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The Zug Police had hoped that 2014 was to be the last year they had the job of auctioning off abandoned bicycles in the canton. However, they will have to continue to do this as they are bound by law so to do.
 
As spokesman Marcel Schlatter explained, the whole business takes up a lot of time and effort and brings in very little reward. What is more, fewer and fewer usable bicycles are being abandoned. What caused some uproar among locals last year was that the police wanted to dispose of a number of unclaimed bicycles which were still usable.
 
"Surely you cannot just throw these away," was the reaction expressed in the readers' letters page of the Neue Zuger Zeitung. "Could they not be sent to Africa instead?" they asked.
 
As to the law, this is quite clear on the matter; police may not dispose of usable abandoned bicycles, nor give them to charitable institutions. Hence an auction is to take place in a few weeks' time, on Wednesday 25 March in fact in the Lorzensaal in Cham. However, the police are allowed to give away non-roadworthy bicycles and these actually go to the VAM organisation, which helps unemployed people return to work. The VAM  has its own workshops where such cycles can be repaired and serviced.
 
The bicycles to be auctioned have to have been unclaimed for a period of at least three months. Anyone who has lost a bicycle and has proof of ownership can claim it, but not after the auction. Anyone who suddenly spots his own bike being ridden after the auction can claim the auction fee but the person who bought it at the auction is allowed to keep it.
 
Since 1992 the organisation of the auction itself has been undertaken by the Cantonal Bankruptcy Office. Spokesman Marc Trochsler said that five years ago these auctions used to be held twice a year, once in spring and then in autumn, but now fewer bikes were involved and as a result the auctions were now held annually only, in March. Most are really old ones. Only rarely is a modern bike included.
 
Last year 60 bicycles were auctioned, raising CHF 10,000. This compares with 56 sold for CHF 9,200 in the previous year. The money raised goes straight to state coffers, though some has to go for hiring out the Lorzensaal. The auctioneers themselves waive all fees.