Posted on 09/26/2011 9:14:30 AM PDT by ExTxMarine
A&E's "Storage Wars," a show about people who bid on the contents of abandoned storage lockers, had its second season premiere this summer to 5.1 million viewers. It's the HIGHEST RATED show in the network's history.
Tru TV's nearly identical "Storage Hunters" has become a breakout hit - ALMOST as big of a hit as Spike's nearly identical "Auction Hunters."
That's right. There are three DIFFERENT shows on TV about STORAGE LOCKERS.
Reality TV is frequently trashy, but never before has it featured so much actual trash.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
It’s true that some of these shows are a bit strange and they like to copycat.
That said, these are some of the least offensive shows on TV.
There is a house on the property of one of our local flea markets. Inside I figure he has over 2000 different books, old 45rpm records and 33rpm LPs. He even has a few 75rpm records!
The first time I went in there, I picked up seven old albums (Elvis, Hank Jr (before the beard) and several older Tejano groups) for only $3.00! He was selling these for $0.25 to $1.00 each! He and I spoke at length about the albums and artists.
I told him that if he was really interested in making some money, I could create a database of all of his stock and then put these out on eBay.com or Amazon.com.
He told me he had plenty of money. He said that he just liked meeting and talking to people about their purchases! He said the low prices keep people coming back! LOL!
I realized that this old man had his priorities straight!
I once bought a specialized piece of surveying equipment off of EBAY. I contacted the seller for photos, history, etc. He said he had got it in a storage locker auction full of construction equipment. (I figured the construction company had gone out of business like so many others at the time). A good buy for me at $12,000 (and it looked like it had been used once or twice) for something that new runs $45,000.
About a week after I won it, I got a call from a detective saying it was stolen merchandise. I contacted the seller, and he of course knew nothing about it, but would do whatever was needed to get it resolved. I called the detective back and asked for the name and number of the police department that was involved. Never did get around to calling them though. Figured if they really wanted it they knew where to find me. And wondering if the “detective” really was one - or if it was a scam of some sort?
But - I always think of that pricy piece of equipment in the black case sitting in some locker when the guy first opened it. Not knowing what it was (even after opening the case probably!) and getting big bucks for it. The “wow factor”.
>>How have these reality TV shows influenced the business? Has it been good for business?
I spent some time this weekend with a high school friend who is in that business. He has about a third of a million SF to rent total among 5 locations. We talked about that a little.
One thing it has done is make deadbeats aware that Yes, your stuff can really get sold off, and storage operators can and will really do it. Apparently many didn’t believe this before the shows.
He said it has made opening auctions more of a PITA as there are often crowd control issues, when it used to be maybe 3-4 guys would show up.
He’s really just trying to get back what he is owed on his lien, which is all he can do. Any excess has to be given to the deadbeat, which can sometimes be a problem. They’ve often skipped the area with no forwarding address.
The saddest thing he sees, and he says he sees it frequently, is grandma dies, kids/grandkids shove all her stuff in a storage room, and then stop paying. He’s liquidating a couple rooms of old furniture, a few linens, kitchen stuff, a bunch of knick-knacks, a family bible, and 5 generations of photos in albums and/or boxes. He’s a real family- and family history-oriented guy, and that stuff bothers him, which is certainly understandable.
A store front to move the less valuable items would be the way to make a few dollars since it’s more likely a person would find 300 items worth a dollar a piece than one item worth 300 dollars.
“With that in mind, overall we are probably only up $100-$200, when you include all twenty units!”
Hopefully you had a bit of fun too.
Exactly! We do have a storage until right now because this house is too small for all of the extra furniture and stuff we have.We do pay out rent each and every month and if I felt I could not do that very much longer I’d be putting a shed in the backyard and selling off what I did not have room for.
What bugs me about “Storage Wars” is that the winners make an estimate and at the end of the show it states “They MADE $xxx”. Some of those estimates seem high and some of the stuff will take a long time to move.
I gave up on “Pickers” as it always struck me as penny ante, and had the same estimate/SOLD problem.
There is “Nothing” real about reality TV.
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Hilarious.
But scary to think some might not understand that.
Pickers bugs me because they are trying to double their money on a $20 oil can while they are making probably $40,000 per episode.
I feel the same way about garages. I drive down my street and see $20-30k cars parked in the 113 degrees sun because their garages are filled full of junk. Totally stupid.
I watched a couple episodes the other day, and that's what I was thinking($60 for an old DVD player???...ummm, OK...)
I'd rather check out the deals at the local thrift stores.
People take their precious time up watching this stuff? And they say I’m boring.....
Ka-CHING! That’s what I was thinking.
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