TSA Store Sells Everything it Has Confiscated, From Snow Globes to Swiss Army Knives Sold By the Pound
Capital of Nasty, an Electronic Magazine - ISSN 1482-0471
Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 21:00 (7060/33)
Categories:
Money
If you've ever wondered what happens to the millions of items the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) seizes at checkpoint searches, Scott McCartney of The Wall Street Journal will tell you: they're trucked to a store in Austin, Texas and sold.
A store here, in a remote industrial area not far from the airport, has two big shelves of seized snow globes, all nabbed as potential liquid explosives and now bargain-priced at just $2. The state agency that runs the store also sells government surplus like file cabinets and firetrucks from the summer-hot warehouse. But its storefront is filled with TSA loot: knives, power tools, baseball bats, sunglasses and jewelry.
Here you will find belts for $5. Swiss Army knives are sold by the pound. Corkscrews and nail clippers are all 10 cents each, scissors are $3 a pair. Every Friday, there is an auction of collectible knives.
The TSA sends truckloads of prohibited and left-behind items to state-run agencies set up to sell surplus government equipment. Many states take the best and auction it off on eBay or GovDeals.com, a site that sells surplus government property online. Among the Pennsylvania offerings this month on GovDeals.com: three pounds of "assorted gold-toned jewelry,'' not tested for quality, that sold for $6,885.
Wait... did he say firetrucks? Oh, now I want one.
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