Surplus store announces annual sale

The University of Cincinnati Surplus Store will conduct their annual clearance sale Oct. 29, to help sell a variety of items no longer used by university departments.

The university created the Department of Surplus Equipment Management in 1980. The division is part of the University Surplus Property Association, an association that conducts a conference once a year with similar university programs around the country.

"The primary purpose for existing is to recycle underutilized equipment and furnishings from the university," according to Lee Leviton, head of the Department of Surplus Equipment and member of the UC faculty for 31 years.

For 20 years the store's weekly public sale has been held at the store every Thursday from 11 a.m.to1 p.m.

The store contains a variety of equipment accumulated from the previous year, and the sale serves as an attempt to liquidate these items.

"Everything is half off the tagged price," said Leviton.

Two days after the sale, invitations are sent to the United Way and Community Shares Agencies to come to the annual donation days the following Monday and Tuesday after the sale.

"People from these companies come and they take literally whatever they want," Leviton said.

Another highlight of the annual clearance sale is the silent auction for the unclaimed lost and found items police have accumulated over the past year, according to Leviton. The lost and found items are "watches, rings, jewelry, calculators, occasionally a bicycle... the court releases [the items] after so much time and it is then we auction them off," said Leviton.

The store auctions off the lost and found items because Leviton is unable to assess a value on items that belonged to someone, "but putting them out at auction makes it fair for everybody," Leviton said.

At times, people have even recognized some of their own stuff, according to Leviton. In these cases, the university police work with the individual to reclaim their belongings.

In addition to the lost and found sale, UC vehicles are available for auction. Items at the store range from unused football cleats, dark room doors, an entertainment center, tables, chairs, several computers, fax machines, Hoxworth blood donor chairs and more.

Unique finds are constantly discovered at the surplus store.

"Environmental Health sent us what is called a body plethysmograph, a chamber shaped like a huge bullet where the subject would go in there and sit and the person was subjected to different environmental atmospheres and their reading was recorded," Leviton said.

Last year, an old university scoreboard and a scrolling sign quickly sold as hot items. Leviton said the students used the scrolling board to create a bar.

"Where else would you go to a flea market in the middle of the week," Leviton said.

Traditionally the items have been priced by a formula based on the item's original cost, age and condition, in order to derive a fair market value of the item. These numbers are used as a guideline today for the comparably inexpensive items.

"We're an equal opportunity pricer," Leviton said.

Regardless of whether or not you find what you need, Leviton said, the prices are worth checking out. "Why buy new when used will do," he said.

The sale is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 29 and is open to the public. Bidding for the silent auction on the lost and found items ends at noon. For the UC vehicles, the auction ends Nov. 1.

The store is located at 2900 Reading Rd. in the old Sears building. The Thursday public sales will resume tentatively Dec. 1 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. after the clearance sale. For more information, call 556-5654.