Paying $600 for a bed, $150 for a dresser, $60 for a computer chair, $1,200 for a new computer and $100 for a study desk starts to get overwhelming when furnishing a new apartment at the beginning of the semester. Robbie Miller, a junior mechanical engineer, and James Mordowanec, a junior in the Bandier Program, found a way around these glaring costs and only spent a few hundred dollars improving the house they live in on Ostrom Avenue. During their decorating process they remodeled the bathroom and bought rugs and lamps, but most of the furniture in their house was either left behind by the previous residents or picked up on the street by people throwing it away. For similar scroungers, there is yet another option. When the desks, drawers, chairs and computers in SU’s buildings are retired, they’re usually sent to the Excess Property Store, part of the Purchasing Department, which is responsible for selling university-owned property to students, faculty or members of the community. Located on the edge of South Campus at 1600 Jamesville Ave., the store is open every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. to sell the university’s used goods at discounted prices. You can find anything from filing cabinets priced between $20 and $50 to a $1,000 Flymaster fryer or a $3,800 Kurtzman baby grand piano. There are printers, bulletin boards, various computer keyboards and mouses strewn in cardboard boxes and 6-pound bulk boxes of Act II microwave popcorn reaching their expiration date. Penny Letcher, purchasing specialist and Excess Property Manager, said Syracuse community members are the store’s biggest customers, but students tend to come in around the beginning of each semester. ‘They buy computers, furniture, if they have an apartment they have just moved into. They pick up desks and dressers,’ said Letcher. Former South Campus desks cost students $40 and dressers, $60. Todd Marshall, a university Ph.D candidate, frequents the Excess Property warehouse. Marshall said his greatest find was a large wraparound desk that he used for his home office. ‘I think it used to belong to a dean,’ said Marshall. Marshall said he also purchased computer equipment, desks, file cabinets, tables, etc. All of these can be bought directly at the store, but if anyone wants to shop for these products on a day other than Wednesday, there is a Web site where most items are listed and pictured for prospective buyers to search through. ‘Probably the biggest seller are the computers and most of what we get are the Dell desktops. Prices range from $50 to $200 dollars,’ Letcher said. ‘And every now and again we get Mac computers, and they are a little more expensive and tend to range $50 to three or four hundred, as typical.’ The department only accepts cash or local checks and all sales are final. The eight percent New York sales tax is also added onto each sale. Letcher said the money from the Excess Property Store goes back to the university department that originally submitted the item sold. From there, departments can use the cash to buy new supplies. ‘We’re there to help everybody get what they need.’

ampaye@syr.edu