Tyger Posted March 5, 2009 Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Officials in one eastern Pennsylvania school district are red-faced after a costly mistake on eBay. The East Stroudsburg School District was attempting to sell seven used classroom trailers, but an error in its ad on the online auction site allowed someone to bid and buy one trailer for only a dollar.The district had purchased the trailers three years ago for about $46,000 each. With transportation and setup costs, the total came to around $60,000.Officials say they were expecting to get around $5,000 to $10,000 per trailer on eBay.District superintendent Rachel Heath says officials tried to back out of the eBay sale but couldn't.Heath says the remaining trailers won't be sold on eBay.___Information from: WNEP-TV, http://www.wnep.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Review Team sass Posted March 5, 2009 Review Team Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 Oopsy! LOL! I wonder who lost their job over that one - I bet someone did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members synirr Posted March 5, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 Yikes! I hope the bidder doesn't go through with the deal... if so, what an ass! No matter how much it might benefit me I don't think I could live with myself if I screwed a school out of several thousand dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lil_librarian Posted March 5, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 Oh, I am sure someone did a "rug dance" for that one! Hope the seller coughs up more money. If you hear what happens..post it..lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dscn Posted March 5, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 wow someone got away with a steal on that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 5, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 This man would be a fool to cancel it! That was 300,000 tax dollars marked for education. I would say anyone who reads this article is now educated on where that money really went! If that money had been used for teachers or students I may have sympathy, but this is 6 custom trailers that obviously were not needed. That school needs an education in financial responsibility. Guess they'll need a bailout now!! BTW, I think the sale should go through but I also think he should find a school that really needs it and donate it! Now that would be an education all around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mystofpric Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 This man would be a fool to cancel it! That was 300,000 tax dollars marked for education. I would say anyone who reads this article is now educated on where that money really went! If that money had been used for teachers or students I may have sympathy, but this is 6 custom trailers that obviously were not needed. That school needs an education in financial responsibility. Guess they'll need a bailout now!! BTW, I think the sale should go through but I also think he should find a school that really needs it and donate it! Now that would be an education all around!Well actually the trailers were needed, the school needed more room and the trailers were bought because they couldnt afford the expansion, then they kept the trailers through the building process so that no students were displaced. Lots of schools in PA have them (thankfully mine didn't!), and even a few up this way. And selling old upplies like that on places like e-bay are very common place, but apperently someone didn't pay any attention to it! tsk tsk on their part, and these people run schools? The guy who bought it would be a fool not to go through with the sale! It's likely another school too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 IDK how you can't afford expansion then spend that much money for temporary custom made items. That just doesn't ring true to me. I could be very wrong on this too, but it's just another budget problem they created. If the incoming student body is that much larger than the ones previous then they have had time to see this unless it's a kindergarten class. The trailers could have been leased rather than bought and resold for a major loss. There are a lot of options that would have done the same thing without the new car smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mystofpric Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 IDK how you can't afford expansion then spend that much money for temporary custom made items. That just doesn't ring true to me. I could be very wrong on this too, but it's just another budget problem they created. If the incoming student body is that much larger than the ones previous then they have had time to see this unless it's a kindergarten class. The trailers could have been leased rather than bought and resold for a major loss. There are a lot of options that would have done the same thing without the new car smell.That area of PA has a LARGE immegrant population (i went to high school not far from there) Now why was it bought and not leased? I dunno maybe it was cheaper to buy and resell then lease and have no way to recoup any money in the long run. and i have to imagine building a new school building would be immensely expensive more so than 300,000, but i dunno I'm not in that end of construction... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 The whole thing just smell like every other government funded program. This kind of thing happens when they need to justify a budget increase so they either spend like this or start new projects and leave them unfinished for people to bitch about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mystofpric Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 The whole thing just smell like every other government funded program. This kind of thing happens when they need to justify a budget increase so they either spend like this or start new projects and leave them unfinished for people to bitch about!I dunno hun, i remember being in those schools and not seeing a ton of excess funding or spare room, so I dunno, this is kinda close to me since ya know I was close to there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyger Posted March 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I know that MANY schools around the country use these trailers, instead of building onto old buildings (usually made of brick). In reality, the rennovations to the older buildings are more expensive than getting those trailers. So, they get them as additional classrooms. But, they should be lasting a little longer, IMO. Where I think that the sale on e-Bay is a bit ridiculous, since they could probably sell them locally, and have a better idea of what they're really going to get for them. But, whoever did the selling, is responsible for the mistake. The sale is legal, and, if it was me, I'd keep the trailer, and say "Live and learn". That's why they recommend that you double and triple check everything before submitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mystofpric Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I know that MANY schools around the country use these trailers, instead of building onto old buildings (usually made of brick). In reality, the rennovations to the older buildings are more expensive than getting those trailers. So, they get them as additional classrooms. But, they should be lasting a little longer, IMO. Where I think that the sale on e-Bay is a bit ridiculous, since they could probably sell them locally, and have a better idea of what they're really going to get for them. But, whoever did the selling, is responsible for the mistake. The sale is legal, and, if it was me, I'd keep the trailer, and say "Live and learn". That's why they recommend that you double and triple check everything before submitting.I agree 100% It's the schools fault and really what kind of a lesson are they teaching their kids if the sit around and whine about their mistake rather than learn from it? As far as not selling it locally, there may not have been a demand and e-bay was another option, now if they had put it on craigslist, i'd have been shocked, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I live in a small community that has built a new gymnasium which also allowed relocation of the 5th & 6th grade classes. Less than 2,500 people here and this was done during my 5th grade year. Maybe budgets were a lot different then but this school is still expanding in ways you would not believe. It looks like a serious for-profit venture. They have bought many buildings here in town and they have built a few more. They have even re-opened the 2 rooms above the old gym and made classrooms with them instead of storage for the sports equipment. I see this much the same as Tyger in that the time doesn't match the reason. They could have easily made those permanent structures and this would not be an issue. But this also brings teacher raises and other things into question! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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