By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — What does the New York State government do when it's hard up for cash? Hock its unwanted junk on eBay.
The state's Office of General Services earned $1.3 million selling spare items on the auction site last year, according to the Daily News.
The initiative is a long way from plugging the state's $10 billion budget gap, but OGS spokeswoman Heather Groll told the News that auctioning unwanted items on the web has benefited the state as well as thrifty buyers.
"It reduces the cost of running government and it reuses items in another way - giving people an opportunity to get something that they might not have purchased in a traditional manner," Groll told the paper.
A 30-ton pile of scrap metal, an old voting booth, and several bundles of excess computer equipment are currently on the auction block through the OGS eBay page.
A saucier list of past items, noted in the agency's user profile, included "airplanes, helicopters, a lobster boat, 1950's fire trucks, and granite cobblestones recently removed from roads and pathways."
Buyers must pick up items that they purchase, as the OGS does not offer shipping.
