Cash it, Stash it, or Trash it: UHaul Storage Locker Sale, Clean out day.

So, I went out yesterday and purchased 4 storage lockers. I haven't been buying too many lockers this year because Storage Wars has changed the landscape. In the old days (last year) a typical locker would sell for $250. A really good locker $500. Junk lockers would sell for a few dollars. Typically I was purchasing about 5 a month. The lockers provided a little extra money. Rarely great, sometimes bad, but most of the time you could double your money prior to expenses.

Not anymore. The average junk locker starts at $100 and often ends in the $5-600 dollar range. The typical locker brings around $1,000 and a good locker astronomical. Really though, there is no way to tell how good a locker is going to be. I've bought them for $35 and made hundreds, I've also bought them for $800 and sold them for nothing. It really is calculated gambling.

So, I was feeling particularly crazy on Wednesday and I gambled $700 on 4 lockers. I could go to Vegas but I prefer the friendly confines of the local U-Haul storage buildings. Below is my so far analysis.

Locker #1

Paid $100

No other bids. I opened up the bidding at $100 and to my surprise no one else bid. My first thought? Did I miss a giant tird laying on the ground just inside the locker door. It is in fact highly unusual these days for no one else to bid on a locker. This time it worked out ok for me. The locker yielded a decent matress set and frame, a sofa, and some decent household items. My estimated net, about $225

Locker #2

Paid $45

I opened this one up at $25 and there was one other bid. It looked like a bunch of junk and it was. The locker was a 5' x 8' and out of it came 10 small things, a paper mache santa ($75), a box with some Lenox china ($50) and a couple of small stands. The remainder was a pile of nothing. That nothing is going to be donated to the local shelter. For those of you thinking to yourselves "Gee that Dave is such a swell guy, giving garbage to the poor." you should be aware that the stuff isn't unusable. Its just not practical to try to sell it. It turns into a simple math equation where the cost to store it is greater that the value I can get for it, so I donate it.

Locker #3

Paid $150

I opened this one at $100 and had one bid against me. Sometimes being a bully and opening the lockers up at a high price works. In this case I thought that I had hit a solid triple. I could see two brand new looking appliances and a brand new looking micro fiber sofa and loveseat. I was pretty sure that I could get $4-500 out of the locker.

Wrong. The appliances (a washer and dryer) were good enough. I should get $2-250 for the pair. The sofa's were a different story. They were in perfect condition. No spots, stains, smells, dog hairs or cigarette burns. I really don't think that they were ever used, there were no mm's under the cusions nor were there any potato chip crumbs. They were in unused condtion.

So, why did they take the cover off of the middle cushion on the couch? Did they need it for matching paint chips? Did they use it to clean up a spill on the kitchen floor? It doesn't matter what they did with it, it just simply was not there. It wasn't under the sofa, it wasn't in the washer and it wasn't hanging on the wall. So, short and simple I have a nice micro fiber loveseat. The sofa I currently have no clue as to what I'm going to do with it. By any chance do any of you want a sofa without the middle cushion? If you do give me a call.