I usually tell everyone that the government buys almost any and everything made by man and God at one time or another. A lot of those purchases are used, and many are just put in warehouses for the time they’re considered to be needed.
After a period, sometimes years, the government decides to reduce the inventory. Maybe it is due to obsolescence and sometimes it is just to reduce the amount of space the items are taking up in some massive warehouse. To reduce items for whatever reasons, an auction list is prepared and sent to various organizations and/or individuals, such as myself.
That brings me to some of the adventures I have engaged in involving government auctions.