On Sunday evening after a long day studying, punctuated only by a break to watch the excellent Wales v Scotland match in the RBS 6 Nations, I flopped onto the couch to switch on the TV and switch off the brain for a while. The Biography Channel’s Storage Wars seemed the perfect opportunity for the latter. The premise is simple; it is a reality TV show that follows people that make their living bidding for the unclaimed contents of storage lockers. The only catch is that they can only peer into the locker from the outside before bidding.
“Interesting; they are bidding on the couch, the TV and the set of golf clubs they can see from the door, and the options on the contents of that trunk, those boxes and whatever is behind that old mattress. Of course with their limited funds the opportunity cost is quite high, the next (unopened) locker could be even better. That’s not even considering the working capital implications of whatever they find: how long is it going to take that guy to find a buyer for those antique chicken glasses? (I kid you not). And they have not thought about their reservation point for these nego………”
At this point my wife justifiably told me to shut up. Sometimes it is harder than you think to switch off from this course.
– Fergus O’Dea, FT MBA 2012