The best bargains on campus are hiding in Fort Douglas.
U students can find deals on a wide variety of items at University Surplus and Salvage. The office receives and sells excess property from the U to the public.
This excess property includes everything the U doesn’t need anymore, such as computers, monitors, desks and even maintenance vehicles.
“We get everything from paper to computers and even cars,” said Daniel Tripp, a storekeeper at University Surplus and Salvage.
Items are sent to the office from different departments and then held for 15 days before they are made available to the public.
“The items are held for government purchase or so smaller departments at the U with smaller budgets can buy the items,” Tripp said.
Items on hold sit on a cart until the 15-day hold period is over and are then moved to shelves.
“The thing students should look for is the public sale date?on a green tag that is put on every item here,” he said.
Students should be knowledgeable when buying a computer from University Surplus and Salvage because it could be missing certain parts, Tripp warned.
All items are sold “as is,” so students “need to know or they could get stung,” he explained. “You can still get a really good deal. People come in and wind up buying their neighbors or friends a computer too.”
Chris Treasure, a senior in speech communication, said he has found bargains at the office.
“I picked out a monitor to replace my broken one, and it was 20 bucks,” he said.
The inventory at University Surplus and Salvage constantly changes as new items come in on a daily basis from different departments at the U.
Sometimes the items are similar to ones it has had before, so people come back and think there isn’t anything new, Tripp said. “But we get new stuff every day.”
The University Surplus and Salvage is housed in a three-story building in the Fort Douglas complex, just south of the Heritage Center.
People coming to University Surplus and Salvage should be aware that parking is tightly enforced around Fort Douglas and that there are only seven spots in the Outdoor Recreation lot to park in.
University Surplus and Salvage accepts payment by cash, check, credit card or purchase order and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and closed on holidays.
For more information, students can go to www.utah.edu/surplus.