Once a month, at Greene Moving and Storage on Adams St. an auction is held by a representative from the Highway Department. Bids can be placed on pallets of items. There is no opportunity to preview the items and many of the pallets just contain sealed boxes so until you place a winning bid and pay for the pallet the contents of the box remain a mystery.
Today there was one bidder who purchased one lot of four pallets for $10. The visible items included cabinets, fishing poles, bikes, tables, DVDs, and a stereo. He also purchased another lot of two pallets for $5 including 10 sealed boxes and some end tables and a wheelchair. The third lot consisting of two pallets of sealed boxes went unsold.
The bidder told me that most of the boxes will contain clothes and will be donated to a charity. Some of the items are in poor condition and can not be re-sold so they will be put on the side of the road and offered for free. The remaining items will either go to the landfill or be re-sold.
Sometimes there are more people bidding and sometimes there are more lots of unclaimed goods. The items are the result of abandoned properties or evictions and are held for 15 days for the owners to claim.
Fascinating. I didn’t know about this.