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WCC Office Supply Redistribution

And Surplus Store

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About WCC

  • WCC is a Community College located just outside Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County, Michigan
  • 295 acres of Campus buildings, woods, sportsfields, plazas, parking lots, and landscaping.
  • Currently there are 10,695 students enrolled.
  • There is no Campus Housing.
  • Operational sustainability efforts are housed in the Facilities Division where we have a Resource Recovery Manager and an Energy Manager
  • Office Supply Redistribution and Public Surplus Store

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Campus Office Surplus Redistribution

  • Office Supplies which are discarded with the Recycle Stream or are generated from office clean outs are set aside throughout the year.
  • Twice a year during In-Service week the crates of Supplies are taken to a central location and Faculty and Staff and come by and take anything they can use.
  • It also serves as an educational event as table displays on reuse and recycling procedures are put in the same area.
  • It’s a popular event and well attended
  • We would prefer a permanent location and more frequent turn over

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History of the Surplus Store at WCC

  • Pre 2005, when there was an excess amount of property to dispose of, WCC held yard sale type events
  • In 2005 this moved to an Ebay Store operated out of the Campus Services (Storage and Receiving) department
  • The Ebay store was suspended when COVID hit in 2020
  • For a while the responsibility for the store reopening moved to Finance and Public Surplus.com was decided to be used moving forward.
  • The store moved back to Campus Services for operational, storage, and manpower reasons
  • New store has now been open for 12 months

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Store Purpose and Operation

  • The purpose of the store is to divert material from the landfill via reuse
  • Quick turnover is required due to space limitations
  • Items are not listed multiple times
  • There is no minimum value required to list an item
  • Items have to be picked up, there is no shipping service
  • Listing periods depend on space and turnover requirements, but vary between 4 and 10 days

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How the Process Works

  • The WCC employee fills out a property disposition form and emails it to the disposition email address
  • The Resource Recovery Manager inspects the item to establish if it needs reporting to finance and if it is suitable for sale
  • If suitable for sale Campus Services collect it and list it for sale
  • If it doesn’t sell the item gets referred back to the Resource Recovery Manager who will try and donate it, if it can not be donated it will be assessed for recyclability

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First Year’s KPIs

  • Total Revenue $121,791.69
  • Total Individual Sales 1298
  • Average Sale Price $93.83
  • Lowest Sale Price $0.55
  • Highest Sale Price $4,825
  • Number of Individual Customers 178
  • Average Diversion Weight 37.81t

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Challenges and Surprises

  • The WCC listings are not easy to find on the store webpage
  • We have a much smaller customer base than somewhere like Ebay, so items go cheap if people aren’t bidding against each other
  • Many buyers are middle men moving things on through other sites
  • It’s sometimes surprising what will sell
  • Coordinating pick ups within operational hours can be problematic
  • Low value items which are paid for sometimes do not get picked up
  • Some people want us to ship despite us making that clear on the website that we don’t

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