Bargain bike

This kid just learned a valuable lesson about the usefulness of bike locks:

If it's on the floor at the Goodwill store in Salem, it's for sale. So when Cody Young parked his bicycle in the wrong place, it got sold. Not only that, the bike that cost $232 four years ago went for $6.99. "That was just insulting," the seventh-grader said.

Young said he and friends went to the store on Sunday to look at speakers. He didn't have a lock, but his friends told him they'd previously parked inside the store. He left it near other bikes that were for sale. While they were shopping, his black BMX bike was sold.

Okay, so parking your bike inside the Goodwill might not be such a good idea. But parking it near other bikes that the store is trying to sell? That's genius.

Goodwill officials said they were looking into the sale. They said they were unable to identify the bike's purchaser.

"We will make every effort to do the right thing," spokesman Bob Barsocchini said, "and we will throw in a bike lock."

That ought to come in handy. If he's smart enough to use it, anyway.

Oh, and according to a subsequent article, he'll be getting it back, and the buyer will get a $100 Goodwill gift certificate for being a good sport.