“Did he think that actual people would leave valuable artifacts in a storage garage “
I managed a large mini storage for several years. We had auctions every two months.
People leave VERY valuable stuff in there sometimes. Sometimes they store trash. You never know.
Indeed, I did the auction thing part time with a neighbor up the street and then we would sell in a yard sale setting.
Made some decent money for a while but as the concept caught on, too many people started showing up and driving the bids up too high.
I have to admit though, digging through other peoples personal belongings was very creepy and I didn't like profiting from their loss.
We did try to return personal items like pictures and such.
Years ago, before these shows were on TV my son bought a storage unit....he made enough to break even, he sells on ebay, but in going through the paper work he found someone left their ccw in with the paper work...you never know what you’ll find, he just threw it away. Its like a mini treasure hunt. I tried to get him to find the owner and send it to him, but he didn’t want any part of that idea... I think some of the units, the owner died and the family knew nothing about it. Could also moved away and didn’t even remember anything of value that they put in storage...or and vindictive wife heading for divorce....LOL