Rebuying your Confiscated Booty

Ever wonder what happens to the knives, box cutters, cans of mace, and other random objects clueless travelers neglect to remove from their baggage before passing through airport security?  Well, we all know it gets confiscated.  But what happens after that?  What happens to all those boxes of pointy objects and possible weapons?

Well, in America, the booty is turned around and sold for profit, naturally.

A USA Today article by Gary Stoller tracks the fascinating emerging market of material confiscated from airports. 

Travelers have surrendered more than 30 million objects annually since 9/11.  Local state governments assume ownership of these items first, and can either sell them or turn them over to a third party company, Science Application International, who has signed a $17 million contract with the federal government to dispose of the items. 

Many state governments, recognizing the cash windfall this booty can represent, go into business themselves.  The state of Pennsylvania, for example, earned $17,000 last December selling such knickknacks, mostly on eBay.  Their most successful sale was a box of 500 Swiss Army knives for $595.  Maryland, on the other hand, randomly stuffs 50-pound boxes full of contraband and then sells them, unopened, for $50.

It would be nice if the government department responsible for confiscating the items, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, were also the ones responsible for selling them.  Profits could then offset rising security costs, and hopefully reduce those bothersome security fees tacked on to plane tickets these days.  Unfortunately, the TSA is prohibited from doing so.  I suppose this makes sense.  Can you imagine the items they would start declaring dangerous and begin confiscating otherwise?