Feds make cool $35k from warehouse surplus sale, but diamond bracelet, barber chairs and horse tack could still be yours

Marie-Danielle Smith

Ever been so under-caffeinated that purchasing 58 coffee makers in one shot sounds like a good idea? Drop a cool hundred bucks, and they can be yours

After making almost $35,000 from selling odds and ends such as mittens, headphones and chairs at an Ottawa sale Saturday, the federal government is considering opening the doors to more of its surplus warehouses.

GCSurplus’s first “Cash and Carry” sale attracted more than 1,500 people, according to a spokesman for Public Services and Procurement Canada. There was furniture, camping gear, cameras, clothing, tools, and more. Specifically, an abundance of winter boots, rain pants, office chairs and electrical power generators. Cars, motorcycles and other large items, which are auctioned off online, weren’t part of the offerings.

The National Post is reliably informed that there were lineups to get inside, some people waiting for longer than an hour in the rain, with their umbrellas.

For $25, payable by cash, credit or debit, you could buy, for example, two toques, a wool shirt, a pair of mittens and some noise-cancelling ear muffs — the kind construction workers wear to protect their hearing — or that parents put on their babies’ heads at concerts.

You could (but I trust you didn’t) buy a broken microwave for $15.

In an email Tuesday, Marc-André Charbonneau conveyed the department’s alarmingly bureaucratic response to the Post’s questions. “After an initial assessment, the event is being considered successful,” he said. Most of the inventory was sold, at a total revenue of $34,860.

The event “appears to have delivered both operational efficiency for the Crown and client satisfaction for buyers,” said Charbonneau. Similar events are “being considered” at other locations.

full story at https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/feds-make-cool-35k-from-warehouse-surplus-sale-but-diamond-bracelet-barber-chairs-and-horse-tack-could-still-be-yours