What happens if you don’t pay the rental fee on a storage unit?

The Toledo Blade has this feature today: Contents of storage units are prize at Toledo-area quickie auctions.

A snippet:

Delinquency is “always an issue” for self-storage operators, said Michael J. Scanlon, Jr., president and CEO of the Self-Storage Association, of Alexandria, Va., a trade group for storage facility owners and franchisees. …

“Virtually every self-storage facility has had to have an auction at one time or another. What we find when we open up many of these units, the contents really don’t have much value for the people in the outside world,” Mr. Scanlon said. “It’s mostly things that have a personal, emotional value to the person that’s storing them.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth a reminder: when finances are tight, don’t bother with a storage unit. There’s no point to someone else making money off what your family hoped to save.

If you don’t have space for your stuff, sell it yourself and at least earn a few bucks. Or donate it and request a tax receipt for those of us who can itemize charitable deductions.