Does this sound familiar?
You're standing in your stocking feet in line at the airport security checkpoint waiting for your turn. The clock on the wall seems to mock you, ticking off the minutes until your boarding time freakishly fast. At long last you draw near. Your time to enjoy the renowned 'hospitality' of the TSA is almost at hand.
As you approach, a bored looking TSA agent in an ill-fitting polyester uniform and blue latex gloves drones at you, "Empty everything out of your pockets and place the contents into one of the plastic security bins, please."
Into the bin go your watch, keys, wallet, the receipt from the airport "cafe" where you paid a ridiculous eight dollars and seventy-seven cents for bad coffee and a stale croissant, and the buck twenty-three in change that the pimply faced cashier handed back to you with a smirk.
After having your carry-on screened and pawed through, and after receiving your complimentary grope – excuse me, enhanced pat-down – you are allowed to collect your belongings from the security bin. So back on your wrist goes the watch and into your pockets go the keys. You grab the dollar bill but leave twenty-three cents. After all, you have a plane to catch and it is only twenty-three cents. You’re not the only one.
Whether because of rushing through checkpoints or heading to a foreign country where they feel they will have little need for U.S. currency, loose change is left behind at TSA checkpoints all the time.
It happens so often, in fact, that for the fiscal year 2012 (October 1 – September 30), $531,392.22 – over half a million dollars – was collected by the TSA.
The TSA makes 'every effort' to reunite abandoned currency with its owners. According to TSA spokesperson David Castelveter, "To the extent we can return loose change, including bills, we do. There have been circumstances where our officers noticed that someone had left money behind, sought out that individual and returned it."
Passengers must file a claim within 60 days to recover money left at a TSA checkpoint.
Any "voluntarily abandoned" money that is not claimed goes into the TSA's coffers, a practice of which not every lawmaker approves.
GOP Rep. Jeff Miller, of Florida's 1st District, feels that the collected pocket change should go to a non-profit groups. Specifically, he would like to see the money go to the United Service Organizations (USO) to help finance airport programs that support the military.
"The TSA has been keeping the money from your change purse to pay for their bloated bureaucracy," says Miller. "The lost change should be put to good use, and I know that the thousands of coins have a positive impact on millions of our nation’s warriors."
Top 10 Airports By Amount of Abandoned Change Collected
In the fiscal years 2010 – 2012, the TSA collected over $1.43 million. Here are the ten airports who collected the highest amounts:
- New York (JFK): $112,384
- Miami: $79,819
- Los Angeles: $74,528
- Las Vegas: $63,209
- San Francisco: $61,692
- Chicago (O’Hare): $60,633
- Dallas/Fort Worth: $48,656
- Washington (Dulles): $41,703
- Atlanta: $38,235
- New York (LaGuardia): $34,430
