Michael Haskell is 17 years old and he makes about $7,000 a month selling the contents of abandoned storage lockers. The practice has brought him a lot more than money: he’s received an education in human nature and life choices that’s priceless.
It was so simple at the start. When Michael got into the game of flipping used goods, he just wanted to make some money. But the business of dealing in people’s abandoned possessions, it turns out, can be fraught. Two years into his pursuit, he knows all too well that every locker tells a story, many of them bleak.
“I’m always trying to figure out the lives behind the units,” Michael said as he drove toward another storage facility. “This guy was really into antiques. Maybe he was a flipper, like me. But who knows why he abandoned his unit. If you lose a locker, usually you’re not financially stable, and your life isn’t in a great place. Sometimes it can be a sad story.”
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