Need a new office chair?
How about a new laptop computer, a box of Swiss Army knives or a Nerf gun?
Or is your holiday gift list crying out for a compressor for an embalming machine from the bygone Vermont State Hospital?
All that and more can be found at the Vermont State Surplus building on Route 2 in Waterbury.
In the same complex as SunCommon, the state surplus building houses all the flotsam and jetsam that state departments phased out or threw out.
“State agencies or departments decide that they have surplus product, and they let us know,” said Terry Lamos, support services manager with Vermont Agency of Administration’s buildings and grounds division.
Items at the Vermont State Surplus building are priced to sell, typically at a quarter to a half of their original prices, Lamos says. She uses the internet to find the asking price for a new version of what comes in.
Office furniture is what most frequently comes into the surplus building, Lamos says. The hottest sellers are what Lamos calls “airport sharps” — knives, including toys shaped like knives or guns, taken from passengers at airports around the state. They are delivered to the Vermont State Surplus building every quarter, and they’re by far the most popular items there.
A box full of $1 knives greets shoppers at the door.
“It almost seems like it’s a law that, to get on an airplane, you have to forfeit a corkscrew,” Lamos said with a chuckle — but they don’t languish long in her warehouse.
Lamos says the most recent shipment of sharps brought in $1,000 in the first hour.
Email addresses pile up on a list, their owners waiting to be contacted when another shipment of sharps arrives, and many visit regularly in person.
“There are people who come here every day,” Lamos said — “at least once a day. They don’t want to miss a good deal.”
From use to surplus
When offices are moved, or pieces of furniture are deemed too careworn for use anymore, the state agency involved contacts the buildings and grounds division, which works with the department to find out how best to dispose of it.
Sometimes, it’s not worth the cost to bring the item to the Waterbury building, so it’s listed for sale on Craigslist or Front Porch Forum, Lamos said.
Other times, electronics that aren’t current enough to have any value are e-cycled, a service the buildings and grounds division offers free to the public.
The state doesn’t use eBay anymore to sell unwanted surplus — it used to, but the site needs access to an account to process sales, and officials didn’t want the liability of allowing a third party access to taxpayer money.
Speaking of taxpayer money — haven’t you already paid for everything at the surplus building yourself when you paid your taxes?
Sure you did, but Lamos says that doesn’t mean you get to walk into the building and take surplus property home for free.
For one thing, there’s a cost associated with moving things around the state or e-cycling them, and selling items helps cover those costs so taxpayers don’t have to.
Lamos says it’s also important to track surplus items.
“We don’t want departments buying and disposing of things without an audit process,” she said. Otherwise, what’s to stop state employees from taking home surplus property for their own use?
Finally, surplus items from Vermont government departments are available to everyone, not just Vermont taxpayers. Even other state governments can find discounted furnishings and equipment at the state surplus building, Lamos said.
Business owners, especially farmers looking for a deal on farmstands, also make heavy use of the bounty at the state surplus building.
Revenues from the surplus equipment sales building go back to the department that provided the piece.
Federal property that’s deemed surplus can be distributed only to “eligible donees,” such as schools, municipal governments, state agencies and nonprofit organizations. It’s not sold — it’s given to them, with a service fee.
Airplanes go to Vermont Technical College for its aviation program.
Strange surplus
Threadbare office chairs, beleaguered printers and piles of utility knives aren’t the most eye-catching oddities up for grabs at the State Surplus building — although knives engraved with names or messages have a little more intrigue.
“Sometimes they say, ‘With love from Gram,’ or something,” Lamos said. “You feel bad.”
A knife engraved simply with “Wayne” was still waiting for its namesake, or another like him, to claim it last week.
Rubber dart guns are a great find for kids, such as Cole McNaughden, 11, who says he peruses the sharps when they come in, accompanied by his father.
“I have, once in a while, (gotten) a knife here,” Cole said, holding up first a wooden toy sword and then a rubber dart gun, which he said he planned to ask his dad to buy for him.
The truly fascinating finds don’t come along as often, but when they do, they’re worth it, Lamos says, such as some of the stolen property that finds its way to the surplus shelves from the Vermont Department of Public Safety.
If the victim of a theft has already been made whole by his or her insurance company, or “a certain amount” of time has gone by, stolen property ends up at state surplus. Lamos has seen guitars, pianos and other musical instruments in the surplus stockpile during her 10 years with the buildings and grounds division.
“People tend to steal more valuable things,” she said.
Need to furnish a kitchen? Prisons kitchens have commercial stoves, mixers and other appliances; the older equipment goes to the surplus building.
Other Department of Public Safety property, such as firearms, stun guns and handcuffs (sorry), isn’t sold to the public.
And then there’s the aforementioned compressor from the Vermont State Hospital. It’s either for an embalming machine or a dental machine, Lamos said. It predates her arrival; it’s been kicking around at the state surplus building for around 20 years, she thinks.
It’s been appraised for about $5,000, and has been for sale at $1,000, Lamos said, and some businesses have shown interest, but nobody’s bitten. Right now, it collects dust in her office.
Students would also do well to check out the surplus supplies.
For instance, there’s a pile of binders and miscellaneous small items that people can take for free. Teachers often stop there to replenish their classroom supplies, Lamos said.
Technology destined for e-cycling can be dropped off there for free, and laptops not too outdated are given a new lease on life with new hard drives and offered for sale.
“They’re great in the fall for kids going back to school,” Lamos said.
