Options
When the tenant of the storage unit doesn’t pay, the storage facility owner (landlord) can evict them. They usually do this by auctioning off what’s inside to recover some of their losses. This seems a bit unfair, but storage facilities don’t have large margins.
Cover the Loss
If you ask a storage facility owner, they will likely tell you they make little money from those auctions; it’s about enough to cover their expenses and is often a loss. Unpaid units don’t make any money, but they must remove that tenant so that a new one can come in.