This American Life did a segment on the auctions for abandoned self-storage units in "Contents Unknown". http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode

This American Life did a segment on the auctions for abandoned self-storage units in "Contents Unknown". http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/399/contents-unknown http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/399/c... That said, self-storage isn't just for people who can't stop accumulating stuff. In cities like San Francisco and especially Manhattan, it often makes sense to put rarely-used or not-yet-used items in storage, like camping gear, or heirloom furniture that you don't have the space for at the moment. I've found self-storage useful when moving between cities -- it's hard to predict exactly when you'll find the right place, so it's a reasonably cheap way to buffer the transfer.