Seniors sell Commencement Tickets, Furniture

Whether future physicists or hopeful economists, many graduating seniors play entrepreneur after final exams and before commencement.

Not everyone may be versed in the lessons of Ec 10, but most see the opportunity to make a killing reselling Commencement tickets, furniture and as-sorted household appliances they have accumulated over they years.

The demand for a discarded bean bag chair or a moldedover refrigerator may plummet after summer storage closes, but tickets and hotel reservations are always hot items.

With a market value of anywhere from $60 to $300, Commencement tickets are in high demand because seating is limited during morning exercises. Seniors receive four passes; graduate students receive two.

And for students whose friends and family can't attend the ceremony, Commencement is the perfect time to start cashing in.

Robert, a choral music concentrator in Dunster House, says he is selling all four of his coveted tickets for $95 a piece, although he would never consider forking out that much for them. He says he has heard that prices soar up to $100 per ticket the week before.

"But I would feel like a criminal if I charged that much," adds Robert, who asked that his last name not be printed.

Robert says he requested the maximum number of tickets even though he knew that no friends or family members would attend his graduation. He says he planned all along to scalp the tickets.

I don't have a job and I need the money to eat in June," Robert says.

Krista L. Benn '92 says that she too will use the proceed from her ticket sale "to pay her many, many, many expenses."

Benna, a Mather House economics concentrator, says that she hopes to rake in a hefty $200 to $300 profit by selling one pass.

Other departing students have attempted to apply similar entrepreneurial skills to unloading four years worth of accumulated furniture, crates and appliances. With a little wheeling and dealing, many seniors attempt to turn their heap of unwanted belongings into pure profit.

"I've been very entrepreneurial," says Crystine M. Lee '92, a biology concentrator in Leverett House.

Within two weeks, Lee, a Hong Kong native who is off to Stanford Medical School next fall, managed successfully to merchandise a car, rug, Commencement tickets and other items. She says she cleared close to $300.

For Lee and most of the seniors who started selling when demand was high, retailing their personal effects has been both fun and profitable.

"I had a lot of fun [selling]," says Jason C. Mitchell '92, a chemistry concentrator in Quincy House. After a two-week sale, the novice entrepreneur amassed a $450 profit by hawking furniture, a weight set, a rug and bookshelves.

Mitchell attributes his profits to a keen sense of economics and the climate of the market.

"The trick is pricing your stuff at reasonable prices," he says. "Prices have to be low and if you price things rights, you'll make a sale."

Resident tutor Lori R. Paxton '85-86, who is not a graduating senior but who is leaving Adams House at the end of her term, has her own sales strategies.

"I wasn't anticipating selling that much to students, but if you market yourselves well, you can get a good response," Paxton says. By offering package deals, she avoided haggling. Sometimes, she says she even got a higher price than she had anticipated.

Paxton adds that she won't trash any of the items she can't unload.

"I cannot stand the fact that students throw out things," says Paxton, a self-professed believer in donating salvageable goods to the Cambridge Furniture Bank and the Salvation Army.

But, for students who are successfully striking deals, the garbage and charities are options they have yet to consider.

And despite their successes, marketing is a profession they don't plan to enter anytime soon.

"I don't think I'll be going into sales," Mitchell says.