Jessica Lee Associate Editor

Do you ever have the urge to drop $5 on five computer printers? Need a refrigerator for your kegarator? If so, there is a place you ought to be.

The University of Arizona Surplus Property Office, located at 1145 S. Warren St., is where all the stuff ÷ not necessarily junk ÷ UA departments do not want ends up. Every other Tuesday they hold an auction where members of the public can bid on these items, ranging from bicycles to laptops to furniture to microwaves.

And everything starts at a measly $2.50.

Led by Oscar Jaramillo, a real auctioneer, at the event anyone can try to out-bid anyone for items. Once you register at the front desk, you are qualified to throw out your sign and up someone a few bucks. The law of auction land is: "All items sold as is, where is."

The event is a great place for students to land stuff like used chairs, washing machines and dryers, coffee makers, aquariums, phones, drafting tables, blinds, fans, scanners, video cameras, TVs, sofas, computer equipment and shelves. And if you are looking to score some jewelry, the auction also clears out all lost and found items.

Carla De Las Casas, an environmental engineering graduate student, was there with her father trying to find a nice couch for a studying area. They planned to start bidding at $2.50, but she wasn't worried. Her dad was paying.

The Surplus Property Office, which is located within the UA Department of Procurement and Contracting Services, is responsible for all university-owned equipment and items that need disposal.

Some of the most popular items are the rows of used bicycles that have been impounded by Parking and Transportation Services. For those of you who have had tires, seats or even your whole bike stolen, this is a great place to get a replacement.

"I came here to get a cheap bike so it won't get stolen," admitted Megan Thornton, a Spanish doctoral student. Her plan was to bid less than $20.

Surplus property sales have been held at least since the Î70s, when some of the core members of the buying audience started coming to the event. Roy Parsons is one of those people. Parsons graduated from the UA in 1976 with a degree in electrical engineering then did civil service for the U.S. Army. Coming to the auction has become his favorite hobby; he often buys old objects just to fix them up or use them for parts. "I have a whole yard of mistakes," Parsons said.

As a bidder, you must keep a close eagle eye on the objects you want, and Mr. Parsons is definitely someone to keep a tight watch on. He outbid me on a rock hammer. Giving him a hard time later, he confessed that he already had two at home.

I attended the action two weeks ago and was quite surprised by the amount of decent items that ended up selling for less than 10 bucks, although the most expensive object to ever pass through the auction was a crane that sold for $32,500. According to the department office manager Laurie Rodriguez, the strangest object to show up was a cadaver freezer.

For those of you who have never been to an auction, this is how it works: The Monday before the event, the Surplus Office Property warehouse is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for interested people to preview the objects that will be on auction the next day. This is a time to bounce on the couches, plug in the computers and see how the bikes roll.

Then on Tuesday morning, the auction doors open at 8 a.m. and the auction begins promptly half an hour later. It is important to get there early so you have time to register and to make necessary observations. Does the second drawer of the file cabinet open all the way, is the chair missing an armrest, or is the desk wobbly? Thus begins the time of sharp thinking and quick decisions. It is a time of deception ÷ tricking the person also interested in the bookshelf ÷ and having the guts to go for it all. All items must be paid for by 3 p.m. on Tuesday and picked up by Wednesday.

If you need stuff for your house, apartment or study lounge or items to satisfy your hobby cravings, you had better save your pocket change and mark the next auction, Sept. 23, on your calendar.

Jessica Lee is an environmental science senior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.