Airports’ banned items turned into eBay cash

[unblock]

just in case you wondered what happens to all the confiscated stuff the government decided is too dangerous for airplanes....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321792/

...

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 online auction site eBay.

Most of the contraband merchandise is knives, nail clippers and cuticle scissors that were forbidden as carry-on items following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But there's also Wiffle Ball bats, frosting-encrusted wedding cake servers, sex toys and a couple of chain saws.

...

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

...

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.

...

[Raine]

1. Big profits will be

reaped from this latest with the huge amount of confiscated goods being collected. x(

[InsultComicDog]

16. Maybe I can buy my scissors back

It might be in one of those lots...

[saigon68]

44. Now I can't take my CHAINSAW in my carry on

[NVMojo]

21. Bush has promised them this money here if they go along with this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2453106

It's always about corporate profit with these neocons.

[jeffrey_X]

26. and of course consumers will now need to go out and replace these items

see...it's all good for the economy.

:rolleyes:

[KansDem]

54. Some of this stuff might be irreplaceable...

Two weeks ago I took a trip to the west coast. I carried my saxophone on board with me as I DO NOT trust airlines to handle musical instruments carefully (I had a horn damaged once--the instrument was too big to qualify as "carry-on" so it had to go through baggage. What a huge mistake that was!). At the last minute I thought I had better put my reed knife in with my luggage because of the possibility it might be confiscated. After all, if the airlines were taking nail clippers, a reed knife would be a sure thing. Anyway, I bought this reed knife some 40 years ago. It is a very fine device--Italian made. I don't know if I could even buy another one like it of the same quality if I had mine taken away.

edited for spelling

[magellan]

2. Another example of the Repug form of "redistribution of wealth"

Take from the middle class, redistribute to the middle class and charge them for it.

[thepurpose]

12. Charging them for their own stuff too. Brilliant business because its

selling.

[Demit]

3. Wiffle Ball bats??

[MaineDem]

4. Perfume, lipstick, and bottled water next. (n/t)

[thecrow]

9. Is lipstick not allowed???????

[MaineDem]

10. Nope

We have to pack it in our checked bag.

[dflprincess]

55. Solid tubes of lipstick are now allowed

lip gloss is not.

[WePurrsevere]

5. Link to PA's eBay user name if anyone is interested...

pastatesurplus.

As a long time ebay seller I couldn't resist checking out their auctions. I was also very curious as to how they manage to get a 98% sell through since hardly anyone I know gets anywhere near that any more... now I know but how they do it wouldn't work for most of us... well... unless we're buying to resell. ;)

The large variety of things listed in the article as seized surprised me, some I can understand, others not quite so much. Some of these items may be special to people and in rushing around to get ready to travel they simply just forgot to put it in their suitcase. I can't help but feel that there should be a system in place so "innocent" folks don't automatically lose their items.

[LeighAnn]

6. "10 lbs Assorted Nail Clippers"

Eeeewwwww!

[TheMadMonk]

7. EEEWW doesn't even begin to cover it.

Nail clippers are on the list of things that Hepatitis (C at least) sufferers should not share.

[Seedersandleechers]

18. And, not to mention used sex toys...yuck....

[muryan]

22. Ya i was wondering who is going to buy a used sex toy

but then again im sure there is someone lol.

[Mabus]

25. Bill O'Reilly comes to mind

He probably buys them in bulk on-line so he won't get caught in his local adult stores.

[Pithlet]

8. And it has 2 bids!

Who would want to buy such a thing?

[Donnachaidh]

13. re-sellers

They'll glom onto anything to make a profit.

[Telly Savalas]

37. I'm not sure

but I'm pretty sure there are empty bottles of malt liquor laying near the computers used to make the bids.

[unblock]

11. for scrap metal i'm hoping?

[Telly Savalas]

36. As the proprieter of Big Telly's Used Nail Clipper Emporium

I'm delighted to be able to find inventory at such a low cost.

I am curious, however, if there is anybody else in the world that would actually make such an E-Bay purchase.

[Richard Steele]

43. Some FatCat repub is probably rinsing them off...

...and charging the VA Medical System 10 bucks apiece for them
as per his special no-bid contract. And no one dares say a word,
because whistleblowers get PROSECUTED these days.

Seriously, someone should look into such a possibility.
ONE layer of corruption is NEVER enough for today's
multi-networking "Repub-on-the-go".

NEVER.

[WePurrsevere]

48. Yeah, hopefully the buyer at least sterilizes them before resale or....

using them. I think I'll stick to buying mine new though, it's not like they're expensive.

[zonkers]

14. Wow, there's hundreds of scissors and stationary supplies. Schools should

be able to pick over this stuff before its sold.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. No the right thing to do would be to donate these items to schools

It angers me that these govt agencies never think of that.

[WePurrsevere]

47. Now that is an excellent idea. B-) n/t

[Book Lover]

15. Legal thievery

Those items belong to someone already - why don't I get a receipt and have the item mailed back to my home after they confiscate it? Oh, that's right, because Congress made a law saying I have no right to my property if confiscated before I board a plane. Don't you just love the absolute rule of law? As long as a majority of imbeciles in Congress can be convinced, anything can become legal or illegal. I am becoming more anarcho-socialist every effing day...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. Passengers with confiscated property should have the option of

paying to have the item mailed to them or receiving a tax deduction for their donation to the government.

[pokercat999]

42. "I am becoming more anarcho-socialist every effing day..."

WELCOME ABOARD. Have a seat, just making some cocktails, maybe you'd like to help.

:rofl:

[kestrel91316]

49. "I am becoming more anarcho-socialist every effing day..." DITTO

[InsultComicDog]

17. I admit that

... they did not actually force me to give up my scissors. I could have turned around and taken the scissors out of the security area. I could have checked my carry-on bag as regular luggage, or gone to the post office in the airport and mailed them somewhere. I elected to turn them over to security so I didn't have to go through the line again. And I remembered to put the new pair of scissors I bought to replace them into checked baggage from then on.

[LiberalHeart]

19. My then 80-something mom was pulled out of line in Orlando...

She had a nail file in her carry-on baggage not long after 9-11. The x-ray caught it; she had to go to another table where her bag was checked by hand. The security person told her they'd have to take it; she said it was her favorite nail file (a vintage one...they were well-made years ago). The security guard let her keep it.

On the way to the plane, I told her it had been all over the news people couldn't take nail files on the plane. She's a news junkie, so I was surprised she didn't know about it. Then when we reached our destination and unpacked, I discovered that I had manicure scissors in my carry-on (never gave it a thought when I packed) and the x-ray failed to spot it.

[InsultComicDog]

35. Yeah..

Mine were inexpensive hair cutting scissors, which I used to trim moustache/beard/stray hairs, or to cut loose threads coming from my clothes sometimes. About $7.00 from the CVS. I had already had them in carry-on, and they were not found, at least twice before the time the machine found them.

They came in very handy because I was doing a lot of work on the road and living in hotels a lot at the time. But it was just a matter of remembering to pack them in the checked baggage.

[kestrel91316]

50. I take my crocheting project with me when I fly. I hide my crochet hook

in a very clever secret place and they NEVER find it. It's metal, and long and thin, so quite forbidden for some reason. While pens and pencils are not. Go figure.

No way those SOBs are going to interfere with my crocheting - it's how I relax when flying.

[tammywammy]

56. A couple of years ago

I was flying out, and debated taking my crochet hooks. They're metal, so I decided against it.

Low and behold, I get home and I'm emptying out everything, inside a purse I didn't use on the trip are two crochet hooks. They were in my carry-on too! We were flying standby so we were in and out of the airport, in while waiting on the flight, out to smoke, back in to wait on another, so the luggage went through the scanner quite a few times.

[kestrel91316]

57. Well, if you ever want to know my secret method/hiding place,

PM me, lol!

[Pithlet]

58. I remember when my grandmother got her knitting needles confiscated.

That was years ago, when I was a kid. I remember being appalled, then. She always remembered to check them in baggage after that, so she was ready by the time the 9/11 restrictions went into place.

[NVMojo]

20. the USA has no MORALS & VALUES beyond fecking everyone over!

[uppityperson]

27. I bought a batch of TSA'd pocket knives off eBay

gave them to family/friends to put in emergency packs. Seemed like a good use for them.

[kestrel91316]

51. Can you mail MY pocket knife back to me please (lol)? They took mine

last Christmas (I forgot to pack it in the suitcase). It was 30 years old and had been with me through a LOT of life's travails, and was a gorgeous walnut/brass beauty. Used it a lot for cleaning fish when I would go trout fishing in the Rockies in college. I miss that thing, and actually wept a couple of tears when they took it.

[Lurking Dem]

28. Why in G-d's name

are they confiscating "sex toys"? ALL YOUR DILDOES ARE BELONG TO US! ? :wtf:

[struggle4progress]

29. And who buys secondhand sex toys from eBay?

[Lurking Dem]

30. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!

Eeeeew! Eeeewwww!

[struggle4progress]

31. Sorry ... maybe inquiring minds don't always need to know

[davidinalameda]

33. that's a pretty nasty thought

:puke:

[struggle4progress]

38. The question did follow more or less directly from the article:

Pennsylvania turns a .. profit .. by selling <these castoff items> .. at .. eBay. Most of the .. merchandise is knives, nail clippers and cuticle scissors ... But there's also .. sex toys ...

But perhaps I should have just barfed privately and moved on ...

[davidinalameda]

39. I have no reply to that

:rofl:

[Lurking Dem]

46. .

:rofl: I have been envisioning the ads and it's not pretty!

[SlavesandBulldozers]

40. they are making timers out of them now

dildonators they call them.

they can be hidden virtually anywhere.

I'm here all night folks. ..

[Initech]

32. Who the fuck would carry a chain saw on a plane?

[saigon68]

45. WE DO IT ALL THE TIME

[Skittles]

59. a republican

yup

[madville]

34. Have you ever seen

Have you ever seen the huge store in Alabama where all the lost bags go ? They have a good racket going there, anything you can imagine from guns to cameras to clothes.

[kestrel91316]

52. You do mean "lost" bags, right? Tags just HAPPENED to fall off.....

[Prophet 451]

41. Am I the only one...

...who actually finds this mildly amusing on some sick level?

[goddess40]

53. It's all part of the fear

Keeping people's property I mean. It wouldn't be that big a deal to have a mail station set up so people could send their items home. or for the airlines to collect and bag the stuff and store in with the checked luggage to be redistributed after the flight. Inconvenient but so what, it would only have to be a big deal during the initial banning and later when people just forget they could mail the stuff home.
I don't think most people would want to do it for a nail clipper but some of the people were dumping well over hundred dollars worth of make up and lotions.

On top of it all it is still a joke as long as they allow electronics on board.