Confiscated Airport Items Bring Cash

The Army Knife You Gave Up In Philly? Good Change You'll Find It On eBay

(CBS/AP)  A man-sized artificial palm tree and a sausage grinder have shared space in a state government warehouse with piles of Swiss Army knives and chain saws — just a few of the things travelers have had to give up at airport security checkpoints.

Pennsylvania turns a small profit by disposing of these castoff items, which it accepts from security contractors at 12 airports in five states, by selling them to the highest bidders at the online auction site eBay.

And what about the abundance of liquids and gels discarded since the alleged British terror plot caused U.S. airports to prohibit them? Edward Myslewicz, a spokesman for the General Services Department told the Seattle Times that state officials are considering selling some of those items too.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has perhaps the most charitable approach. Airport spokeswoman Lexie Van Haren told the Seattle Times it plans to give 11 boxes of surrendered items to the city's human-services department, which will distribute items to homeless shelters.

Airport officials are still finding their way with these new items. Up to now, most of the contraband merchandise has been knives, nail clippers and cuticle scissors that were forbidden as carry-on items following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But at the Pennsylvania collection center, there's also Wiffle Ball bats, frosting-encrusted wedding cake servers, sex toys and a couple of chain saws.

There's even a box full of blenders.

"There must be folks who like to mix up their own pina coladas when they get to Puerto Vallarta," said Ken Hess, head of the Pennsylvania General Services Department's surplus property program.

The program has brought in more than $307,000 since it began in June 2004, and overhead is low. Students from a truck-driving school pick up the merchandise, and it's sorted by state workers who can't do their normal duties because of injury or other reasons.

Ninety-eight percent of it will sell. Knives, auctioned by the lot, sell fastest. Ten pounds of assorted pocket knives, for example, recently attracted nine bids and sold for $42.

Some of the 2½ tons of miscellany that arrives every month consists of weapons, potential weapons and squirt guns.

However, the warehouse's current inventory also includes two sombreros, a plaque from a fishing contest in Cayuga Lake, N.Y., a jungle machete and about 100 sets of handcuffs, some fur-lined. At one point, the state had a sausage grinder, a man-sized artificial palm tree and a Christmas ornament decorated with the logo of hot dog purveyor Nathan's Famous.

There are all sorts of auto parts, kitchen implements, gardening tools, jewelry, sporting goods and batteries.

On one wall, sorters have set aside a few stranger items, including a single deer antler.

The Transportation Security Administration said 10 million prohibited items have been seized or voluntarily turned over this year nationwide.

"There are thousands of stories out there on why people either forget or just don't know the rules," said TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser.

Federal law gives states the right to get banned or discarded items from the TSA contractor responsible for removing them. Pennsylvania has agreed to accept items from airports in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Johnstown and Allentown; Kennedy, LaGuardia and two other airports in New York; Newark and Trenton in New Jersey; Nantucket in Massachusetts, and Cleveland.

Pennsylvania has modified its program to maximize profitability. Smaller lots bring in more cash, so it no longer offers bulk sales like the 500 small Swiss Army knives that went for a record $595.

It also tries to package items together as a marketing hook. Hockey sticks, pucks and a goalie's mask were bundled for sale around the time of the Stanley Cup playoffs; gardening tools are sold in the spring; exercise weights are auctioned in early January to capitalize on New Year's resolutions; and baseball bats are put up for bid just before the World Series.

Hess said a hunting-season kit that included a buck knife, rope, flashlight and an all-purpose Leatherman tool sold "like hot cakes" before the start of deer season.

Kentucky, one of at least three other states that sells airport surplus on eBay, brings in $3,000 a month and stocks state agencies with surrendered hand tools and other equipment.

Although the article entitled "CONFISCATED AIRPORT ITEMS BRING IN CASH" is accurate in its account of what happens to people's stuff they are forced to give up at the airport, it lies by omission. It would have been much more beneficial to readers to learn about what is behind the draconian laws that allows airports to confiscate relatively harmless items. As one of the above posts mentions it is true that the motivation behind these intrusive laws is related to profit-making and the increased ability to search and control people. Not only should these rediculous and unecessary regulations regarding carry-on items be relaxed, but the profits made from the confiscated items should go towards returning them to the original owners. Why not have a small branch of the Post Office at each airport where passengers can send item back home via mail instead of losing them for the airports gain. I think that the government is going to continue creating laws that limit our freedoms until we step up and speak up. Not every one of these regulations may concern or inconvenience you now, but eventually if the status quo remains unchanged it will be only a matter of time until a new regulation affects you directly. This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany - Don't let it continue here in the so called "Free World"

[Adam11209]

In 2003, I lost a family heirloom (a piece of jewelry with a religious significance, not a weapon or blender) while checking in at Newark Airport. I spent several months being shunted from one agency to another (including local and regional police), up and down the beaurocratic food chain, receiving multiple contradictory messages about who was responsible for storing lost items and how to retrieve them. Several official reports were filed and lost. Ulitimately, there was no record of my having lost the item, filed a claim, or started an search for the item. Of course, it was never found. The infuriating aspect was the utter lack of a coherent process. My impression was that this reflected the lack of a coherent chain of command, which raised concerns about how effective the entire program is.

By the way, if anyone found the item, feel free to contact me. It was a 100 year old silver charm in the shape of the ten commandments. I'm in the Brooklyn phone directory.

[lightmaster1000]

Nancy Giles' comments were very accurate, but did not link the "terrorist plot" to the most recent events only two pdays prior.
1. Public disapproval of Joe Lieberman for support of the Iraqi War.
2. BP pipe line closure and increase in gas prices. It appears the Queen (majority owner of BP) wants to keep her image up much higher than GB. They even pushed to keep gas prices from increasing so that a foreign controlled oil company wasn't to blame for a price increase.

2 Questions:
Where are these news items now?
Will any of the "terorists" be indicted & convicted or were they framed?

[jal3331]

Taking personal belongings from travelers and then selling them should be last thing we do to insure safety. We keep giving up our privacy and freedom by small bits. I am angry. Taking away my personal products does not give me a sense of security, it makes me angry that we are not combatting these criminals aka. terrorists long before I check in for my flight.

[dbstevens]

This is extremely annoying. I completely support efforts being made to make flights secure, but some of this stuff is ridiculous. You can cause as much damage with a Bic ink pen as you can with a knife.

People should know not to bring knives on board...but some of the other confiscations are downright theft. Like my friend who had a $100 bottle of extremely fine Scotch and was bringing it home as a gift. They took it from him.

This stuff costs us money. The solution is not to steal it from us and then turn around and sell it. What they should do is very simple.... put the items in bags, check the bags with luggage, give the passenger an ID ticket, and let them pick up THEIR BELONGINGS at the destination airport. For heavens sake, this is OUR stuff! We pay good money for our plane tickets and deserve to be able to keep our belongings.