“It's probably the last bill you're going to pay if it's a choice between making your car payment or making your storage payment,” said Netzer.

Out of the 235 units at A and A Mini Storage, only 60 percent are occupied. In good times, you could hardly find an empty unit. Netzer had 90 percent of them full and there were very few auctions.

“I would say 25 percent of everyone out here (renting his storage units) has moved in, because they're moving in with relatives and family members, being evicted from their homes. There are several small business owners that had to shut down and move their belongings into the units,” he said.

When it comes to defaulting on payments, Netzer says he tries to work with his customers, and gives them time to pay their bills because auctioning off units only gets him about $100 anyway.

“I would rather do that then sell their stuff. It's hard to sell someone's household possessions for a few dollars in an auction when they can come in and probably it's worth more to them than someone who buys it,” said Netzer.

It's not just hard times for his customers. It's bad for him too. There are hundreds if not thousands of storage units in Springfield.

“I'm not making any money but I just hate to see a person's whole livelihood go away too,” he said.

Netzer has been in the business since the 1990s but doesn't know how much longer he'll stay in it.

“I would probably say if I could sell it I would,” he said.

Netzer waits a month for late payments before changing the lock on the storage unit. If the renter still won't set up a payment plan, the entire shed is auctioned off as one item.