If you’ve ever lost luggage, and the airline wasn’t able to find it, it may have ended up at the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. In what amounts to an enormous thrift store that’s fueled by airline incompetence, shoppers can peruse the “easy-to-prowl” departments looking for a bargain.
A small sampling of their inventory is available for purchase online (e.g., iPods, Sprint PCS connection cards), but the website features other gems like “What Is It?” — guess what the item is, and you win a “souvenir” — and “Unpack the Bag,” in which you see some of the more valuable or quirky items that have passed through center’s hallowed halls, like a NASA camera.
But it’s not just the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Profit(eer)ing off other people’s lost items is seemingly an Alabama pastime. Even the state government gets in on the action: The Surplus Property Department actually sends its employees into neighboring Florida with a rented 18-foot truck to collect “discarded or confiscated” items from Florida’s airports. Alabama’s municipal governments have first crack at the goods, after which the items are auctioned off — in traditional auctions, as well as on eBay.
To be fair, it’s not just Alabama. Kentucky’s state government also scours Florida’s airports, while Arkansas treks all the way to California, and Pennsylvania scavenges New York. Sanford & Son is alive and well, and working for the state.
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July 5th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
As my grandmother used to live very close to Scottsboro, I have been to this store. Now that was about 15 years ago, but I can remember there were a lot Gucci handbags…and suitcases…
April 15th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
[...] follows the path of checked luggage. It’s a long but interesting tale, with some of the bags ending up at the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama. Her suggestions at the end for making your bags [...]
September 5th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
[...] US Air Force tags nuclear warheads to wrong airport Next time your luggage heads to Ketchikan, Alaska instead of Kansas City, take heart: The Air Force does it too. A B-52 bomber mistakenly carried six nuclear warheads from Minot, North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Oops. Just better hope it doesn’t end up at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
[...] Interestingly, one woman whose bag was found in the dumpster didn’t even fly to, from, or through Houston. At least she got her stuff back, and didn’t have to buy it again from the Unclaimed Baggage Center… [...]
March 15th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
i lost my luggage dec 25 visiting south africa on delta airline they make it seem like i was wrong when i talk to them on the phone i still have not found my bag and i paid extra for it
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:49 pm
i lost my luggage with delta airline to south africa does anyone know where delta sells the lost luggage
October 21st, 2010 at 8:35 pm
I have a guy trying to pose as someone who obviously lost their camera. He claims he is on business in Lagos, Nigeria….but pics are of several places such as italy? New York maybe? and possibly france? has a black and white puppy…i keep getting more pics from him so if they are yours lemme know…i can atleast email u pics
September 30th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
It would be nice to see one of these stores in almost every state or near a major airport or city.