MadAnthony goes to the state surplus depot...

It's a little-known fact that the State of Maryland sells excess state surplus inventory at the Maryland State Agency for Surplus Property. It's conviniently located in scenic Jessup, under the shadow of several state prisions and the Maryland Wastewater Treatment Agency. Since one of the perks of working for a college is getting days off that most people don't, and since I love digging through crap, bsom and I drove down to Jessup today.

It was everything I expected, and less. They had a bunch of old computers - mostly p3, some older. They had a cage with laptops in it, but most of the were 486 or older - I found an old Acer with a sticker reading NOT Y2K COMPLIANT DO NOT USE AFTER DECEMBER 31 1999. Most of the laptops were $30, most of the desktops were $60. They also had piles of old 60's desks and chairs, and some other random stuff. I've read that they sell boxes of airport-seized knives, but they didn't have any this time.

I made one purchase - a TTY phone device for deaf people. I got it for $10, they go on eBay for $25- $50. Unfortunatly, the one I bought seems to have some issues - when the printer is turned on, it displays "no power" and hangs up.

Still, it was interesting to dig through piles of crap, and since they probably get inventory pretty frequently, I'll probably go back the next time I have a day off. Still, I have to wonder how efficient it is to have several employees and a building dedicated to selling stuff that I doubt many people want to buy...