Airport Lost and Found Items Auctioned
Posted on August 10, 2007
Filed Under Lost and Found News |
So what happens to all the lost and found items at an airport? All the luggage, iPods and video games? Does it fall into some mysterious, invisible black hole, along with all the world’s lost socks?
Well, at the Miami International Airport, all those lost and found items go up for auction.
On Saturday, July 28, Miami International auctioned off all its lost and found items: suitcases, cell phones, iPods, golf clubs, watches, cameras, video games, guitars, camcorders, iMacs, headphones, laptops–even a washing machine. That’s right, a washing machine! What someone was doing with a washing machine at an international airport is a complete mystery. Let’s just hope it has absolutely nothing to do with hatching an eccentric terrorist plot. Just try fitting that into the overhead compartment on a plane!
The auction featured more than 800 items from the lost and found department. Anything that was left at a checkpoint or on flights and hasn’t been claimed within 60 days is fair game. And so is anything else that gets turned in to the lost and found. The only item that’s exempt is lost luggage from baggage claim. But that still leaves tons of luggage to bid on.
Luggage at the lost and found auction is not opened, and auctiongoers are not allowed to look inside the luggage for a preview before bidding commences. Winning bidders may end up with a suitcase full of dirty undies or $10,000–it’s a total game of chance. And yes, one lucky lost and found bidder did indeed find $10,000 in a suitcase! That happened about five years ago.
Miami International has been holding the lost and found auction for about 10 years now. Doors open at 8:30 a.m., and bidding begins at 9:30 a.m. It’s held at an airport building at 5600 Northwest 36th Street. The price to attend the lost and found auction is $3. That, along with proceeds from winning bids, is yet another way for an international airport to fatten its bottom line. But don’t count on that profit giving the airport the bright idea to lower parking fees!
www.nbc6.net
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