The TSA: How’s Their EBay Feedback?
Written by OddCulture on February 24th, 2007 in culture.
From AFP, a report on what happens to some of those goodies the TSA confiscates every day:
What happens to those scissors, lighters and the occasional machete confiscated at US airports? Some land in an Ali Baba-style cave here, to be auctioned on eBay.
“We collect items from 12 different airports, including JFK and LaGuardia in New York, but also at Boston, Philadelphia and Syracuse,” said Ed Myslewicz, spokesman for the State Agency for Surplus Property (SASP) at the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport.
Each month, two tonnes of merchandise is sorted, photographed and put up for sale on eBay.
“The program started in June 2004, and the idea was to generate new revenues for the state,” he said.
And it works: Up to 98 percent of the stuff is sold, according to Myslewicz.
To one side of the warehouse, merchandise — including baseball bats, golf clubs and even a catapult — arrives in 200-liter (55-gallon) drums or other containers.
“Don’t ask me why people want to take these kinds of items with them on a plane,” said Mary Beth Enggren, marketing director for the SASP, standing amid boxes of pocket knives and scissors.
Items seemingly innocuous before September 11, 2001 but caught in the tightened security net following the attacks also clog the warehouse: large flashlights, snow globes filled with liquid, handcuffs, toy guns and pointy belt buckles.
Red bricks, a bottle of perfume shaped like a grenade, food processors, electric drills, horseshoes and a snow shovel are also among the banned booty.
“And we also have our hall of fame,” Enggren said. On the wall hang a bow and a quiver of arrows, a wooden saber, an old wooden pistol, a realistic-looking plastic grenade, a 30-centimeter (12-inch) metal pipe wrench and a good-sized machete.
Mike Hooks, one of the employees who sorts the merchandise for sale, has his favorite: “What surprised me the most up till today was a semi-automatic pistol, 40 caliber.”
“That we cannot sell on eBay,” Enggren said.
Still, the operation has netted 360,000 dollars (274,000 euros) after eBay’s commission, money that funds social programs in the northeastern US state of Pennsylvania.
Other states also take part in the program, according to Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for the US Transportation Security Administration, which sets the rules on what may be brought aboard airplanes.
Kudwa said 13.7 million items were collected at US airports in 2006, including 11.6 million lighters.
The figures do not include liquids, gels and creams that have been confiscated since August, which go directly to the trash dump.
February 24th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I wish I had that kind of supply. Unlimited free stuff to sell on Ebay, that is good enough for someone to want to bring it with them on a trip. If I gave only one tip on my blog Ebay Selling Guide it would be to find an unlimited source of free, yet sell-able, items.
Thanks for the post, it is crazy how many different people/agencies are using ebay!
February 25th, 2007 at 11:15 am
What a profitable business model, confiscating free goods from unsuspecting passangers and then selling them for a profit on eBay! My suspicion is that TSA actually has no clue about these items being sold. My tip is for them to use blind auctions : http://www.myauctionfeedback.com/blindauctions/
March 1st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I’d like to know under what eBay user names they are selling these items. They’ve taken some of my things and I”d like to try to get them back lol My wire gauge (for measuring the thickness of the silver wire, etc. Do any of you know the names???