By Catherine Dunn
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Need a silver coffee urn? A snow shovel? A computer monitor?
Then the University Surplus Depot's bimonthly auction is the place for you.
Today at 9 a.m. open bidding will begin on a bevyof items that line the walls and aisles of the Surplus Depot warehouse, located behind Harris Teeter.
Only University-related departments and officescan donate items to the auction. The Medical Center and academic departments are the largest donors of odds and ends, said Surplus Depot manager Bobby Carefoot.
Among the stoves, desks and faded couches up for grabs, two vehicles will go on the auction block at noon: a 1977 Dodge pickup and a 1968 Ford pickup.
The trucks came from the Medical Center and the mechanical and aerospace department.
Carefoot said vehicles and laptops in good condition tend to bring in the highest bids.
Not everything is in tip-top condition, though. All items are sold "as-is," regardless if they are broken or in disrepair.
The day before the auction, many would-be buyers stop by the warehouse to examine the products on display.
Carefoot speculated that most customers re-sell what they buy at auction as a way to make a living.
"I come all the time. I look for Gateway computers," said Andrew King, who was inspecting the auction's inventory yesterday afternoon.
King and a partner buy computers at the auction, fix them up, and re-sell them through classified ads and bulletin boards.
"I've bought whole computers for $10," King said. He also counts a $50 21-inch monitor as one of his best buys.
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