Ex-Workers Auction Off Enron Stuff
Enron Corp. employees who lost their jobs, their pensions, their 401(k) plans and all hope that their company stock would ever be worth anything have turned to a new source to make cash out of their years with the company--EBay Inc.’s Web site.
“I had all this stuff sitting around that the company had given out--paperweights, Christmas ornaments, Swiss Army knives, golf shirts--all with the Enron logo on it,” said Kim Zachary, who had worked in marketing for Enron for nine years and was only three months away from qualifying for her pension when the company went bust. “I thought maybe I could make something off of them. I had bills to pay.”
As of Thursday, the 44-year-old Houston resident had made $2,000--about twice her monthly unemployment check--by selling more than 40 items on the Web’s most popular auction site. It helps soothe the pain of the nearly $12,000 stock loss she suffered as Enron’s market value plummeted.
The sudden implosion of Enron has sparked a nationwide hunt for even the most trivial trinket connected with the bankrupt energy-trading firm. More than 600 Enron items have made it onto EBay since the scandal erupted.
Among the most popular are copies of the Enron “Code of Ethics.” The bidding had reached $225 late Thursday. One copy was advertised as “never read.”
“I can see where the Code of Ethics would be pretty funny,” said Terry Kovel, a collecting expert who along with her husband, Ralph, writes “Kovel’s Antiques and Collectibles Price List,” which now is in its 34th edition.
Among the Enron items on the block and their recent bids:
* A ceramic “retirement planning” coffee mug for $102.50.
* A mouse pad with the inscription “Smooth Sailing” for $31.
* Stock certificates currently worth 38 cents in over-the-counter trading for $300.
* A set of three Titleist golf balls with the company’s tri-color logo for $66.
* A copy of Enron’s “The Basics of Risk Management” for $152.50.
“Over the years, we have seen people begin listing and then buying merchandise on EBay whenever a business or an event or a person becomes the center of media attention,” said EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove. “We’re an immediate and direct reflection of popular culture and what’s happening in the country.”
Kovel has found that there are people who will collect anything tinged by scandal, and the Enron collapse certainly fits the pattern. But she doubts the Enron items will turn out to be more than a flash in the pan.
“I can’t personally see there’s going to be any long-lasting monetary gain from any of this,” Kovel said. “If you want to send a joke to a stockbroker friend of yours, that’d be kind of fun. But once this is off the front pages, these things will be as good as dead and buried.”
Robert Markle hopes to cash in before that happens. The 33-year-old father of four lost an estimated $250,000 in sales bonuses, stock options and retirement savings when his sales job at Enron disappeared. He got the idea of auctioning off corporate trinkets from a former colleague.
“He said he sold a bunch of items and made about $800 off of them,” Markle said. “He said he was shocked that people were interested, but it was a great way to put groceries on the table.”
