Goodbye Container, Hello $3500!

Yes, we “sold” the old container adjacent to the site of the Windermere Fitness Park for a donation of $3500! Years ago, the container was acquired by the Windermere Leadership program as a bike storage space. The current Leadership program staff wanted to move the bikes to another location on the school campus and have the container removed before the fitness park was built, after which the removal would no longer be possible. It was move the container now or never.

The Leadership staff kindly allowed me to arrange for the sale of the unit and to use all funds from the sale to be used for the fitness park. I placed ads on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist offering the container for sale for $3500, with the buyer arranging the removal.

I was aware that there is presently a world-wide shortage of shipping containers. At first, I received 5 or 6 offers for below what I was asking; I politely declined, asserting that I didn’t need to negotiate. I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. Then the deluge of offers began. Most serious buyers were people re-locating from Vancouver to various locations around the province. I spent several evenings coordinating who was first and who was ready to pay and arranging visits to the site to view the goods. I was hesitant to give the exact location because I had visions of someone pulling up with a truck in the middle of the night.

By Wednesday I had potential buyers scheduled for viewings and container quickly sold; by Thursday, the truck arrives but the driver can’t get the container onto the truck bed without wrecking the nice flat surface we have for our little project. On Friday, another truck with a crane arrives, which swings the can over into a better position. Another flatbed arrives to haul our graffiti-ridden eyesore away and complete the tale.

Now the space formerly occupied by the container can be landscaped and improved with seating to make the area more welcoming to users and viewers – another fundraising project for the future!

Brad White
Physical & Health Education Department Head
Windermere Secondary School