Ten Dollars For The Contents Of A Life

“It’s ten dollars,” Shaun Brown said, gesturing to a pallet stacked with cardboard boxes, waiting for one of the prospective buyers to respond.

Neither said anything, and Brown moved on. 

Inside those boxes were the belongings of a family who lost their home to foreclosure or eviction since early December. Brown, a city public works employee, was seeking bids at a monthly sale Tuesday morning in the department’s storage facility at the Goffe Street Armory.

Seven lots were on sale at the auction. Two bidders showed up. Brown led them through the freezing warehouse, where they examined the lots. Bidding started at ten dollars for each lot, most of which contained just a single pallet.

As Brown stepped around patches of ice on the floor, the two buyers debated the relative merits of furniture or closed boxes.

Joseph Spain, who runs a thrift shop and attends most Department of Public Works (DPW) auctions, said he was looking for appliances, furniture and other durable goods that he could resell reliably.

He and a second bidder, who declined to give his name, ended up not competing. They didn’t even bid on most of the pallets; Spain was looking for pallets with durable furniture, while the other bidder sought pallets with sealed cardboard boxes, which would be easier to trasnport and might contain worthwhile surprises.

They each ended up purchasing one pallet each without driving up the price.

After signing the papers for his newly acquired pallet, Spain said the auctions ae a good chance to pick up affordable household goods.

The second buyer acknowledged that the cardboard boxes could contain trash, or valuables from books to good shoes.

“That’s why you take the chance,” he said. He said he expects to make $50 or $60 reselling the contents of his box, based on past experience. People call him regularly to see if he has items to sell.

He added that what he can’t resell he gives away or leaves on the curbs for people to pick up. He said he finds it frustrating to see stuff donated to Goodwill marked up and sold back to working people.

Brown said January was one of the slowest months for auctions, as the city tried not to evict people during the holiday season. DPW collected boxes for only two weeks in December.

The belongings sit in the DPW warehouse for a month, where tenants can go to reclaim them. After that, the belongings sold or taken to the dump. Brown said she often grants a month’s extension to people who have had trouble reclaiming their belongings because of illness, short-term incarceration or lack of transport.

“You see their stuff, you see their whole lives,” Brown said. She added that she understands people’s frustration with DPW and the auction process, given the indignity of seeing one’s life sold off for ten dollars a pallet.

“Other cities don’t do this as often as we do,” Brown said. New Haven has a high rate of evictions, according to Brown, which necessitates monthly auctions.

The five unsold pallets in Tuesday’s auction will go to the dumpp.