U.S. General Services Administration
Auctioneer marks 40 years of federal service
Going once, going twice, not gone yet
Mike Gauntt
Acquisition/Remarketing Manager
Zone 3 Fleet Services Branch
How did you get into the disposal of government property?
I wanted to be a gunsmith, so I attended a vocational-technical school in Denver, Colorado. After completing the courses, I began working in small arms repair for a U.S. Army maintenance division in Fort Riley, Kansas.
After a year I took a position as a material sorter and classifier with the Defense Property Disposal Office. Six years later I moved to Florida to work as a heavy equipment operator and crane operator.
My first taste of property disposal occurred when I stepped up to a property disposal specialist with the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service. While there, I was offered the opportunity to attend a two-week auctioneer school. I accepted and became a certified government auctioneer. I found my niche, and my career in property disposal began.
I became part of the GSA family as a Region 6 auctioneer in 1998. Although my duties have changed over the years, I am still doing what I was designed to do — property disposal. I have literally sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of government equipment during my career. It has always been a rewarding feeling to put money back into the kitty. I am making money back for the American taxpayers.
What’s so cool about being an auctioneer?
Auctioneering gave me the opportunity to travel and to meet interesting people. I’ve sold helicopters, boats, ships, barges, mobile buildings, military surplus and lots of other cool items. At GSA we did all sales for Region 5 and 6.
I met some unique characters along the way, and some of them would follow our auctions from place to place to buy specific items like generators or Jeeps. You get to know them. It is an entertaining job, and I still love it.
Do you have any interesting auction stories?
When the GSA Regional Office was down on Bannister Road in Kansas City, Missouri, we held the auctions out back of the building. Every auction has its own personality. When U.S. Marshals seized property, we sold that too.
One year we came up with a plan to hold an auction at the annual Take Your Kids to Work Day. The parents donated items and each of the 100 plus participants were given $50 worth of fake money for bidding. It took a while for the kids to get the hang of the auction, so many of them were still holding their $50 at the end of the auction when the super-soaker water guns went up for bids. There were so many $50 bids that I had to select the winners. That was not a good situation, so we decided to make changes.
The following year we permitted the kids to combine their funds with other participants to create a better bidding environment. That year we also happened to receive an autographed Kansas City Chiefs football as a donation. We were completely surprised when one boy was able to bid $326 without combining his funds. Turns out he had collected the leftover bills from the previous year and kept them to increase his allowance. That year we learned one more lesson: date the bills. Those were some fun times.
What do you do for GSA now?
In 2007 I could see that live auctions were becoming a thing of the past as GSA began to dispose of property virtually, so I opened up my options and wound up in GSA’s Fleet Management division as a transportation operations specialist. Fleet zonalized in 2015, and in 2016 I landed in the Fleet Services Branch as the Zone 3 acquisition/remarketing manager.
Fleet is a great place to work and a fun place to be. I have seven people under me, and we oversee the acquisition of 8,000-10,000 vehicles a year, and then we turn around and sell a comparable amount. We are a small but mighty group and already have over 100 million dollars in vehicle sales this fiscal year.
GSA no longer needs my skills as a live auctioneer, but I continue to volunteer for charity auctions on my personal time.
Why did you stay with the federal government?
The government gave me an opportunity to become an auctioneer. Not in my wildest imagination did I think that is what I would be, but I got pretty darn good at it. One time I sold a lot of bearings at 300% of what the government had paid for them. My skill brought in job offers over the years but the government had been so good to me I could not leave.
My advice is to take advantage of the opportunities the federal government gives you. You may find out something about yourself you did not know.
To what do you attribute your successful service?
My dad owned a gas station for more than 50 years, and I worked for him when I wasn’t at school. As a kid I resented that he expected more from me than the other employees. The other employees could get away with goofing off and taking breaks, but he always had something for me to do. As I grew up, I realized that he had taught me about discipline and hard work. It was an irreplaceable education, and I am very thankful for the lessons from my dad.
How do you recharge your batteries?
My wife and I enjoy helping with our grandkids and the 5-year-old is my buddy. He wants to do everything I do, even clipping the hedges. I can be a strong salesman, but I am a marshmallow around the grandkids.
I would like to take a trip to Alaska with just me and my wife. We rarely go anywhere because of the grandkids, but we don’t complain because when they aren’t with us, we miss them.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I am very thankful for my career at GSA. I hope to retire in another year or so but for now...going once, going twice, not gone yet.