TSA donates potentially explosive liquids to homeless

[jakem]

BoingBoing reader and Citizen Security Analyst jesse says,

A couple weeks ago my family came to New York, where I live, from my hometown near Salt Lake City. Before leaving, my mother had purchased a small tube of lotion and put it in her purse. When she got to the security checkpoint at the airport, she realized she still had the lotion. She handed it over to the TSA worker who told her that it would be donated to a local homeless shelter. Could it be that the FAA ban on liquids is really a plot to rid the country of homeless people, through the use of explosive liquids?

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/13/tsa_donates_potentia.html

[durtee librul]

1. Supposedly....

all confiscated goods go to a third party who 'sorts' them and disposes of what can be gotten rid of and the other stuff is to go somewhere......never said where.

I bring home all my hotel stuff and donate to a women's shelter by my house.

I am a frequent flier and I have personally witnessed these so called 'professionals' rooting thru the barrels at the end of their shifts and walking off with booze and anything else that suits their fancy - usually perfumes. There is NO oversite with this.

I have been to so many airports and have seen this take place at them all - big or small, it makes no difference. If there is something confiscated in that barrel at the end of the shift, it's theirs.

I had one TSA person at Detroit Metro who just gushed over a small bottle of Chanel 5 I had left in my purse and didn't put in the baggie - it HAD to be confiscated and all she could do was bemoan the fact it was 'such a nice perfume and probably very expensive.' I told her to just take the damn thing as it was going to end up in her pants pocket anyway. You would have thought it was Christmas. As I was putting my shoes back on, her supervisor told her she could have just taken it and didn't have to 'ask' if she could have it.

What a f***g racket this is. Even the folks who come directly off cruises with duty free liquour- well guess what, if it's over 3 oz, it's TSA property. And that's some pretty good stuff usually.

"Oh pack it in your suitcase." So it can be broken? Don't think so.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. They do this because...

The TSA farms the work out to the lowest bidder, who in turns pays the workers minimum wage (if that) with no benefits. Stealing out of the "confiscated" bin is their one and only perq.

[Fridays Child]

2. That certainly illustrates what a crock of s**t this whole thing is.

[jilln]

3. Last week they confiscated my mom's toothpaste, because

although there was only a tiny bit left in the tube, it was a full-size tube.

They tried to take my entire toiletry bag away from me because although it was transparent and within the size limits, it was not a ziploc bag.

So maybe it's a combination of killing the homeless/Clorox promotion.

[uppityperson]

4. check eBay for great sales on TSA confiscated knives/scissors.

I got a deal on 12 knives last yr, pocket knives, do a search for TSA. Odd, what "keeps us safe"

[Hekate]

6. I have zero respect for this program. Zilch. Nada. None. Run by *holes. nt