Archive: Around Town

Last Saturday it was hard to find a parking space on Town Barn Road as buyers swarmed into Lansing for the 10^th annual municipal auction.  Or is it the 15^th?  Nobody can remember.  Auctioneer Roy Teitsworth does know he's been bringing his operation here for a long time.  "This is a neat, well attended local auction," he says.  "We like coming here."


His Genesco based company specializes in auctioning heavy equipment for municipalities and contractors looking for a good deal on big equipment.  The highway department grounds were packed with big snow plow trucks, loaders, back hoes, a few police cars, busses -- you name it.  "This auction is probably known for its light trucks and snow plow trucks," Teitsworth  says.  "We have other heavy equipment, too, but that's probably what we're known for locally.  The local people buy the cars and trucks, and the contractors from farther away buy the heavy equipment."


Teitsworth says that municipalities have three ways to dispose of their used equipment.  "They can offer it for sealed bid in the local legal section of the paper, which not too many people read.  Or they can trade the piece of equipment for a new piece.  That's perfectly legal.  However, if they buy the new piece and get the low price on state contract, they can't trade.  Or they can use a public auction."  He says they typically realize thousands of dollars more by auctioning used equipment than they would otherwise.  "It's really a service that we provide to the municipalities that is good for our business and good for them," he says.

It's good for Lansing as well.  Lansing's Highway Superintendent Jack French says, "The Town gets 1% of the total profit from the auction, plus whatever we sell in the auction."  This year the Town has a ten wheel dump truck snow plow, a roadside mower, and a pickup truck for sale.  "We're not buying anything this year," French said.  Before the auction began Teitsworth estimated there would be 500 buyers, and before the day ended he expected to sell three quarters of a million dollars worth of equipment.

Ken Wojcik was one such buyer.  Wojcik came from a Binghamton equipment business.  "We follow Roy around to his sales," he said.  "He's a good auctioneer."  Wojcik says he looks for whatever he can get, including equipment, trucks, loaders, back hoes, or whatever he can get a good deal on. His company resells the equipment he buys here.  Local business Kirksway Farm was selling a truck, and Fred Kirk, whose brother Bill owns the company, was looking for bargains.  "I'm looking to see what condition the trucks might be in," he said.  "The one ton and also the big ones, and also seeing what other equipment might be available at a decent price."

Many buyers came on Friday, or before the auction began Saturday to start up the equipment and look under the chassis.  "We want everybody to know what they're buying," Teitsworth  says.  "We welcome them to do that."  His company conducts about a dozen municipal auctions like the one in Lansing each year, plus auctions for contractors, farmers, dealers, and estates.  They do about 45 auctions a year.  "We don't do furniture and antiques, it's all equipment," he says.  

Once the auction begins a special truck with a platform surrounded by windows goes up and down the rows of equipment.  The auctioneers, including Teitsworth, stand in this mobile booth auctioning the equipment in front of them.  The crowd follows this truck to bid.  Teitsworth has been an auctioneer for 36 years.  He says auctioning isn't something you train for.  "It's just a knack you acquire after you practice for a long time."


The Lansing Lions were on hand hours before the auction began to set up their concessions tent.  "We're hoping a lot of people show up to buy, because we're hoping they'll go home happy with food and the Lions make some money on the concession here," said Lions President Linn Davidson.  "They come here to get their sweet peppers and onions and hot sausage, fine donuts that Marion's running over there.  Agway has done a nice job of giving us these yellow jacket traps, but I don't know... it's an even run between a donut and a trap."  

The Lions also had brooms for sale as well as Lansing Throws, blankets with scenes from Lansing on them.  Most of the food and broom sales went to the many charitable projects the Lions support each year, and sales of the throws were targeted at the band stand the Lions hope to build in Myers Park next Spring.

Teitsworth said there was about the same amount of equipment as last year.  "Very close.  Fewer cars, but a few more trucks," he said.  That suited him fine. "I like big equipment, so I enjoy doing that the most," he said.  And from the look of things, there were plenty of buyers who agreed with him.

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