Mayor Kamichi (right) and Mercari officials introducing equipment for sale on Mercari in Yokosuka City
Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, has created a virtual store within the flea market app “Mercari” to sell equipment that is no longer used at city hall. In addition to encouraging reuse, we will help people with disabilities improve their skills by entrusting some of the listing work to people with disabilities.
The virtual store “Mercari Shops” currently carries about 20 items. A manhole cover with a design related to Yokosuka (4,000 yen), a desk and chair set used at a municipal school (same), a stuffed animal of the city’s mascot character “Skarin” (2,000 yen), a Tokyo Olympics commemorative Sukajan (30,000 yen) 5,000,000 yen). Proceeds from sales will be used to finance environmental initiatives.
◆Disabled employees are in charge of listing work.
Some of the work on displaying items will be handled by employees of the city’s “Workstation for Persons with Disabilities”. Eight people with intellectual and mental disabilities have been hired as fiscal year-appointed employees, and they currently perform tasks such as printing, enclosing, and sorting requested by various departments within the agency. When listing items on Mercari, customers are left in charge of things like entering product descriptions and posting photos. The hope is that by acquiring work skills that utilize computers and the Internet, they will be able to find regular employment.
Mayor Katsuaki Uechi said, “This will be an initiative for society as a whole to reduce “throw away.” Mercari has high appeal.” Ryohei Takahashi of Mercari’s Business Strategy Office said, “I hope this will help change the environment that supports welfare for people with disabilities.”
According to Mercari, there are 33 local governments nationwide, including Yokosuka City, that have opened virtual stores on Mercari Shops, and this is the second local government in the prefecture after Kamakura City. (Asako Sunagami)
Tags: Manhole covers cost yen Olympics commemorative jackets cost yen Yokosuka City sends unnecessary supplies Mercari Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web
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