A computer readable storage device includes a first memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed, cause a computing device to, as data accesses occur for a plurality of data objects of a storage container, update object values to produce updated object values, update object retention costs to produce updated object retention costs, adjust a dynamic retention threshold based on the updated object values and the updated object retention costs and update a data object retention policy for a data object based on the dynamic retention threshold to produce an updated retention policy for the data object. The computer readable storage device includes a second memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed, cause the computing device to, when a data access is a deletion request, utilizing a current updated data object retention policy to determine and execute a deletion-retention option for the data object.