Halifax man selling thousands of rubber ducks: ‘I think they work well’

HALIFAX — If you’re looking for thousands of lightly used rubber ducks, you’re in luck — a Halifax man has a deal for you.

David Hayes is offering a floatable flock on Kijiji for $1,400.

“I have for sale or rent 3,000 small yellow floating rubber ducks,” the advertisement reads. “I think they … work well.”

Hayes said in an interview this is his first crack at rubber duck sales, but said the market for the bath-time toys is bigger than one may think.

“If you want to be amazed, go on Google and just Google ‘rubber ducks,” he said. “There’s pages, and pages, and pages of them. It’s all over the world.”

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Rubber duckies don’t come cheap, Hayes said, but he’s not looking to turn a profit.

“This isn’t a money-making thing,” he said. “It’s not a business.” 

The retiree said he’s just trying to recoup his costs after purchasing the roughly four-centimetre birds for a charitable duck race — a fundraising event in which people bet on rubber ducks to be let loose in the water, and the first to pass the finish line wins.

“I tried to find ducks and could not because they’re all being used or wanted to be used,” he said. “I finally had to go to China to buy them.”

Hayes said his flock has only had one race, for Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton, where he has friends and helped organize the fundraiser. Most of the beaked competitors managed to stay upright, he said.

The retiree said the ducks are being shipped from the Prairies to Halifax, where they are set to land Sept. 10.

Hayes said there was one offer on the table as Friday morning, but he hasn’t closed a deal yet.

The Canadian Press