Anny Chih

Caution: This may be the only thing worth buying at the VANOC Assets Sale ($6)

Ang, Morten and I woke up early to get to VANOC’s Assets Sale. We got there at 8:30am today (a half hour before they opened) and spent a good three hours waiting outside with our feet in puddles and huddled under our umbrella in a futile attempt to avoid the heavy rain. What a waste of time!

If someone had told us it would take this long to get in, I wouldn’t have bothered. They would line us up in one section and when we got through thinking we were going in, they’d herd us into another line which moved an average of 20 people per half hour even though there were more people exiting than entering.

By the time we got in, my jeans felt like they weighed an extra two pounds from the rain. And we didn’t buy a thing! There were only 40 laptops, 40 computers, and 40 of each monitor and television up for sale, and they were sold out to the crazies who started lining up at 4am. Not only was there very little to browse, but the stuff that was left over wasn’t all priced to clear. Here’s an inventory: extension cords ($5 — $10), easels ($15 — $25), lamps ($25), disgusting coffee makers ($13), hole punchers ($10), binders ($1), leftover clothes and backpacks ($15+), clothes hangers ($5), batteries ($5 for a bag of of ~6 AA), tables ($20+ depending on damage), couches (unknown price), miscellaneous office supplies ($1+), orange flags ($5), used hard hats ($10+), ladders (unknown price), microwaves ($25+ depending on condition), and some other junk that I can’t remember off the top of my head.

We considered getting Caution tape just for the sake of getting something (it’s a possible Lady Gaga Halloween costume), but the line-up to the cash register was also ridiculously slow so we ditched the rolls of tape and dragged our sorry butts to IHOP.

Tips for Wannabe Sale Suckers:

1. If you absolutely must get one of those Acer computers, monitors, or TVs, get ready to line-up at 4am (doors open at 9am).
2. The workers at the warehouse are still unloading stuff from the trucks, which is why they’re only selling 40 of each television and computer each day for at least one week. This can be good news for you if you really want to get one but missed your chance on the weekend. There may be days when they’ll offload up to 150 computers and TVs.
3. Don’t bother going if it’s past 10am. By 11am today they were turning people away.
4. You can’t see it from the first or beginning of the second line-ups, but there is a food stand at the entrance to the warehouse. You can get coffee ($2), fries ($3.50) and hotdogs ($3). Why weren’t they telling this to the drenched and cold people in the line-ups? I have no clue.