Government surplus

[tomtom]

Could someone Clue me in on how the Government Surplus industy works?

i mean how do the shops get it from them.. is it auctioned off in job lots.. if so where and how?

[tenbears10]

search on google Tom and you will find the small high street surplus shops but then also are much bigger places which buy direct from the mod. Some have hundreds of landrovers in stock for example. I think they buy in bulk and just get boxes of 'soldier 95 trousers grade 1' they probably haven't seen most of the stuff but the price they buy it for reflects this.

I'll see what I can find.

Bill

[tomtom]

thanks Bill.. i wondered how the dealing with the Government worked..
im thinking down the Bulk Buying line again.. and we swap "boxes of 'soldier 95 trousers grade 1'" for box of 58pat sleeping bags or something :wink:

[tenbears10]

The 'links only' thread has several of the surplus suppliers but this (http://www.the-outdoor.co.uk/) claims to be direct from the mod and the prices are low so they must get stuff in bulk.

landrovers (http://www.witham-sv.com/index1.html#) this is the type of plce for the landys again they claim to be direct suppliers from the mod.

Gary and the others might know more about the exact way it works.

Bill

[Gary]

Tomtom PM - are you after bulk or retail?

[brucemacdonald]

Could someone Clue me in on how the Government Surplus industy works?

i mean how do the shops get it from them.. is it auctioned off in job lots.. if so where and how?


Perhaps I can help here....

I used to work at a MOD depot which used to store all this stuff before it was sold to the surplus market.

What happens is that once they are deemed obsolete or out of service date, goods are auctioned off to the highest bidder by the MOD agency whose task this is. This is the Disposal Services Agency and you can see their website here:

http://www.disposalsales.agency.mod.u k/

Vehicles I believe are sent to specialist vehicle auctioneers for disposal - it isn't just the usual stuff like Land Rovers but civilian vehicles as well.

As an aside you could always tell when a disposal auction was taking place by the line of big cars (Jags, Bentleys, etc) and 4x4s parked outside. :yikes:

Clearly there is money to be made from the surplus market.

Best wishes

Bruce

[tomtom]

Thats what i was wondering about.. Thanks Bruce!!

[Great Pebble]

There's been a slight change in the last few years which means that individual items are not generally auctioned off anymore. Rather the contract for particular classes of item, A vehicles, B vehicles, White Fleet, Textiles etc. is put up to tender. There will usually be a contractual obligation attatched to prevent the market being "glutted", which was one of the problems with the old system.

It does seem from my own observation though that in the case of vehicles at least there are still a number of individual auctions happening.

[BIG-TARGET]

Also, don't limit yourself to just you particular nation's surplus. There are some great pieces on the foriegn surplus market.

For example, the swedish and dutch mess kits are vastly superior to American mess kits. Especially if you are into soups, coffee, & teas!! :biggthump