Twenty bikes have already been impounded in the first three days of October, according to the USC Department of Public Safety’s daily incident log. Students who have had their bikes impounded can go to the Department of Public Safety to retrieve them, but if owners do not pick them up within 90 days of impoundment, the bikes become DPS property.
In previous years, DPS resold unclaimed impounded bikes through bike sales run by DPS and in partnership with USC Surplus Sales. Surplus Sales resells any excess equipment from USC departments including dorm room furniture, desks, chairs, and monitors. As of this year, DPS has stopped giving Surplus Sales impounded bikes to sell and is instead donating all unclaimed bicycles to charity.
One of the reasons DPS stopped selling impounded bikes was to avoid a “perception of impropriety,” according to DPS Sergeant Ralph Roseli. Now, bikes are given to various organizations including Fleet Feet in Los Angeles and the Mariposa Foundation in the Dominican Republic, said Erick Jepsen, a member of the Facilities and Fleet Services team at the Department of Public Safety.
In the absence of DPS used bike sales, USC Surplus Sales has created a program to meet student demand.
“At the start of the school year, bikes are the number one request we get from students,” said USC Surplus Sales representative Ernesto Carbajal.
Last spring, Surplus Sales offered students $25 Amazon gift cards for their bikes. The bike had to be registered with DPS to the student dropping it off in order to qualify for the exchange. The bikes were sold at the Surplus Sales warehouse, located around a quarter of a mile east of campus this fall.
While only 63 bikes were included in the first Surplus Sales bike sale, the office hopes to expand their outreach efforts and reach more students this year.