Believe it
Posted on 03/14/2013 9:11:38 AM PDT by george76
According to TSA, an average of 425 pounds of "stuff" is turned over at some of the nation's largest airports, and TSA sends it to states to make a profit.
...
Pennsylvania, specifically, is turning the collected items into a profit. They have one of the largest receiving centers, which holds boxes and buckets of your personal belongings from major airports, including Laguardia, JFK and Newark. Over the past nine years, they have sold knives and other paraphenalia for nearly $900,000.
Some items are sold at a government surplus store. Ten pounds of assorted black knives can be worth an estimated $75.
(Excerpt) Read more at tucsonnewsnow.com ...
I’m picturing “Spatula City”, but with aisle after aisle of nail clippers.
If you go to US Treasury Departments website there are auctions for items like this all the time. Some are online. Some at certain locations. This is also where boats, houses, etc. confiscated from drug dealers and other criminals are auctioned off. There are also links to the IRS auction sites.
This is just the stuff that TSA guys didn’t sell on Ebay.
A typical online auction will have a lot of 10 Leatherman’s or 20 Swiss Army knives. Most get resold at fleemarkets.
I’ve seen some sellers on there that were obviuous TSA workers.
Selling just pocket knives and fancy lighters. Like a poor man’s DEA auction.
{snicker} You made a funny! Run away, run away!
The main problem is (and they know this all too well) that an agent will pull you out of line with your stuff on the conveyor and you and your property get separated that way. If you resist to retrieve your property - then security is called and you are at risk of arrest, detainment, whatever. If you travel alone - you’re screwed.
Fleamarkets
You can deduct casualty/theft losses only to the extent they exceed 10% of your AGI.
I know. But Fleemarket is a funny typo. “Grab ‘n’ Dash,” “Five Finger Discount” kind of funny.
(I hope you didn’t take that as a mean spelling-police type comment!)
You won't be able to afford their storage fees.
No, not at all.
Check out the items on some of these government websites:
http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=6078883&cm_re=gl-homepage1-carousel-_-item-3
This would be fun to have in the rec room.
http://www.unclesamsretailoutlet.com/default.asp
good place to buy boots, odd sizes
http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucdsclnk?sl=91QSCI13058101
Everybody needs a helicopter fuselodge :)
“Fleemarket” is a euphemism for socialist.
I am not a fan of TSA but the ones I have encountered have been honest so far. I left a nice watch at one checkpoint and retrieved it 3 weeks later. I have been paged on 3 seperate occasions to retrieve items I left.
Yeah I am that forgetful but taking 5:15 am flights can cause that.
I failed to recover a very special watch from LGA but I had forgotten that I had forgot it. By the time I remebered were I left it 2 months had passed. I swear I bought it back on an Ebay auction.
Well they sell what the agents don’t steal.
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