PHOENIX – Elizabeth Bartholomew sifts through a drawer full of utility knives at the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) property surplus warehouse. “We have hundreds of these,” she said while opening drawer after drawer.
Pocket knives are just one of the many things her department receives after TSA confiscates them at Sky Harbor International Airport.
"A passenger brought these items with them, they weren't allowed through security," she said.
TSA holds onto these things for at least six months, but after that they have a deal with ADOA that gives them the property to sell.
Purchasing the confiscated items
The sale is happening Friday morning from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Arizona Department of Administration Surplus Property warehouse at 1537 W. Jackson St. in Phoenix.
"All of the money we make off of this sale, we put back into the general fund,” Bartholomew said.
Each item is priced anywhere from 25 cents to 120 bucks.
"We use what the market price is and then try to make it fair in the sale," she said.
Your loss is the taxpayers gain.
"Over the years, stuff has kind of piled up. It's not going to sit in a landfill, we won't throw it away so you might as well sell it,” Bartholomew said.