No shortage of stories from UI Surplus

Customers peruse the selection of goods during a public sale at UI Surplus. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

It’s 9:45 a.m. on a Thursday, and Matt Neely greets the line of people forming outside of University Surplus’s doors. Neely, the interim manager, announces the day’s “specials,” which include an old film projector, several dorm-size refrigerators, and bicycles abandoned by residence hall students.

At 10 a.m., back inside, Neely turns to clerk Chris West.

“Ready?”

“Let them in.”

“Here we go.”

It’s a public sale day at UI Surplus, which collects unwanted items from University departments, redistributes them to other departments, and resells the rest to the general public. Surplus also recycles or gives away many items that can’t be sold.

Above all, the Business Services unit hopes to advance the University’s green goals.

“If we can reuse an item on campus or sell it to someone who wants it, we keep it out of landfills,” says Gary Anderson, associate director of Business Services. “It’s like we’ve failed if we have to take something to the landfill.”

That means Surplus sells everything from the practical to the peculiar in its Gilbert Street store.

There’s lab equipment and electronics, tables and typewriters. And there are filing cabinets of every shape and size. “Filing cabinets are our bread and butter,” Neely says.

On a recent day, there’s also: a plastic tree; an electric jack-o’-lantern; four lunch trays; a row of lockers; and two glass jars—one labeled “Helping Others,” the other, “Influencing Others.”

Surplus picks up items at no cost to departments, and reimburses a fixed percentage on things that sell for at least $100.

In recent years, Surplus has also struck gold selling on eBay, where small, valuable items such as microscopes and laptops fetch a higher value and attract a wider audience, Anderson says. The online store has been successful thanks to student workers who research pricing, write descriptions, and monitor sales, he says. The store can be found at http://stores.ebay.com/University-of-Iowa-Surplus.

Surplus also conducts special sales during the year. Past examples include auctioning Steinway pianos from the Department of Music and black-and-gold tour buses from the Athletics Department.

On a recent public sale day, several dozen people stream into the store as soon as the doors are unlocked. Some immediately head upstairs to snatch up computers for $50 to $180. Others hurry toward the rows of well-worn desks and chairs.

By 10:05 a.m., a line is forming at the register.

“What do you want for the typewriter?”

“$10.”

“Good deal.”

A woman wheels a faded purple office chair toward the front, stopping to consider a set of three waiting room-style chairs. A young couple examines a desk nearby. A fast-walking woman talks on her cell phone: “Yes, I’m looking for it now.”

On this day, the first items to sell include a wooden toy train set from UI Children’s Hospital, a glass apothecary-style jar, and a computer hard drive.

“You never know what’s going to go first,” West says. “A lot of times, they go right for the computers, other days, it’s furniture. Handy people will come in and find something they can fix. For some people, it’s a hobby.”

It’s a social atmosphere, West says. “Sale days are really fun.”

by Madelaine Jerousek-Smith