Lately, like only since the middle of December, 2008, I have noticed a new trend in the “free” section of Craigslist. This is where benefitting from the economic downturn comes into play: Companies and organizations of all sizes, are starting to go out of business in rapid-fire succession—belly-up, broke, bankrupt, closing the doors for good. Or, if not going completely “lights-out” many organizations are implementing drastic cost-cutting measures including massive downsizing, which usually includes the liquidation of extraneous, non-productive physical assets. Do you see where I am going with this blog yet? These businesses, even if they are going to survive the economic storm, are in panic-mode. More and more listings in the “free” section of Craigslist are from businesses in free-fall mode, literally giving the house away before they hit the bottom, or often after they have hit bottom and scattered their dead (free) material assets all across the land and sea, to be scavenged upon by mostly vultures and sharks.

The day before yesterday I hit the jackpot! A listing in the “free” section on Craigslist was advertising 15 free office desks, and other misc. office furniture such as filing cabinets and chairs. In their listing, the business even said something to the effect of “today is your lucky day, our downsizing and moving is your benefit.” They had a picture of one of the desks, yes, pictures on Craigslist—very good, and the desk in the picture looked nice. All the stars aligned perfectly for me on that day: My wife had the day off from work to watch our kids, the business giving away the free stuff was less than 2 miles from my house, and I had a full day of free time. The only thing holding me back was that I did not find the listing very early in the morning. I dragged my old Isuzu Rodeo, with its adequately-large storage space, up to the medical-industry-related business at 10:30 in the morning.

Apparently, this corporation was “moving” and “downsizing” and in the process gave away about 75% of their (mostly large and bulky) physical assets. It would not surprise me to find out that the truth of the matter was that they were going totally bankrupt, and using the term “downsizing” as a euphemism. When I first arrived at the business in the morning I saw a few of the other earlier-arriving recipients of the “downsizing” taking everything they could get their hands on, and not being very polite in the process, framed pictures, trash cans, chairs, anything that was free had been scooped up already. Most everything had been cleared out by the time I arrived! The sharks that circle the Craigslist “free” section know that the early bird gets the worm. These “Used Merchandise Pros” are just like the professional antique dealers who know to show up to yard/estate sales at the crack of dawn. The only thing I had going for me on this day was that the listing on Craigslist most likely was not put up before 8 am on the same day. One thing that separates me from your average pro Craigslist shark—looking only to make a profit—is my generally nice personality. I asked the guy who seemed to be the head of the business if he had any other desks or other items that I could help him get rid of. I was directed to a room in the back of the office that had one very nice desk left in it. I told the guy that this desk was not going to be sold by me and that it was going to a good cause in helping my children have a more ergonomic and enjoyable computing experience. I asked if I could use a dolly sitting in the corner, and had that desk in the back of my SUV in about 30 seconds. Employing my generally-nice and situationally-sensitive personality I decided to gently ask the person running the show if he might possibly have any other unwanted items I could help him remove from his business. Using the lottery analogy, this is where I got the number on the “bonus ball” correct also—he told me that if I wanted to come back in about 4 hours, there might be some other desks available. I could tell by his nonverbal communication and other nuances of the situation, that he was giving me a bit of “insider information” that was not given to the rude, pushy “Craigslist Pros” that were still circling around the bloody, yet empty waters.

I brought the one large desk home and set up the family (mostly the kids’) computer workstation. I noticed that the table was very heavy, which from a quality point of view, is usually a good thing. During the process of setting up the desk I noticed an original tag from the manufacturer on the underside of the desk. The desk was manufactured by HON, a leading builder of high-end office furniture. I planned on taking a look at their website later that night. A few hours pass and I headed back up to the medical-industry business around 3pm, bringing a few tools for taking apart office furniture, just incase they were needed. The sign on the door that said all the free stuff was gone, the one put up just as I was leaving with my one desk earlier in the day, was still up and I saw no other people at the business except for the few people that made up the skeleton-crew of employees finishing out their final day of employment at that office. The original Craigslist posting for the business had also been removed sometime around noon on that same day. I actually was expecting to go home empty-handed this time around. But, I saw one lonely desk sitting outside the business so I pulled my SUV up to it and started to load it into my SUV when an employee of the business (not the original head-guy) said that desk is not free, it is sitting there because the “movers” could not fit it in their truck, but they would be back for it. Using my charming personality once again, I graciously apologized for starting to take the desk, and asked the lady if there happened to be anything else that I might be able to help them remove from their site. The lady goes inside, comes back out and tells me that there are 2 other desks in the last portion of the business that stayed running until the end of that day. I go and take a look—oh boy, two more desks just like the nice one already at my house! Except one had a huge “L-shaped” extension and the other had a hutch. I was not going to be greedy and take more than I needed, so I only took the one with the additional “L-extension,” which needed to be disassembled to fit it in my no-so-huge SUV. A few hours later, a bit more blood, sweat and tears (of joy), and I now have an awesome, professional-level, desk setup for my home office, not to mention the great new setup for my kids’ computer.

Later that night I finally get a moment to check out the website of HON Office Furniture—my goodness, this stuff is high-end and quite expensive, with industrial strength durability. Wow, I was excited now. The simple, yet nice 60X30 inch desk that I first brought home for the family/kids computer retails for over $1,500. The other desk with the L-shaped addition for my home office would set one back around $2,500 if bought new. I have included a picture of the desk in my office so you can see what they actually look like–click on it for a larger view. (You might also notice the near-mint, vintage, yet great Apple Extended Keyboard II that is part of my kit—a $5 purchase from a small university—via Craigslist a few years earlier.) While certainly not in perfect condition, the desks are in great shape. A closer examination of the attached tags to the desks reveal that they were manufactured in April of 2001, most likely sold in 2002, and 7 years later given away for free as scrap.