Government Sales and Auctions

Government Sales and Auctions What does the U.S. government have going for it when it comes to public sales and auctions? Diversity. From Treasury bills to wild horses and houses, you name it and a government agency probably sells it.Best of all from the consumers standpoint, the government is not out to make a profit, so most items are sold at or below cost or fair market value.Plus, purchasing from the government helps to defer ​the  cost of running the government, which saves taxpayers dollars. Personal Property Sales Some of the best buys available can be found in government sales of personal property. Boats, cars, planes, jewelry, mineral rights, animals and more. Be sure to visit the GSAs Auction SuperSite. Auto Sales Its easy and economical to purchase a pre-owned vehicle from the U.S. government. Join the thousands of people who buy at government auto auctions. Real Property/Real Estate Houses, land, apartments and commercial buildings, farms and ranches. Includes links to information on buying homes from HUD. Into the money market? Financial Assets Treasury bonds, savings bonds, securities, etc. Miscellaneous Sales and Auctions Stamps, coins, jewelry, collectables, souvenirs and more. Buying Advice Before you whip out the plastic, there are  some important basic tips and information you need to know about buying merchandise or property in government sales and auctions: Guide to Federal Government Sales This document from the General Services Agency (GSA) delivers the factual information you need to participate in the Federal Government’s various sales and auction programs. It also helps combat the many misleading advertisements that offer to sell consumers inside information about Federal Government sales and auctions. Buying Raw Land As the Interior Department says, homesteading is a thing of the past, and you will not find free land or land for A-Dollar-an-Acre, but the federal government does sell land. Lands identified as excess to the publics and Governments needs or more suited to private ownership are sometimes offered for sale. The federal lands sold by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are generally unimproved rural woodland, grassland or desert parcels located mostly in the western states. The parcels are typically not served by utilities like electricity, water or sewer, and may not be accessible by maintained roads. In other words, the parcels for sale are truly â€Å"in the middle of nowhere.† Buying Used Government Property When items are no longer needed by the federal government, The General Services Administration (GSA) stretches your tax dollar by offering them for sale to the public. GSA sells a wide variety of items that would interest both individuals and businesses. Look here for details and addresses of GSA sales facilities across the nation. How to Buy Surplus Military Property Various commercial firms sell literature regarding the sale of Department of Defense (DoD) property and/or advertise sales of DoD property, and suggest that DoD sells real estate, jeeps, confiscated and seized properly. DoD does not sell these items. The type of property DoD does sell, how it may be purchased is explained in this pamphlet.

Plurals of Proper Names

Plurals of Proper Names Plurals of Proper Names Plurals of Proper Names By Mark Nichol The following question may seem to belong in a math lesson, but it really is about English: If you have a BlackBerry handheld device, and you purchase another one (don’t ask me why you’re the one who bought it), what do you have now? Two BlackBerries, or two BlackBerrys? Many precedents exist that make the latter seem the obvious choice. In the world of entertainment, some names of achievement awards are nicknamed with the same plural ending: the Grammys, the Tonys, the Emmys. (â€Å"The Razzies† is an unfortunate exception; on behalf of the Dailys, I nominate the sponsors of those awards for a statuette featuring an ax embedded in a computer monitor). And when referring to other brand names based on, or resembling, common nouns with irregular plural forms, this sensible approach applies: Plurals for the names of the car models Camry and Leaf are not Camries and Leaves, but Camrys and Leafs. Beyond that, however, is the time-honored convention to follow the default setting for pluralizing words in general: adding -s or -es. This is true for the following categories as well: Names of Nations and Nationalities Refer to â€Å"the two Germanys,† for example, or â€Å"the Greeces of the modern and classical eras†). Words for nationalities that end in -i get an -s (Afghanis, Israelis). Note that although The Chicago Manual of Style recommends this style for American Indian tribal names (Hopis), Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary lists both a plural form identical to the singular form for this tribe and others with names ending in vowels (Hopi, Cherokee) and the -s plural form (Hopis, Cherokees). If you’re writing for publication, to be on the safe side, use -s; if you’re self-publishing, it’s up to you. Personal Names Write, for example, â€Å"three Billys in the same classroom.† Surnames are more complicated, however: The default for names ending in consonants and vowels is the same more than one Smith is Smiths, more than one Corleone is Corleones, and so on but names ending in -es or -ez (for example, Jones and Chavez) get an extra -es tacked on: Joneses and Chavezes. Italicized Names An italicized proper noun, like the title of a periodical, book, or movie, should have a nonitalicized s appended, as in â€Å"three consecutive Washington Posts,† â€Å"a stack of Catcher in the Ryes,† and â€Å"all three Mission Impossibles,† though it looks less awkward to relax the reference: â€Å"three consecutive issues of the Washington Post,† â€Å"a stack of copies of Catcher in the Rye,† or â€Å"all three movies in the Mission Impossible franchise.† Exceptions Nicknamed geographical terms defy this convention, as when the Rocky Mountains are referred to as the Rockies and the Great Smoky Mountains are called the Great Smokies. The plural forms of names ending in unpronounced -s or -x are identical to the singular form: â€Å"The era between the third and seventh Louis,† â€Å"The two Lacroix could not have been any different,† though â€Å". . . Louis III and Louis VII† and â€Å"The two Lacroix brothers . . .† would be better. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsFlier vs. FlyerCharles's Pen and Jesus' Name