NEWS
SWAP wheels, deals bargains
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by John Potratz
Thursday, September 16, 2004
As Hunter Hill walks down the aisles of the University of Wisconsin Surplus With A Purpose Shop, his face indicates stern concentration to detail.
Sorting through dozens of old UW desks, Hunter — a Madison Area Technical College sophomore — is just one of hundreds of local area residents and students who faithfully come to the SWAP Shop every Friday to pick through UW’s forgotten and unwanted materials.
In operation since 1997 as a part of UW purchasing services, SWAP redistributes more than 900 tons of the campus’s unwanted office supplies and furnishings to students and other tax supported or non-profit organizations each year.
SWAP receives thousands of unwanted items every week, from desks, chairs and computers to test tubes, centrifuges and ultra low temperature refrigerators for bio-hazardous materials.
Because of a UW policy, university departments are not allowed to throw away any broken or unwanted materials. Instead, the materials are sent to Materials Distribution Services. After that, workers sort through a large amount of surplus to determine what is retailed and what goes to SWAP.
Any materials not sold are sent to contracted recycling services.
With state and university budget cuts, SWAP is going to have their hands full this year, program assistant Kathy Beaudot said, noting many departments are minimizing materials while adjusting to waning resources.
“Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we have semi loads coming — a lot,” Beaudot said. “Because of the state deficit, a lot of departments are closing or moving from one building to another, so they get new stuff or have gone down in staff so they have a lot of extra furniture and computers that they no longer need, so then it comes to us.”
Operating in a mutually beneficial relationship with UW, SWAP returns revenue back to the departments based on the donated item’s value. During SWAP’s fiscal year, about 71 percent of $1,147,000 was returned to participating departments.
Even with low prices and frequent sales offerings — discount deals and promotions, such as the “buy a desk for a dollar and get a lamp free” deal — SWAP still maintains a steady supply.
The shop is almost out of space for the surplus they receive, according to SWAP Business Manager Tim Sell.
“We need to reach a larger audience; we have been trying through our electronic auction,” Sell said. “In the future I see us going to other electronic auctions. [SWAP] really needs to expand our market.”
Although the SWAP shop retails much of UW’s old equipment, the majority of SWAP’s market does not consist of UW students.
Many customers can be found waiting in front of the SWAP Shop at 6 a.m., two hours before opening, to get first dibs on new and old material, SWAP employee May Green-Brown said.
SWAP customers are “[a] faithful crowd,” Green-Brown said.
“I know some preachers that would like that kind of a crowd on a Sunday.”
The SWAP Shop is open to students and the public every Friday and every other Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is located at 2102 Wright St. by the airport.
