AMERICUS — AMERICUS — The state of Georgia will soon close its three surplus warehouse facilities — located in Americus, Tucker and Swainsboro — and for all intents and purposes, take the state out of the surplus business, at least in the physical sense. After closing the warehouse facilities, the surplus will be sold online.

This latest move by the state will eliminate the jobs of 23 full-time employees, six of which are at the Americus facility, which has been open here for over 50 years.

Brad Douglas, commissioner of the state Department of Administrative Services (DOAS), told the Times-Recorder Tuesday in a phone interview that the closings will save the state approximately $900,000 a year. The state will also sell its fleet of trucks and fork lifts, etc. used to move the surplus goods to and around the warehouses. With the new technology available will afford the DOAS surplus division to sell its excess goods on the Internet at GovDeals.com. This change will result in only a “front office” remaining open, retaining three full-time positions, according to Douglas. He said South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) has expressed interest in using the surplus warehouse for its own purposes in the future, so the new front office might be located on the SGTC campus.

Douglas explained that during these uncertain economic times, many government agencies and state universities are actually holding onto their surplus instead of having it warehoused as surplus. That means there’s just not much material to warehouse anymore, he said.

In addition to that, the business of surplus warehousing is not cost efficient. The commissioner said, for example, that a surplus desk could bring around $7 on the website while it costs $27 to pick the desk up, warehouse it and post it for sale. Douglas said the state will contract with scrap dealers who will haul away some items while surplus vehicles will be auctioned.

“The new plan is to continue to assist customers in buying surplus goods from the state, on the Internet, while still providing customer service for area municipalities and other customers wishing to purchase,” he said. Of those purchasers, he said, are state agencies and universities, some nonprofits and ultimately, the public.

Whereas, the agency formerly held three to four auctions each year at each warehouse location, they have stopped doing that with the advent of eBay and GovDeals.com.

“This has proven that the surplus inventory turns from three to four times each year to about 12 each year,” he said. “The pace of selling the goods ... has increased tremendously.”

Douglas said, “We can’t run a negative balance ... We’re going to continue to sell to anyone who’s purchased in the past.”

He further explained that since some people are not adept at purchasing goods online, the state will offer a computer kiosk at its front office to help buyers maneuver online. He said the items offered online will be described on the website, with photos posted, and they will “try to be as accurate as possible ... The online business has a 99.3 percent seller rating.” Some of the items will have a set price while other will be open for bidding.

Douglas, who works in the private sector for decades before coming to the state several years ago, said, “Now it’s being run like a business.”

He said the state surplus division lost $650,000 in revenue last year and could lose up to $1 million by year’s end.

“It’s a tough call,” he said of the people losing their jobs, “and some impacted might be close to retirement.” He said the state is working with those employees who will be displaced to help then find other jobs.

“Our greatest asset is our people,” he said. “But we have to react to changes in the marketplace and the money climate.”

Steve Ekin, director of surplus for the DOAS said, “We don’t receive state funding. If we don’t make it, we can’t pay salaries regardless of how many years we have. We must make money to make payroll just like the private sector.”

Douglas added, “We’re self-funded ... It’s sort of like ‘eat what you kill.’ If you can’t sell it, you can’t survive. The Legislature would be all about closing someone with a $1 million debt ... This change will save us $75,000 a month; that’s $900,000 annualized. The $100,000-$150,000 in the surplus fleet to sell — trucks and forklifts — is a one-time gain.”

“We’ve been a long-time resident in Americus and we want to maintain a presence in town, although smaller. The town has been very, very good to us,” Douglas said.

While the commissioner could not give an exact date of closure, he said their are critical paths to be taken: securing a third party scrap dealer and communicating with agencies and universities. He said probably in a couple of months, but certainly by the year’s end, the warehouses will close. He said employees will all receive 30 days advance notice.

One of the local employees who will lose his job, Charles Cooper, said he had just lost his 19-year job with Collins-Aikman before taking a job with the surplus facility.

“With me, I haven’t been there as long as some of the other employees, only a little over a year,” he said. “But some with 24 or 28 years will be affected, being older adults.”

Cooper, 45, said, “I hate that it’s happening. Lots of people in different counties are upset, but that’s what the commissioner decided to do ... It was a really big shock. We thought we might be furloughed ... but we learned they’re closing all of them. I hate it; I’ve enjoyed working with the people up there and all the people in the state and different counties. It’s a tremendous service that will be lost, especially to poorer counties that can’t afford new equipment ... It’s gonna hurt a lot of people.”

Cooper said he had seen a copy of a letter that was sent from the commissioner’s office to other state agencies.

“The letter made is sound like there was poor management at the facilities rather than on the state level,” he said. “... Some other areas in the state might not have provided the service they did at the Americus facility.”

Cooper said there aren’t many other employment opportunities locally and the price of gas makes it even more difficult to consider working elsewhere.

Cooper’s sister, Mary Cooper, was more emphatic about her reaction to the warehouse closures.

“It sucks,” she said. “I don’t like it at all. Not only will we be handling our own surplus, but those people are losing their jobs.” She said she works in surplus at Georgia Southwestern State University.

Dave Wills, chairman of the Webster County Board of Commissioners, said his county has purchased quite a bit of equipment from the Americus surplus facility, such as a wheeled excavator, military surplus.

“Undoubtedly it has saved us a lot of money. I am very dismayed that it’s closing and I can’t say I understand the logic of it,” he said.

Wills used as an example, the most recent purchase of a Department of Transportation dump truck.

“We looked at it; our mechanic looked at it and said he could probably put it back together, so we bought it,” he said. “ The engine was torn apart. But could I have determined its condition online? Probably not. This move will cost local governments more because of access. We’re playing a game: save the state money and cost local governments more.”