That free treadmill I picked up in Tacoma had a surprise inside the belt

I found a listing for a free NordicTrack treadmill on Facebook Marketplace near Tacoma last Tuesday. The guy said it worked fine, he just wanted it out of his garage. When I got it home and started cleaning it, I pulled back the belt and found about 30 bucks in loose change and a half-eaten granola bar stuck to the motor housing. Has anyone else found weird stuff hidden inside used gear they bought?

2 comments

2 Comments

palmer.ryan2d ago

Oh man, that's a good find with the change! I had something similar happen with a used elliptical I grabbed off Craigslist a couple years back. I was wiping down the handlebars and noticed the cup holder had a sticky residue, so I popped it out to clean underneath. Found a folded up $20 bill wedged in there, plus a pack of gum that was basically a fossil at that point. The guy must have stashed it there for a quick snack during a workout and totally forgot about it. It's always worth doing a deep clean on used gear, not just for the potential free stuff but to make sure there's no weird gunk messing up the mechanics. That half-eaten granola bar is nasty though, at least mine was sealed.

richard_roberts802d ago

Wait, is finding a stale granola bar really that disgusting? Maybe I'm just not squeamish enough but I've definitely found worse in used stuff I've bought. I once pulled a half melted candy bar out of a thrift store jacket pocket and just tossed it without thinking twice about it. I guess if it was actively growing mold that would be different, but a dry granola bar doesn't seem like it's gonna hurt anything.