything he finds for the cameras (but we already knew that (27" tube tv - 200 bucks))


What about his valuation of the $800 locker... $200 for the king tut head? I understand these guys like to inflate prices, but at least make it somewhat reasonable! I also love how Dave is downplaying his "downsizing".


----------



## Jebberwocky!

Ment said:


> I'm sure everyone knows by now that anything out of the ordinary at the auctions means Barry is involved.





Frylock said:


> What about his valuation of the $800 locker... $200 for the king tut head? I understand these guys like to inflate prices, but at least make it somewhat reasonable! I also love how Dave is downplaying his "downsizing".


I was hoping Brandon was going to call Dave's bluff and get into his face.

I would have 

Dave downsizing his operation just gives evidence to his absence of reality.


----------



## DavidTigerFan

Seriously, who does Dave blow to make these crazy bs valuations. The locker that he got that had the raid storage cages in them was not worth $16k. Using his numbers he said he'd sell them for $100 each. To me there looked to be 4 stacks of 6 boxes each. That's 24 boxes with 6 of those inside. So 144 raid cages at $100 each is ~$14k. 

BUT where the hell is he going to be able to sell 144 raid cages? He's not a reseller. I don't think he walked away with much at all and I wish they'd follow up on previous purchases.


----------



## Kablemodem

Those things have terrible reviews on Newegg and no one seems to sell them anymore. i saw some prices as low as $5.


----------



## Frylock

DavidTigerFan said:


> Seriously, who does Dave blow to make these crazy bs valuations. The locker that he got that had the raid storage cages in them was not worth $16k. Using his numbers he said he'd sell them for $100 each. To me there looked to be 4 stacks of 6 boxes each. That's 24 boxes with 6 of those inside. So 144 raid cages at $100 each is ~$14k.
> 
> BUT where the hell is he going to be able to sell 144 raid cages? He's not a reseller. I don't think he walked away with much at all and I wish they'd follow up on previous purchases.


His $100 price point to begin with was ridiculous. Some things I get you could sell in bulk quickly. Those? Not so much.


----------



## Frylock

The second episode was just as bad, if not worse, with Dave's evaluations. I also like how he's gone from sitting back and watching his massive crew move stuff, to just him and his son. Yeah Dave, you are doing so well, you had to sell your store and lay off your whole staff.


----------



## pmyers

DavidTigerFan said:


> ...BUT where the hell is he going to be able to sell 144 raid cages? He's not a reseller...


Ebay...buy it now...a couple at a time or somebody can buy them all.


----------



## innocentfreak

When did A&E start in with the annoying Twitter bar scrolling tweets? I will probably dump their shows if they keep this up.


----------



## pmyers

innocentfreak said:


> When did A&E start in with the annoying Twitter bar scrolling tweets? I will probably dump their shows if they keep this up.


I see it on a lot of shows, including regular network shows.


----------



## innocentfreak

pmyers said:


> I see it on a lot of shows, including regular network shows.


It must be on regular network shows I don't watch then. I have seen the hashtag, but never popup tweets or a bar constantly streaming tweets.

I was watching a recent episode of Storage Wars and they started popping up tweets from the various people. Then I checked my bedroom TiVo since it records suggestions and some other A&E show had a dedicated blue bar for tweets. It is definitely annoying.


----------



## VegasVic

I hate all on screen crap when I'm watching a show. Put a small network logo in a corner if you must. But I don't want big pop ups pimping other shows or any other garbage on the screen.


----------



## DavidTigerFan

I bet A&E is kicking themselves for not filiming this auction.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/29/us/florida-storage-body-parts/index.html


----------



## Maui

DavidTigerFan said:


> I bet A&E is kicking themselves for not filiming this auction.
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/29/us/florida-storage-body-parts/index.html


Darrell: What the hell?
CUT TO COMMERCIAL


----------



## TheMerk

Barry: Oh boy, look what we have here!
CUT TO COMMERCIAL


----------



## DavidTigerFan

Lol


----------



## JFriday

That's a $40.00 bill all day long!!


----------



## Mikeyis4dcats

Maui said:


> Darrell: What the hell?
> CUT TO COMMERCIAL


more like:

Darrell: $500!
Lady: Don't forget to pay the lady!
Darrell: What the hell?
CUT TO COMMERCIAL
Darrell: $500!
Lady: Don't forget to pay the lady!
Darrell: What the hell?


----------



## Boot

innocentfreak said:


> When did A&E start in with the annoying Twitter bar scrolling tweets? I will probably dump their shows if they keep this up.


To be fair, it's not like they're broadcasting viewers' tweets. It's commentary by the cast themselves. I ignore the Twitter icon, and consider it part of the show. Like one of the cutaway interview shots, but without cutting away.


----------



## pmyers

JFriday said:


> That's a $40.00 bill all day long!!


LOL...He's my favorite!


----------



## DavidTigerFan

WTF was up with the last episode? Dave pulls out one mans suit ( Burberry supposedly ) and value instantly goes to $1500. What one suit is worth $1500?


----------



## Mikeyis4dcats

DavidTigerFan said:


> WTF was up with the last episode? Dave pulls out one mans suit ( Burberry supposedly ) and value instantly goes to $1500. What one suit is worth $1500?


A $1500 suit is not particularly expensive as far as custom high end suits. That said, a Burberry suit can usually be had new for $600-$1300.


----------



## ElJay

Dave seems to typically estimate at least 400% of what people are going to actually spend on his junk. Viewers should be accustomed to it by now.


----------



## Snappa77

I thought Dave was bad till I started watching Storage Wars Texas. Those girls who fix up the shi...er...um..'stuff' they buy and that FauxBarry Moe have insane prices.


----------



## Kablemodem

Their prices are what they think they can sell the stuff for once they add their touches. I don't think the prices are unreasonable.


----------



## LifeIsABeach

Anyone still watching Auction Hunters? Looks like "Princess" may become a regular. Alan and her look pretty chummy. I wonder if they are dating. Lucky Alan if they are!


----------



## pmyers

LifeIsABeach said:


> Anyone still watching Auction Hunters? Looks like "Princess" may become a regular. Alan and her look pretty chummy. I wonder if they are dating. Lucky Alan if they are!


Gawd that was lame! Please send her packing.


----------



## Donbadabon

She was nice to look at. I won't complain about that.
I have to wonder if her appearance in the earlier shows was just a setup for this. Seems like it was, but I guess you never know.


----------



## JLucPicard

I'm a fan of Auction Hunters. I tried sitting through at least a dozen eps of Storage Wars and just did not like the people.

I'm interested to see where they go with the newest member of the team - if she sticks around long enough to be considered that.


----------



## pmyers

So I guess she's here to stay....how strange


----------



## Byteofram

pmyers said:


> So I guess she's here to stay....how strange


The producers wanted her on the show badly I guess and wanted her to travel to the other areas outside where she normally bought lockers, but didn't want to piss off the "stars" of the show. Wonder if she gets an equal cut or just gets paid a percentage of the profits or a salary or what.


----------



## pmyers

I just don't understand what she brings to the team/show other than boobs. She doesn't seem to have any skills or knowledge or area of expertise that the guys don't already have. I wonder if the are just prepping her for a spinoff show.


----------



## scooterboy

pmyers said:


> I just don't understand what she brings to the team/show other than boobs.


I think you understand it just fine.

It's their version of Danielle, but missing the personality.


----------



## Azlen

Contract issues with Dave Hester and talk that the show is fake. (Though the article doesn't have any proof)

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/11/storage-wars-dave-hester-battle-show-fake


----------



## scooterboy

A reality show? Faked?

I'm shocked! Shocked I say!


----------



## ElJay

This is the second time in a year we've heard about Dave being a dumbass in contract negotiations. I don't think he's nearly as important to the show as he apparently thinks he is.


----------



## pmyers

ElJay said:


> This is the second time in a year we've heard about Dave being a dumbass in contract negotiations. I don't think he's nearly as important to the show as he apparently thinks he is.


I totally agree. I would also argue that he is the "star" of the show. I'd be just fine without him.


----------



## secondclaw

I personally watch the show for the stuff in the lockers, not for the mostly fake personalities. Hester will not be missed.


----------



## pmyers

besides...everybody knows who the 2 real stars of this show are.....


----------



## Einselen

pmyers said:


> besides...everybody knows who the 2 real stars of this show are.....


Darrell and Brandon Sheets?


----------



## Hank

Zoom.


think "twins".


----------



## pmyers

Hank said:


> Zoom.
> 
> think "twins".


ding ding ding...we have a winner!


----------



## Boston Fan

Hank said:


> Zoom.
> 
> think "twins".


There was definitely a zoom, but not on Einselen.


----------



## Einselen

Boston Fan said:


> There was definitely a zoom, but not on Einselen.


My post was definitely zoom bait.


----------



## Hank

Einselen said:


> My post was definitely zoom bait.


Sure, now you claim it was, after the fact.


----------



## Boston Fan

Hard to claim a zoom before the fact.


----------



## MarkofT

pmyers said:


> besides...everybody knows who the 2 real stars of this show are.....


Barry and his guest of the week? :up:


----------



## Einselen

Boston Fan said:


> Hard to claim a zoom before the fact.


I could have done an encrypted message and then posted the key after the zoom, but then I think that would draw extra attention to the setup.


----------



## 2004raptor

Storage Wars is rigged!!!

Things should get heated. And I'm wondering about the plastic surgery comment.


----------



## Bob Coxner

2004raptor said:


> Storage Wars is rigged!!!
> 
> Things should get heated. And I'm wondering about the plastic surgery comment.


As in Casablanca...I'm shocked, shocked to discover that a reality show is faked!


----------



## Maui

2004raptor said:


> Storage Wars is rigged!!!
> 
> Things should get heated. And I'm wondering about the plastic surgery comment.


Dave is *****ing and moaning and filing a lawsuit? Color me shocked.


----------



## Azlen

Yeah, Dave has so much integrity that he just couldn't continue to perpetuate fraud on the public. Right... 
He needs money and that's all there is to it.


----------



## pmyers

I wonder if him and Dan are still business partners?


----------



## Boston Fan

pmyers said:


> I wonder if him and Dan are still business partners?


I'm gonna bet no, since Dan is among those Hester is accusing of perpetuating fraud. Or at least not friendly partners.


----------



## Andrew_S

I don't mind if the show is faked, but salting the storage lockers steps over the line. Anything else is fair game.


----------



## pmyers

Boston Fan said:


> I'm gonna bet no, since Dan is among those Hester is accusing of perpetuating fraud. Or at least not friendly partners.


I would agree. Dan is even quoted in that article.

Seems like that would be something easily proven if it was true because the storage facilities would have to be in on it too, as well as all the "stars".


----------



## ElJay

I'm glad to see Dave has been shown the door. Somebody should sue him for his outrageous valuations.


----------



## GDG76

I don't think the auctioneers would have to be in on it. After the locker is sold, nothing is stopping A&E from putting stuff in there.

I had always thought there wouldn't be these valuable treasures so I'm sure Hester is correct (and a jerk to boot )


----------



## Ment

2004raptor said:


> Storage Wars is rigged!!!
> 
> Things should get heated. And I'm wondering about the plastic surgery comment.


Dang Brandi's not real.


----------



## Boston Fan

Ment said:


> Dang Brandi's not real.


Nah, they're real. I think the plastic surgery money was for Darrel's moobs.


----------



## TheMerk

There's really only two female cast members: Brandi and Dan's wife.

Brandi already had sex appeal. I'm betting Dan's wife is the one who got plastic surgery. Also, Hester's business relationship with Dan would make him more likely to know such a thing.


----------



## Azlen

A few things in Dave's legal complaint that I found kinda funny.
-He claims what they are doing is illegal based on the law that made it illegal to fix game shows.
-That it was his work on the show that caused him to have to close his store fronts.
-They gave money to the less experienced buyers in order to compete with him and that they didn't give him any money to buy the units. Dave's high opinion of himself permeates the entire filing.

I think this has all came about because Dave wanted more money. He threatened to "expose" the show if they didn't cave to his demands. They didn't cave so here they are. I wonder how much money they will give him to say nice things about the show and go away. I would think A&E would want to avoid going to trial.


----------



## mrdazzo7

I'm still completely baffled by the massive popularity of this show. I genuinely don't get it. You're watching the same four (annoying people) try to outbid each other for storage lockers anyone with half a brain would know are rigged with stuff, and then "winning" based on numbers they're making up on the spot on what something COULD sell for. So not only is the stuff they're competing for not genuine, but the method of determining who wins is based on absolutely nothing. So how is this one of the top rated reality shows on TV?

I tried to watch it a while back and couldn't stop laughing at the fact that people are so into it. I think it was Dave going through a locker and everything he sees he's just throwing out amounts and they're being tallied on the bottom of the screen. Then when I see those numbers gauge the winner, and then there's always an interview with said Winner being all gloaty, I threw in the towel, lol. 

I know all reality shows are fake, but what's the entertainment value here? On the other side, believe it or not I still have discussions with my coworker who fully believes this show is legit (and most reality shows as well). I hope she's not too devastated when she reads about this lawsuit.


----------



## Maui

mrdazzo7 said:


> I'm still completely baffled by the massive popularity of this show. I genuinely don't get it. You're watching the same four (annoying people) try to outbid each other for storage lockers anyone with half a brain would know are rigged with stuff, and then "winning" based on numbers they're making up on the spot on what something COULD sell for. So not only is the stuff they're competing for not genuine, but the method of determining who wins is based on absolutely nothing. So how is this one of the top rated reality shows on TV?
> 
> I tried to watch it a while back and couldn't stop laughing at the fact that people are so into it. I think it was Dave going through a locker and everything he sees he's just throwing out amounts and they're being tallied on the bottom of the screen. Then when I see those numbers gauge the winner, and then there's always an interview with said Winner being all gloaty, I threw in the towel, lol.
> 
> I know all reality shows are fake, but what's the entertainment value here? On the other side, believe it or not I still have discussions with my coworker who fully believes this show is legit (and most reality shows as well). I hope she's not too devastated when she reads about this lawsuit.


Next you'll be telling me that wrestling is fake and that I should not be enjoying it either.


----------



## mrdazzo7

Maui said:


> Next you'll be telling me that wrestling is fake and that I should not be enjoying it either.


Exactly!!! lol... I guess there's still some entertainment value there since you don't know the outcome (like a scripted TV show), but I don't think a fake competition/sporting event has the same feel. I look at it as if the NFL or MLB was rigged/scripted. Any drama that comes from watching a game would be gone. For me anyway.


----------



## Arcady

I watched this show tonight. The thing about them making up a number and then using that as their profit really bugs me. Darrell pulls out an old Apple CRT monitor and says something like "this here computer will make $400 easy" and they mark off $400 on his tally. The only problem is, that's not a computer, it's an old monitor. And it only works on a very small number of pretty old (G4, G5) Macs. A seller would be lucky to get $25 for that monitor. Unless they follow up and see what these items really sell for, what's the point. Dave can stand around making up numbers all day about $25 bags of clothes, but until he sells them, they aren't worth a cent.


----------



## Kablemodem

It's not a game show and the cast are not contestants. What has Dave been smoking?

I hope it goes to trial. Mr. Hester, do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!


----------



## secondclaw

I watch it to learn a bit about interesting stuff found in the lockers, and for Brandi and Barry. I fast-forward through bidding process and cringe though 'appraisals' and stop watching before the tally summary at the end. And never presume the 'treasures' are there by chance.


----------



## Hank

I think this show is more about history and less about real auctions, just like Pawn Stars is. Like you said, it would be better if they just lined up all the interesting items found in lockers (for real) and got experts to talk about them and how much they're worth. OR, if they did it as ACTUAL REALITY, and sure, pick and choose which lockers they include in the show, but cut out all the set ups and plants.


----------



## pmyers

Arcady said:


> I watched this show tonight. The thing about them making up a number and then using that as their profit really bugs me. Darrell pulls out an old Apple CRT monitor and says something like "this here computer will make $400 easy" and they mark off $400 on his tally. The only problem is, that's not a computer, it's an old monitor. And it only works on a very small number of pretty old (G4, G5) Macs. A seller would be lucky to get $25 for that monitor. Unless they follow up and see what these items really sell for, what's the point. Dave can stand around making up numbers all day about $25 bags of clothes, but until he sells them, they aren't worth a cent.


I just take that all with a grain of salt and chalk it up to an easy way to show the viewers who the losers and winners are. There has to be some way of keeping score. I'd also say that most shows do something very similiar especially all the home flip shows.


----------



## verdugan

Hank said:


> I think this show is more about history and less about real auctions, just like Pawn Stars is. Like you said, it would be better if they just lined up all the interesting items found in lockers (for real) and got experts to talk about them and how much they're worth.


You should be watching Antiques Roadshow


----------



## ElJay

Azlen said:


> I think this has all came about because Dave wanted more money. He threatened to "expose" the show if they didn't cave to his demands. They didn't cave so here they are. I wonder how much money they will give him to say nice things about the show and go away. I would think A&E would want to avoid going to trial.


The lawsuit says he was essentially going to rake in at least $750,000 for the season. ($25k per episode plus a _huge_ expense account.) He should've been happy with that, because I think he's overvaluing himself.

The producers of the show aren't doing any harm to their viewers by making it interesting. I'd be very happy to sign a job offer that said, "We're going to make you look like a total moron on a TV show, and here is $750,000 in compensation for this few week's worth of work."


----------



## DaveMN

verdugan said:


> You should be watching Antiques Roadshow


Or Lake Dredge Appraisal


----------



## pmyers

GDG76 said:


> I don't think the auctioneers would have to be in on it. After the locker is sold, nothing is stopping A&E from putting stuff in there.
> 
> I had always thought there wouldn't be these valuable treasures so I'm sure Hester is correct (and a jerk to boot )


You do have a point there. I was thinking more about them doing it before hand.....but after they won the locker would make much more sense. they could then stage the locker however they want with no laws to worry about.


----------



## VegasVic




----------



## Kablemodem

Dave rarely buys any lockers anyway. All he does is bid them up. I'm glad to see him gone from the show, but I hope they don't replace him with the guy who hates Dan.


----------



## Donbadabon

New season of Auction Hunters started tonight.

They opened a pawn shop (Haff-Ton Pawn) in CA to sell some of the things they get from the units.

No more eye-candy though. Wonder what happened to the blonde girl that teamed up with them last year?


----------



## scooterboy

Donbadabon said:


> No more eye-candy though. Wonder what happened to the blonde girl that teamed up with them last year?


That wasn't her running the shop while they were out?


----------



## cannonz

Plastic surgery, I knew nobody could look as good as Daryl without work.


----------



## innocentfreak

Watching Auction Hunters, I knew I recognized the new store worker's voice from this weekend. I finally remembered who he is.


----------



## Hank

innocentfreak said:


> Watching Auction Hunters, I knew I recognized the new store worker's voice from this weekend. I finally remembered who he is.
> 
> YouTube Link: fish in a barrel


Omg that's hilarious


----------



## pmyers

I thought they hired the Sofie Vegara look-a-like?


----------



## innocentfreak

She wasn't on this weekend's episode. I don't think they really even explained why he was there. He was fixing up their ejection seat to sell. I think he also hosts a show overseas.


----------



## JFriday

Wasn't the guy with the loud shirt in the first episode the guy that commited suicide?


----------



## ncsercs

Yes, was real surprised to see that. These must have been recorded after Hester's ouster and before his death.


----------



## smbaker

innocentfreak said:


> Watching Auction Hunters, I knew I recognized the new store worker's voice from this weekend.


new store worker? Is "Big Sis" gone? Please let it be true. I'm behind a few episodes.


----------



## jjd_87

smbaker said:


> new store worker? Is "Big Sis" gone? Please let it be true. I'm behind a few episodes.


Once they started the store nonsense I cancelled this season pass. It just too much.

As for Storage Wars showing the guy who committed suicide, I was really surprised at this. This episode made him look like a real jerk. Way to go out.


----------



## LifeIsABeach

smbaker said:


> new store worker? Is "Big Sis" gone? Please let it be true. I'm behind a few episodes.


No, she is still there. They have hired several other works to help out as well.


----------



## pmyers

jjd_87 said:


> Once they started the store nonsense I cancelled this season pass. It just too much...


I agree and am very close to doing the same. Lil'sis is ok but the Sofia Vegara look-a-like and the new Russian DJ are just too much. And let's not forget the 2 black guys and the asian gang fight they "almost" got in to.


----------



## smbaker

LifeIsABeach said:


> No, she is still there. They have hired several other works to help out as well.


I don't know why they're messing with this show. It was fine the way it was.

It took some suspension of disbelief that every week some extremely valuable hidden treasure was found instead of a room full of old clothes, obsolete home electronics, and junk furniture. Still, I enjoyed it and the Ton/Allen chemistry.

Now with Big Sis at the store and each auction seeming to have a 'villain of the week' and contrived Ton/Allen drama, it feels so extraordinarily fake that I'm having trouble suspending disbelief anymore. It's almost to the point they should drop the reality pretense and make it into a sitcom.


----------



## pmyers

smbaker said:


> I don't know why they're messing with this show. It was fine the way it was.
> 
> It took some suspension of disbelief that every week some extremely valuable hidden treasure was found instead of a room full of old clothes, obsolete home electronics, and junk furniture. Still, I enjoyed it and the Ton/Allen chemistry.
> 
> Now with Big Sis at the store and each auction seeming to have a 'villain of the week' and contrived Ton/Allen drama, it feels so extraordinarily fake that I'm having trouble suspending disbelief anymore. It's almost to the point they should drop the reality pretense and make it into a sitcom.


I agree. And it seems like this happens to most shows like this. For some reason the producers feel the need to "ramp it up" and it actually ends up ruining the show.


----------



## Jayjoans

Just watched a recorded episode this evening, I'm not sure of the original air date, but it had Darrel's girlfriend in it so I think it's relatively new.

Darrel won an auction on a unit filled with welding equipment. One of the items that came out was a Snap-On welder, and he proudly announced on the show the model number (YA-212) and proclaimed it was worth $1500 all day long. With this and other random overvaluations of everything he touches, he was the "winner" at the end of the show.

Maybe not so much..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Snap-On-Mig...506?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5aef87bb0a

Seller: Darrellsdeals


----------



## pmyers

Hey....a "$750 bill" aint too shabby!


----------



## cannonz

I only watch Storage Wars glad there finally showing new ones and yup boy is gone (couldn't stand him). If they would just have a Shipping Wars season longer than 5 episodes would be nice.


----------



## Kablemodem

Jayjoans said:


> and proclaimed it was worth $1500 all day long.


It is only worth $750 at night.


----------



## Azlen

It's kinda hard watching Mark lose money on this show considering that he killed himself after these episodes were filmed. I wish they would have just edited them out.


----------



## cannonz

Azlen said:


> It's kinda hard watching Mark lose money on this show considering that he killed himself after these episodes were filmed. I wish they would have just edited them out.


You could defiantly see he had no control of his emotions.


----------



## GoHalos

It was interesting, though, that in one of the last couple of episodes, he and Barry(?) were joking around about something and Mark said something along the lines of, "Yeah, now we're going to be hearing about that for the next 20 years".


----------



## pmyers

What's up with the new daddy/daughter auctioneers. Very strange they have new auctioneers.


----------



## cannonz

I wondered about that too, I thought the auction guy owned the show.


----------



## JFriday

They were replaced with cheaper talent according to this article. Darrell was too.

http://www.latintimes.com/articles/3418/20130502/storage-wars-drops-3-regulars-darrell-sheets.htm


----------



## Maui

Some of the new Cheaper bidders suck. The twin brothers in the fancy clothes, the tank top duo, even Ivy is only okay. 

Apparently they know what their viewers tune in to see though as Barry along with Jarrod and Brandi are still in the mix.


----------



## JFriday

I can't stand the twins, I like that Ivey actually gave reasonable values to the items he bought.


----------



## pmyers

JFriday said:


> I can't stand the twins, I like that Ivey actually gave reasonable values to the items he bought.


I agree about Ivey and his values. I don't like the tank top dudes or the twins. Seems like Ivey and the tank top dudes only go for the cheap lockers.


----------



## pmyers

JFriday said:


> They were replaced with cheaper talent according to this article. Darrell was too.
> 
> http://www.latintimes.com/articles/3418/20130502/storage-wars-drops-3-regulars-darrell-sheets.htm


very interesting. I actually liked the Dodsons and Daryll. With the quality of the new episodes and the lack of the people I like, I might just be about done with this show.

Also don't like how the experts aren't even experts anymore. Barry takes antique oyster plates to an oyster farmer? What is that person going to know about prices? The hispanic weather girl? c'mon


----------



## cannonz

Barry, Darrell and Brandon make the show for me. Doesn't say how many Darrell is out of I assume he will be back next season if not I probably won't watch.


----------



## JFriday

I can't stand Daryll.


----------



## cannonz

Dan looks like Butch on The Little Rascals.


----------



## ElJay

If this show isn't giving us thirty dollar bills all day long then what's the point of it?


----------



## Azlen

Dave is crowing about the fact that the ratings have dropped quite a bit over the last four weeks. I can understand why he would feel that way but am still irritated that it's feeding his ego like it is.


----------



## Kablemodem

Hester and Sheets are rumored to be starting their own show called "Yuuuuuuuuup, its a $20 Bill All Day Long!"


----------



## cannonz

On recent one Jarrod and Brandi were giving ridicules prices for a bunch of furniture considerably more than high quality stuff new, that you could get used for free or a few bucks on Craigslist.


----------



## cannonz

Azlen said:


> Dave is crowing about the fact that the ratings have dropped quite a bit over the last four weeks. I can understand why he would feel that way but am still irritated that it's feeding his ego like it is.


If numbers are down is because of announcing new season then at most having it on for 2 weeks in a row then weeks or months before anymore new ones. Just like a lot of other cable shows.


----------



## Frylock

I also dislike the new auctioneers, the dad and daughter. Her auctioning voice is kind of annoying.

I wouldn't buy it for a $3 bill.


----------



## cannonz

I certainty like Casey.


----------



## pmyers

Ugh.... These new episodes with the new auctioneers, Ivey, the 2 tank top guys, tweedle dee amd tweedle dumber twins, and the German guy with his wanna be Brandi looking wife....are just horrible!!!


----------



## secondclaw

Agree ... I finally deleted the season pass, had enough.


pmyers said:


> Ugh.... These new episodes with the new auctioneers, Ivey, the 2 tank top guys, tweedle dee amd tweedle dumber twins, and the German guy with his wanna be Brandi looking wife....are just horrible!!!


----------



## Frylock

Yeah, the new cast members stink. I am quickly losing interest.


----------



## pmyers

Frylock said:


> Yeah, the new cast members stink. I am quickly losing interest.


they really do. Especially Ivy and those 2 tank top guys....all they bid on/can afford are lockers for a couple hundred bucks. I'm not really interested in seeing swapmeet crap.


----------



## DavidTigerFan

Ivey and the tank top guys are idiots along with the "rivalry" that Ivey has with Darrel. I like the german guy. He seems pretty nice.

My one question though on the sport memorabilia..they all knew what was in there...why didn't Jarrod at least bid him up more.


----------



## pmyers

DavidTigerFan said:


> ...My one question though on the sport memorabilia..they all knew what was in there...why didn't Jarrod at least bid him up more.


my guess....unless you are willing to open up a sports memorabilia store, it would be very time consuming to sell all that stuff.


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## cannonz

DavidTigerFan said:


> I
> 
> My one question though on the sport memorabilia..they all knew what was in there...why didn't Jarrod at least bid him up more.


He bid till he ran out of money.


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## Maui

DavidTigerFan said:


> Ivey and the tank top guys are idiots along with the "rivalry" that Ivey has with Darrel. I like the german guy. He seems pretty nice.
> 
> My one question though on the sport memorabilia..they all knew what was in there...why didn't Jarrod at least bid him up more.





cannonz said:


> He bid till he ran out of money.


That is how I understood it too. He just didn't have any more money and you can't bid people up with money you don't have because if they stopped bidding and you won you would be required to pay.

Yeah, i am not a huge fan of the new people. The show does seem to know that they can't afford to not have Barry or Jarrod and Brandi in the episodes as I think they have been in every one.


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## cannonz

He said that's all in my dickies, I would certainly hope that meant his pants pockets. I don't mind the new people but if Barry and or Darryl left I wouldn't watch. Wouldn't miss Jarrod and Brandi wouldn't be surprised if they were willing to take pay cut to stay on.


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## JFriday

Darryl has been out of a couple episodes, his and the original auctioneers appearences have been cut back.


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## cannonz

Are there going to be any new Storage Wars made?


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## JFriday

New season starts 3/18 as does Barry's spinoff.


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## cannonz

JFriday said:


> New season starts 3/18 as does Barry's spinoff.


Thanks, had not heard of Barry's spinoff I have to look into that.


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## pmyers

I used to absolutely LOVE these shows...then they ruined them. I haven't watched an episode in almost a year.


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## scooterboy

cannonz said:


> Thanks, had not heard of Barry's spinoff I have to look into that.


http://www.thewrap.com/storage-wars-barry-weiss-spinoff-barryd-treasure-premiere-march/


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## ncsercs

Say what you want, I miss Dave Hester. He was the 'heel'.


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## smbaker

pmyers said:


> I used to absolutely LOVE these shows...then they ruined them. I haven't watched an episode in almost a year.


How so? By continually finding stuff that is worth vastly more than what you would expect to find in an abandoned storage room? or by contrived fake drama?

I still like Auction Hunters for the charisma of the hosts, but the pawn shop and the pawn shop employees annoy the heck out of me. Every episode there also seems to be some 'bad guy' they have to bid against.


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## betts4

smbaker said:


> How so? By continually finding stuff that is worth vastly more than what you would expect to find in an abandoned storage room? or by contrived fake drama?
> 
> I still like Auction Hunters for the charisma of the hosts, but the pawn shop and the pawn shop employees annoy the heck out of me. Every episode there also seems to be some 'bad guy' they have to bid against.


All those types of shows are set ups anyway. Pawn shop one, the comic guys, the one where they find the antiques in old garages. Even the ones like Restaurant Wars and other food or make over the bar and such. Always the same formula. I find myself still watching them but not as much and FFing thru some of the predictable "tension" just to see what Robert did to the place in the end.

My friend participated in one that's on hbo or some pay to get it channel and it was about finding unusual and old action figures and such. She said she put in for it because she has a large collection of Star Wars toys - and she does - most collected from way back in the early 80's. So they came, looked at her stuff, said we can't film in this basement and moved everything upstairs, then told her to be cool until he found something then to have a bit of a back and forth about giving it, about price and then in the end, give in.


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## LifeIsABeach

Anyone watch Storage Wars Texas? I love Mary Padian. She is cute and hilarious.


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## scooterboy

LifeIsABeach said:


> Anyone watch Storage Wars Texas? I love Mary Padian. She is cute and hilarious.


Until she laughs. HYUK! HYUK! HYUK!

I honestly thought she was mentally challenged the first few times she was on.


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## JFriday

ncsercs said:


> Say what you want, I miss Dave Hester. He was the 'heel'.


I don't, I thought he was an "ass" not a "heel".


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## cannonz

scooterboy said:


> http://www.thewrap.com/storage-wars-barry-weiss-spinoff-barryd-treasure-premiere-march/


Thanks, sad thing is says he is retired from storage auctions he was my favorite from show.


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## cannonz

LifeIsABeach said:


> Anyone watch Storage Wars Texas? I love Mary Padian. She is cute and hilarious.


The only one of these I watch is Storage Wars, but I have watched a a little of that I'm assuming because of her if she is the one who makes art out of things bought (has walrus looking guy for partner). Caught my eye flipping around beautiful woman.


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## Azlen

scooterboy said:


> Until she laughs. HYUK! HYUK! HYUK!
> 
> I honestly thought she was mentally challenged the first few times she was on.


I thought so too. Something always seemed a little off with her. Was surprised to find out she has a degree in journalism and worked as a writer for a couple of years.


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## The Flush

I have enjoyed Salvage Dogs lately, which is a bit like American Pickers, but they get to tear down buildings too. I am tired of the auction and pawn shows.


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## cannonz

Just watched the first new one of this season, Jarrod looks like a gnome or elf with the beard.


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## JFriday

Brandy is as gorgeous as ever.


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## jimmyjjohn

Jay what percentage of the winning bid goes to the auctioneer?


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## Jayjoans

I don't use a live auctioneer, I do everything online now. Online auctions get me WAY more money than live auctions, and I don't have all the bozos on the facility just waiting to trip and fall. I have always auctioned my own units, there's no requirement to use a licensed auctioneer, some facilities do just because the auctioneer has a following and draws people to the auction. My theory has always been to get the unit cleaned out and get it back working for me rather than try to get every cent from an auction. The tenant is a deadbeat, I'm never going to get what's owed on it, so I cut my losses and get back into the empty space renting business. My recollection is that live auctioneers take about 10% and then often a buyer's premium above that. Completely unnecessary.


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## Maui

cannonz said:


> Just watched the first new one of this season, Jarrod looks like a gnome or elf with the beard.


The beard looks weird.

This show needs Barry. I watched the first episode of his new show and thought it was pretty bad. It was a one and done show for me.


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## warrenn

Jayjoans said:


> I don't use a live auctioneer, I do everything online now. Online auctions get me WAY more money than live auctions, and I don't have all the bozos on the facility just waiting to trip and fall.


How does an online auction of a storage unit work? Do you post pictures of the unit and have people bid on it?


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## JFriday

Looks like Dave is back. Jarrod and Brandy have their own reality show now. Ugh!!


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## cannonz

JFriday said:


> Looks like Dave is back. Jarrod and Brandy have their own reality show now. Ugh!!


I recorded but haven't watched any Storage Wars this season, saw that yup boy was back think I will just delete them all. No Barry bring Dave back I guess they don't want anyone to watch. The person who decided to bring Dave back must be same one that came up with Brandy Jarrod show, he or she should be fired.


----------



## JFriday

It's a sinking ship. They're grasping for straws. I think I'll finally cancel my season pass.


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## Ment

What happened with Dave's lawsuit against AE. I'd imagine it has been settled before he came back.


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## Maui

cannonz said:


> I recorded but haven't watched any Storage Wars this season, saw that yup boy was back think I will just delete them all. No Barry bring Dave back I guess they don't want anyone to watch. The person who decided to bring Dave back must be same one that came up with Brandy Jarrod show, he or she should be fired.


I don't know if the Brandy and Jarrod show is any good but I will say that they are the only reason I still watch Storage Wars.


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## JFriday

I watched 10 minutes. Because they are already reality stars it's basically a scripted/fake reality show.


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## scooterboy

Maui said:


> I don't know if the Brandy and Jarrod show is any good but I will say that they are the only reason I still watch Storage Wars.


FYP


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## Maui

JFriday said:


> I watched 10 minutes. Because they are already reality stars it's basically a scripted/fake reality show.


Well, they are all basically scripted/fake reality shows.



scooterboy said:


> FYP


Well, she needs someone to play off of so we get some of the personality in there.


----------



## cannonz

Maui said:


> Brandy's boobs they are the only reason I still watch Storage Wars.


Really fixed your post.


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## cannonz

Ment said:


> What happened with Dave's lawsuit against AE. I'd imagine it has been settled before he came back.


Anyone seen anything online about suit?


----------



## bareyb

What is their new show called? I"m gonna need to check it out at least once. Probably only once.


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## JFriday

cannonz said:


> Anyone seen anything online about suit?


I googled it and found an article that Dave was ordered to pat 122K for the networks lawyer fees and the wrongful termination suit was settled out of court.

http://www.ibtimes.com/dave-hester-returns-aes-storage-wars-after-lawsuit-drama-1631766


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## late for dinner

Ment said:


> What happened with Dave's lawsuit against AE. I'd imagine it has been settled before he came back.


dave must have won, the damages were that he got to be on the show.


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## Maui

bareyb said:


> What is their new show called? I"m gonna need to check it out at least once. Probably only once.


Brandi and Jarrod: Married to the Job

Or something like that.


----------



## DevdogAZ

late for dinner said:


> dave must have won, the damages were that he got to be on the show.


If he was ordered to pay $122K for the other side's attorney fees, then he definitely didn't win.


----------



## Donbadabon

New season of Auction Hunters started.

They had a quick memorial at the end for Big Sis. She passed away May 12th of this year. I always enjoyed her in the pawn shop. I wonder if that was the final piece that convinced them to sell it?


----------



## YCantAngieRead

In a little obsessed with Storage Wars lately.

But I miss Barry.


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## Maui

YCantAngieRead said:


> In a little obsessed with Storage Wars lately.
> 
> But I miss Barry.


Brandi and Jarrod are the only reason a still watch. Although I will make liberal use of the FF button.

Did Barry's show get cancelled. I watched one episode and gave up on it.


----------



## JFriday

Maui said:


> Brandi and Jarrod are the only reason a still watch. Although I will make liberal use of the FF button.


I remove Jarrod from this equation.


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## scooterboy

Maui said:


> Brandi and Jarrod are the only reason a still watch.





JFriday said:


> I remove Jarrod from this equation.


So you're saying that Brandi alone constitutes the two reasons you still watch?


----------



## JFriday

Yes!!!


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## YCantAngieRead

If I had to spend more than ten minutes with Mary I'd poke me ears and eyes out.


----------



## Maui

YCantAngieRead said:


> If I had to spend more than ten minutes with Mary I'd poke me ears and eyes out.


I like Mary. She is a major league goofball but that is what is entertaining about her.

It has gotten to the point where I FF past everything except Jarrod and Brandy segments, and Mary segments.


----------



## YCantAngieRead

I do enjoy Jarrod and Brandy. And that's kind of it. I'm not entirely sure why I still watch.



I miss Barry.


----------



## Maui

YCantAngieRead said:


> I do enjoy Jarrod and Brandy. And that's kind of it. I'm not entirely sure why I still watch.
> 
> I miss Barry.


Barry was good within the confines of the Storage Wars show but I watched one episode of his solo show and that was all I could stand.


----------



## JFriday

YCantAngieRead said:


> I do enjoy Jarrod and Brandy. And that's kind of it. I'm not entirely sure why I still watch.
> 
> I miss Barry.


I finally tired of Brandy and Jarrod and quit watching.


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## Maui

I have been know to watch the opening of everyone arriving at the auction and if I don't see Jarrod and Brandi or Mary, I just stop and delete the episode so I am not far from giving up on it. 

As it is, even when they are both on it I watch it in about 10 minutes.


----------



## JFriday

Lets face it, if Brandi left Jarrod at home no one would care.


----------



## Hank

How long before we see a Brandi and Jarrod sex tape "accidentally" leaked? 

Jarrod is a media whore.. so I could see it happening. He's sell more of those stupid t-shirts, for sure.


----------



## Frylock

Hank said:


> How long before we see a Brandi and Jarrod sex tape "accidentally" leaked?
> 
> Jarrod is a media whore.. so I could see it happening. He's sell more of those stupid t-shirts, for sure.


You know he'd wear that Outlaw shirt in the video, just so he could try and sell more.


----------



## 2004raptor

Dave Hester and Dan Dotson get in a fist fight.


----------



## innocentfreak

Hopefully Dan's toupee didn't come off.


----------



## Maui

2004raptor said:


> Dave Hester and Dan Dotson get in a fist fight.


Here is the video from the show. Laura went off on Dave.


----------



## cannonz

I haven't seen a shipping in a long time, was it cancelled?


----------



## Big Deficit

I'm surprised this things still on, haven't they exhausted the fake abandoned storage unit supply yet? Maybe they can get Jeremy Clarkson to replace Dave?


----------



## cannonz

Darrell Sheets has heart attack. I wonder if he just happens to find defibrillator in next locker? 'Storage Wars' star suffers heart attack


----------

