Slashdot Mirror
TSA Makes $400K Annually In Loose Change
Hugh Pickens writes "NBC reports that airport travelers left behind $409,085.56 in loose change at security checkpoints in 2010, providing an additional source of funding for the Transportation Security Administration. 'TSA puts (the leftover money) in a jar at the security checkpoint, at the end of each shift they take it, count it, put it in an envelope and send it to the finance office,' says TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez. 'It is amazing. All that change, it all adds up.' Melendez adds that the money goes into the general operating budget for TSA that is typically used for technology, light bulbs or just overall general expenses. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) has introduced legislation that would direct the TSA to transfer unclaimed money recovered at airport security checkpoints to the United Service Organizations (USO), a private nonprofit that operates centers for the military at 41 U.S. airports. The recovered change is not to be confused with the theft that occurs when TSA agents augment their salary by helping themselves to the contents of passengers' luggage as it passes through security checkpoints. For example in 2009, a half dozen TSA agents at Miami International Airport were charged with grand theft after boosting an iPod, bottles of perfume, cameras, a GPS system, a Coach purse, and a Hewlett Packard Mini Notebook from passengers' luggage as travelers at just this one airport reported as many as 1,500 items stolen, the majority of which were never recovered."
at the end of each shift they take it, count it, divide most of it up amongst themselves, and put it in their pockets
FTFY.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Great. The we should decrease their budget by at lease this much for the next fiscal year.
I pick up every coin I find and put it in a large jar. Once it's full I take it to the bank and, though it really upsets the teller to have to deal with it, I end up netting around $300. Granted it takes a few years, but every little bit helps. :\
3 disgruntled about to be let go TSA employees concoct a scheme to steal all of the loose change left behind by passengers to support the pregnant girl of whom one of them is the father They steal Vin Diesel's bag of Mafia money by mistake. Hilarity and ultra-violence ensue.
I, for one, am happy that the TSA is staffed by people who seem to hate their job as much as we do. The alternative, that an arm of totalitarianism is entirely staffed by people who are ideologically committed, would be far worse.
Surely there is legislation in place that would say this lost property has to be kept for a certain amount of time before being stolen?
In many places there is legislation that if you find some property (including cash) you must hand it to the police. Then if it is unclaimed after a certain amount of time you can request to keep it.
Why isn't that the case here?
OK, the article does say:
But I don't the truthfulness of the claim "everything", as they could easily contact travelers asking if they left any money behind...
My dad discovered that the hard way when he lost 200UKP from his suitcase between Vegas and the UK, replaced with a nice "The TSA searched your bags." notice.
That loose change was mine. I'd like to reclaim it.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
All the stuff they take from you is auctioned off, as well.
The TSA is just taking the DEA's lead. They've been funding themselves by taking property from "drug dealers" for decades. For instance, in many states, if you get busted in your car with drugs, the state can take your car, even if it's personal use amounts. Unless, of course, you still owe money on it, than they'll let you keep it so that you are obligated to make those payments, of course.
This is nothing more than thievery masquerading as a public service, but then again, one could say the same about a lot of facets of our government as of late...
Why doesn't he just create a bill to give $400,000 of taxpayer money to the USO? It's the same thing financially as redirecting this money that currently goes into the general budget to a private organization, but I guess it sounds better the way he puts it?
Then again, $400,000 is not that much money in the first place. He and a couple wealthy friends could almost certainly cover it.
At the international arrivals area in Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, you go through security after you pick up your bags, go through customs, and recheck your bags. Many passengers forget to put their duty free alcohol in their bags before they recheck them, and try to carry them through security, where they are told to either check the alcohol or have it confiscated. I worked for an airline back there for several summers and would often have to check the alcohol, but sometimes they would just leave it with us(got a bottle of Absinthe this way). Once I asked a TSA guy what they did with all the alcohol they confiscated. He said that at the end of the day they were packaged up and sent off site for destruction and disposal. But we always figured that the TSA screeners would help themselves to any good stuff before they sent it off.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flyingwithfish/2010/11/20/how-the-tsa-legally-circumvents-the-fourth-amendment/
Yet, Americans are sheep and will do nothing. According to CNN, 80% of Americans are in favor of the mm wave scanners in spite of the fact that they haven't caught a single terrorist. Ever, and they appear to be no more than 20% effective in catching weapons. And in spite of the fact that the USA is going to die under the burden of excessive debt, yet we spend tens of billions on useless agencies like the TSA. In spite of the fact that the TSA is now trying to move into other areas like buses, trains, and even roadside stops.
"Papers please"... didn't we used to ridicule the former Soviet Union for that very same thing?
But as long as people don't care about their civil rights, they will continue to lose them. As long as people continue to be driven by irrational fear, they won't care about their civil rights.
That might be the most frugal thing a federal agency has ever done.
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
Uh, so then where did the $409,085.56 come from?
that's very true, but them not getting really reprimanded for theft of personal belongings is bull****.
Those elements in the TSA are a fucking embarassement to both their agency and their country; that behavior should not be tolerated, and this situation can be easily remedied with heavy penalties that will act as a warning to the rest of the TSA lot that is there to loot while in uniform.
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
and the TSA employees never need to buy liquid soap or shampoo...
I'm constantly told to not lock my bag because otherwise it'll be ripped open by the security staff to search it. I don't lock it to stop the security staff getting in, I lock it to stop the lighter fingered baggage handlers from having a quick rummage.
Besides, if someone wants to get into your luggage, they'll get into luggage.
Summation 2
It would be suspicious if NO loose change was accounted for. I'd suspect nearly half goes in pockets.
Exactly. The TSA reported that they collected $409,085.56 in loose change. But how much else went unreported that was left behind? The TSA guy making a low annual salary doesn't pocket half of the money that he finds, or splits it up with the rest of the low level employees? Or how many guys don't even bother to report any left behind change at all?
The manager doesn't skim a little off of the top before sending in the money to the TSA headquarters? If someone gives him $50 in change he might not pocket a few dollars here and there? The TSA headquarters president doesn't skim a little off of the top before reporting the money? You get $750K in coins and you might skim a thousand dollars worth, right? It's all part of the game.
This is like when a drug dealer gets pulled over with $15,000. By the time the money makes it to the station it magically becomes $10,000. Then somewhere in between the time the money enters the station and is processed it becomes $5,000. It's just part of the game.
When I was in the Government, keeping any money you made "on the side" was a big no-no. You could (in some cases) charge for expenses, but otherwise, if you made any money, it had to go to the Treasury.
Under our system of government, the Congress sets the budget for government activities. Setting up some branch of government as a money making entity, and thereby evading the oversight and control of Congress, is flat out unconstitutional. Now, I know that this is literally small change, but still...
They make even more selling pocket lint to coat factories.
Table-ized A.I.
They rape and pillage.
Table-ized A.I.
How much did they pay in salaries to count it and handling to send it to the financial office, where it's undoubtedly counted again, then deposited in a bank. If they're doing that at the end of each shift, in over 100 airports, 2-3 shifts per day. It might be cheaper to just tell the TSOs to put it in their pocket.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
Their entire agency is already a fucking embarrassment to their country, a few agents "stealing" abandoned pocket change pales in comparison.
Porquoi?
I'd like to see the full load costs of paying TSA agents to do as described and then ship the change to a central location, suspecting it exceeds the $400k 'made'.
We'd be cost ahead by letting any non-tax funded organization manage the entire process.
... the ACLU, EFF, or other like minded organizations. After all, these funds are acquired by means that are contrary to their constitution.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for bashing the TSA and their dubious practices in the name of 'security' when it's warranted, but whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? I'm referring to the extremely obvious bias (bordering on the Faux News drooling fanatic level) in the article summary:
"The recovered change is not to be confused with the theft that occurs when TSA agents augment their salary by helping themselves to the contents of passengers' luggage as it passes through security checkpoints."
This isn't particularly relevant to the news post, other than to immediately bias readers into thinking that the TSA steals all that change and lines its coffers with it, when in fact it might just be left behind by passengers as the news article implies. What are they supposed to do? Sprint after a group of passengers and ask them if this is their quarter? Hate to say it, but ever since CmdrTaco left, the quality of Slashdot news posts has fallen noticeably.
"Sent off site for destruction and disposal" means "someone takes it home, drinks it, and recycles the bottle".
0 1 - just my two bits
Look after the cents and the dollars will look after them selves.
Excuse for why is your room always messy?
If you have to keep your employees in line with threats and monitoring, then your primary problem is with the people who gave them the job in the first place.
Perhaps the TSA shouldn't have just settled for the least-bad applicants who bothered to show up.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
No, Florida Republican, do not give the loose change to the military service corporation. I know you want to ensure that all money goes to one kind of military subsidy or another. But you created the TSA, with its vast budgets largely wasted on abusing Americans and subsidizing contractors. Its security theater subsidizes the military by pretending to protect us, while militarizing routine travel which of course paves the way for more military and more military subsidies. Making the military further dependent on the TSA's unnecessary operations that generate that loose change further ensures we'll be doing TSA dances forever.
Keeping the loose change reducing the debt spending you created its budget out of is an efficiency. Leave well enough alone, despite your grabby Florida Republican instinct to make a bad thing even worse, and forever.
--
make install -not war
They have some common cents.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Step 1 - Force people into situations where they're likely to have things fall out of their pockets
Step 2 - Collect all found things and put them in your own pockets
Step 3 - Profit!
Sounds like theft to me. You make it a profit center and the bosses start including incentives to maintain that budget line item. "Hey, you guys didn't shake down enough...'customers'...this week! We're not going to be able to give you a bonus this quarter."
If they really want me to believe that this isn't theft, they should be donating all proceeds from lost and confiscated items to charity. An ACTUAL charity, I mean, not the TSA Agent's Retirement Collective 501c.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Low paying crummy jobs tend not to attract the best candidates.
Leave them metal slugs, slabs of wooden dowel, low-value foreign currency. Make 'em work for it!
-- "Oh. This guy again."
When you leave your change behind, you're funding domestic TERRORISM.
All that groaping pays off!
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
It would be interesting to see how much change is really taken. Perhaps one could determine, on average, the ratio of large denomination coins to small denomination coins carried in travelers' pockets. We could call this ratio A. We could then compare this ratio to that of the money collected and turned in by TSA agents - Ratio B. I think it's safe to assume that TSA agents are more likely to be selective of the coins they keep if, indeed, they keep some. I would suspect that ratio B would differ substantially from ratio A if TSA agents were keeping money for themselves.
The one other thing to consider - travelers are probably less likely to leave behind large denomination coins. As such, ratio B might differ from ratio A for reasons other than theft. One would probably have to create a representative sample when finding ratio A so as not to taint the results.
Seems they primarily hire pedos, sadist, weak of mind, and various other miscreants.
Like to abuse people? Like to sexual molest people of all ages? Want your power-trip to fly along side your poorly sculpted World view where in you hold no personal responsibility and those around you are at fault??
Find your dream job here.
http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/careers_security_jobs_securityinspect.shtm
Notice the qualifications, I think drugs dogs could apply for these jobs and probably be friendlier.
I grew up with a guy that didn't have a lot going for him, not a lot of ambition, who finally decided it was time for work, and became a State Trooper. He told me that once when he was searching a crime scene he found a box with almost $300 thousand in it, and none of his fellow officers saw him find it. I asked him if he kept it, because it's the kind of thing I would do: There was plenty of other evidence, the money was not stolen and had no rightful owner to which it could be returned.
No, he turned it in.
I hate how companies tell us where some specific source of income goes. Even if it doesn't just go into a big pool of budget money, then some part of a budget somewhere is changed so that other money is available for other purposes.
The bottom line... if $300k can be added to the overall budget, then that's $300k more that can go to paying a CEO's bonus.
It's not like they weren't going to replace light bulbs without this money.
What is their annual accounting for money they take from peoples' bags? Or, are they less honest with that than they are with the change jars?
As a teenager I worked at Six Flags Great Adventure on the Great American Scream Machine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Scream_Machine_(Six_Flags_Great_Adventure)
The way the seats were deep bucket seats and at the end of the night we would look under all of the seat pads and would find about $40 daily in change in the three trains. We would divide it up among the 8 people working the ride and it was enough to buy some drinks and snacks.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
I doubt anyone would care if no loose change was accounted for. The frickin' budget of the TSA is over $8 billion. Who cares about $400,000? That amount (.005%) could be added or dropped from their budget by an intern in Congress.
I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
article says "..boosting an iPod, bottles of perfume, cameras, a GPS system, a Coach purse, and a Hewlett Packard Mini Notebook from passengers'"
i assume the author meant stealing or taking. I never heard of the word boosting used like this before.
Your friend turned in the money, you would have kept it. Well, it looks like your friend at least has honesty going for him, which is more than can be said for you.
If they are stealing laptops and iPhones, why wouldn't they pocket much less traceable loose change?
When you put it in that perspective, it's not so much money :). Consider that there are over 50,000 union TSA agents (non-managers)
There is no honor among thieves.
They care not a whit about you or your possessions.
Whether they Love, like, dislike, revile, or hate your, what you represent, or their own life will not change the fact that they robbed you, and got paid for it, and will still probably get a raise and eventually a retirement.
The raise and retirement are also probably on your dime.
No brain, no pain.
You DO know how the TSA recruits people, right...? They put adverts on pizza delivery boxes
You couldn't make this shit up it you if you hired a whole team of comedy writers...
No sig today...
NBC reports that airport travelers left behind $409,085.56 in loose change at security checkpoints in 2010
More importantly how much of their dignity was left behind at the checkpoint after they had their asshole fingered by a former Burger King employee?
I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to enroll in your screenwriting workshop.
You called him dishonest after you believed his story, which says a lot about you.
As someone who's administered TSA testing in the past, thus having seen the "tests" first hand, I assure you, they're not looking for people that think for themselves. They want idiot drones that do what they're told, no matter what.
In a given day I'd have maybe 2 applicants out of 10 that didn't look like straight up gang members (and half of them looked like crystal meth tweakers, I shit you not), and based on what I'm hearing from family members in the service, the military is starting to have it's share of gang-bangers, too. Which makes sense, if you think about it: who's more likely to argue with an order or take a stand based on their principles, someone with an education and respect for human rights, or someone that was raised on the streets in a dog-eat-dog world?
Plus, now that the TSA is expanding to domestic rail service, highways, and sporting events, it won't be long before these state sponsored criminals are shaking us down at checkpoints all over the place, just like in Mexico or any other third world country.
So, sing with me, boys and girls: AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!!
at the end of each shift they take it, count it, divide most of it up amongst themselves, and put it in their pockets
FTFY.
A few ways of looking at that $400k figure:
- Assuming 50k TSA employees (from wikipedia), that's $8 a year each. So in a good week they find two dimes.
- The TSA budget is about 8 billion. This is one two-thousandth of a percent of their budget.
- The 2012 budget is a few trillion. If congress passed a bill like Jeff Miller's every hour of every day that would cover... um, I think I have this right... one tenth of one percent of the budget. Looking to cut government waste? How about electing people who won't waste everyone's time on trivia.
In short: look, I'm not particularly fond of airport security either, but this is stupid.
I, for one, am happy that the TSA is staffed by people who seem to hate their job as much as we do. The alternative, that an arm of totalitarianism is entirely staffed by people who are ideologically committed, would be far worse.
At first blush, that would sound good, but ideology is really only monolithic until it gets alone with itself. In isolation, it tends to splinter into smaller and smaller factions until it's self-destroying.
Apathy, however, goes on forever.
I believe there are something like 40,000 TSA employees. Assuming they take 90% of it and what they send in represents 10% they are pulling in about $90 per year on average. Quite a racket they got going there.
LOL, WUT?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I grew up with a guy that didn't have a lot going for him, not a lot of ambition, who finally decided it was time for work, and became a State Trooper. He told me that once when he was searching a crime scene he found a box with almost $300 thousand in it, and none of his fellow officers saw him find it. I asked him if he kept it, because it's the kind of thing I would do: There was plenty of other evidence, the money was not stolen and had no rightful owner to which it could be returned.
No, he turned it in.
$300K sitting around spells danger. I wouldn't have taken it, as a) it might cost me my job which I like and b) dangerous folks might come looking to reclaim it, surreptitiously.
No, your friend probably did the right thing for him in the long run: avoid the risk that comes with a large pile of cash sitting around. However, skimming a bit off the top of millions of pockets of change - no risk in that.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
When someone leaves money behind a agent should say "excuse me, you forgot your change" instead of applying the 'finders keepers' rule of money.
Besides how does all of this lost money get lost? When you walk through the checkpoint you empty your pockets, then you get your stuff out of the basket or whatever and put it back in your pockets. Its not like staying in a hotel where you might leave money behind or falls into your couch cushions.
And why mail it to the finance office? That would cost more to mail a bag of coins than you could get out of it.
And dont tell me they spend it on lightbulbs. Thats horseshit. I highly doubt the tsa actually employs people to count change sent in from around the country, make sure its reported and put into a special account for buying lightbulbs.
Curiously enough, every attempt to staff the TSA with robots has failed. To quote TSA-02134's post-termination interview, "ERROR: CRASH IN LOGIC.C:1338: INPUT 'GOALS' INCOMPATIBLE WITH PROVIDED METHODS".
At first blush, that would sound good, but ideology is really only monolithic until it gets alone with itself. In isolation, it tends to splinter into smaller and smaller factions until it's self-destroying.
Which wouldn't be a problem for an organization specializing in airport security. They'd have a stream of ready victims and potential threats to unite against.
The alternative, that an arm of totalitarianism is entirely staffed by people who are ideologically committed, would be far worse.
That would be the DEA.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
And much did it cost in salary plus overhead to pay TSA employees to count that change by hand? I doubt they broke even on it much less came out ahead. Let's see, 450 airports x 365 work days x 2 shift changes per year x $20/hour loaded labor rate x 0.1 hours (estimated) to count, record, and process the change = $657K / year. So by my estimate the TSA had a net waste of $157K counting this change.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
until you screw up a decimal place and $305,326.13 ends up in your account in just one weekend.
We've solved the deficit problem! Government workers! Get thee to the nearest seat cushions, fountains and vending machine coin returns!
Or they can get proactive! Department Of Panhandling! We'll have the debt paid off by the time the end of the Mayan calendar rolls around again!
Extra exclamation points: !!!!!!! (distribute as desired)
Having the TSA around is like paying Nobby Nobbs to fundle your bum and nick all your coin.
...also fondle, slap, tickle and squeeze.
At least that's what the article wants us to believe.
The TSA is our last line of defense against everything that is against us and we might not even be aware of. These heroic, chisel jawed Nightwatchmen, these brave, well not soldiers, but heroic nonetheless persons of unknown qualification, descent or even species heroicly probe where no probe had dared to probe before.
These artisans of the prostate, minions of the fearful, these rubber-gloved black-clad connaisseurs of the sphincters shall ever be remembered by a Monument of Massive Proportions made of other people's previous luncheons.
So they find money while you desperately try to get rid of any metal or lubricants and some of that gets even sent to the main office? Sort of an involuntary tip? Like a mugger, but with a receipt?
Heroic AND honourable, I say!
20 minutes into the future
I'm very sorry but I really do have some limited experience supervising very unskilled labor. The people who populate these kind of (hire and go) jobs tend to be resentful and unmotivated, combine that with double digit IQ's and almost no training and you have a recipe for problems! Continual surveillance/monitoring can only do so much. I personally HATE traveling and being searched. Getting pushed thru the airport in a wheelchair, and getting additional screening because of syringes, medications and medical devices just makes matters worse.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
I hear this big pile of cash argument a lot.
The premise is invalid though.
How do people know about this big pile of cash?
Your whole position is predicated on the ability of the pile to broadcast it's location.
I find being offended by me offensive.
The TSA guy making a low annual salary doesn't pocket half of the money that he finds, or splits it up with the rest of the low level employees?
Well, let's run some numbers.
$409,056.56 divided by about 450 airports is $909 per airport. We're talking about a year, so divide that by 365 and we're talking about an average of $2.49 per day per airport. Figure that an entry level security screen makes a little over $10 per hour and he's basically getting the equivalent of 15 minutes.
Yup. These guys are makin' bank, I'll tell you.
Local Police can be just as bad. We had an employee stealing things from work, from simple plumbing fittings to electronic controls. A few thousand worth of gear. His roommate turned hi in, police took everything for evidence. We were told once the evidence was not needed they would let us know. We called a few weeks later since we hadn't heard anything - He pleaded to some charge, no trial, they sold the stuff at auction. We couldn't even get the money they got for selling out things.
So we were robbed, twice.
We can show up at solyndra with the change in jars to pay executives their retention bonus!
we're talking about an average of $2.49 per day per airport.
And it probably costs $20 every day to send that change to the finance office.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
That money should be donated.
so why do they take it and spend it on their own budgets instead of doing something to benefit the passengers at the airports?
Isn't this a form of theft? If you find a wallet and give it to the Police, efforts are made to return it to the owner and only after a period of time and attempts made does the finder get to keep the money. He/she probably has to claim it as income too.
How about free wifi for x number of days at all airports or something beneficial to the air travelers?
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
I hear this big pile of cash argument a lot.
The premise is invalid though.
How do people know about this big pile of cash?
Your whole position is predicated on the ability of the pile to broadcast it's location.
The cash broadcasts it's location by it's absence on record.
The fact is, I'm sure there is someone who was interested in that cash, just not on record by the police. Reclaiming $300K (by physical or legal force) from the police is one thing, getting it back from a corrupt cop is quite another.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
No, it means just the bags that were checked in London and end up in Fresno.
So 3 nations do it that way, everyone else does it the right way. I fly to Germany quite a bit and always land in Frankfurt then go to Stuttgart. I do customs in Stuttgart.
Germany is tiny; Canada, the USA and China are huge. Bigger countries have large populations traveling domestically by air, so they have terminals and entire airports that handle nothing but domestic flights. There aren't going to be customs checkpoints at every terminal, only the ones that handle international flights. Putting a customs checkpoint at every terminal would be terribly inefficient for the tiny percentage of international flights that need them.
In piddly little countries like Germany, people don't need to fly to travel domestically, so pretty much every incoming flight is international, and there are customs stations everywhere.
...this is rather silly. Should they just leave the coins for the janitors? What do you think becomes of coins found around, say, subway stations?
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
This sounds like a whistleblower series I went to a while back. Some guy from the Army Corps of Engineers stood up and started by saying he went through all he did and eventually lost his job to save 5-7 million. He was exposing a gross amount of money that wasn't being spent correctly, but received very little attention. He said, when the whole budget of the Army Corps of Engineers is less than the rounding error on the national budget, saving a small portion of it didn't amount to much.
full of thugs.
That's completely nonsensical. You think that due to the fact that something is missing the person looking for it automatically knows where it is.
I'm not even going to bother to say any more and just right you off as to stupid or too troll to waste any more time on.
I find being offended by me offensive.
Yeah, now it counts as seized assets and it becomes part of the operating budget of the police department.
If there's even a *hint* of drugs in your vehicle, it's seized. Home? Seized. Oh, you have more than $10,000 cash on hand? Why? You're a drug dealed - seized.
You wanna talk opportunity for corruption...
I really do try my best to be an honest person, but more and more I'm seeing stuff that makes me think I'm a sucker for playing fair when so many people (especially our government) are stacking the deck in their favor as much as possible. I would have had a very difficult time turning that in to be honest.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Why not compensate those who's items are stolen by TSA (i.e. the 2009 example in Miami and many more) with the $400K that's found each yr? Why does extra money automatically get to go to the military/soldiers? Seems ass backwards.
Or maybe make the $400K a bonus to the best performing TSA airport staff each yr? Try that for motivation.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
I always mess up some mundane detail.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
400k annually? That's change you can believe in!
Required reading for internet skeptics
True. When I say I don't want to go through the nudity/cancer machines, the TSA officers mutter the same line about it being safe and we both roll our eyes. I spare them a lecture about how I deserve privacy, since it was their bosses' choice to take it away from me.
But what if you store your change in your rectum?
I think state troopers and other "real" law enforcement types are much more heavily indoctrinated than TSA agents though. They believe they're with a good organization, that it's cop and cop against the bad guys, you can trust other cops and no one else.
TSA agents though rightly don't give two shits about TSA beyond their paycheck.
Whether that translates to TSA agents being more willing to turn their fellow co-workers in than cops (who overlook murder if it was one of their own that was the criminal), I don't know, but I'd guess so.
Plus, since it's TSA, there's probably a rule in there about how they can't send more than 3 dollars per envelope...
No wonder the pizza smells like fingers that have been.......nevermind.
Table-ized A.I.
You DO know how the TSA recruits people, right...? They put adverts on pizza delivery boxes
You couldn't make this shit up it you if you hired a whole team of comedy writers...
You probably could if you hired a team of tragedy writers.
When money goes missing in an arrest, there's a short list of suspects. First, the policemen at the arrest; second, anyone else involved at the arrest; third, policemen on duty when the money gets back to the police station. After that it's on record and less likely to go missing. Even someone as stupid as a drug trafficker can figure that out.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
legislation that would direct the TSA to transfer unclaimed money
You mean: legislation that would disincentivize TSA from collecting the money in the first place.
(and, instead, the money will wind up as "tips" for the checkpoint agents.)
In a strictly free market, capitalistic mindset, yes playing fair makes you a sucker - you should lie, cheat and steal in order to get ahead.
In a more holistic view though, playing fair lets you sleep at night, or to look at your children (or significant other) and admit to no wrongdoing. They won't suddenly discover what you did in order to buy that huge diamond, but that everything is as you said it is and there's no guilt nor trouble.
The problem is, government and corporations have no such conscience. Maybe if you can get enough shareholders together to instill one, but that's about it. It's why companies pollute (polluting costs nothing - not polluting costs money, and the benefit is so some humans down the road can breathe?) and try to screw over as many people as possible.
Reread the situation as presented originally. There would be no one to report the cash missing. That was one of the stipulations in the story.
I find being offended by me offensive.
Those elements in the TSA are a fucking embarassement to both their agency and their country; that behavior should not be tolerated, and this situation can be easily remedied with heavy penalties that will act as a warning to the rest of the TSA lot that is there to loot while in uniform.
Heavy penalties, like hanging pickpockets?
http://aler.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/2/295.abstract
Findings suggest that 76% of active criminals and 89% of the most violent criminals either perceive no risk of apprehension or are incognizant of the likely punishments for their crimes.
$2.49 is what they hand over (from, say, and average of 10 checkpoints, so $0.25 per checkpoint per day.)
How much do you think is actually being left behind? I'd guess closer to $0.25 every 10 minutes.
You DO know how the TSA recruits people, right...? They put adverts on pizza delivery boxes
You couldn't make this shit up it you if you hired a whole team of comedy writers...
And yet, the best part of all is the come-on at the top
Really illustrates their target demographic: immature dropouts who fall for those 'x-ray vision' glasses ads...and who love pizza, of course!
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
[emphasis mine]
Hahahahohohoheeheehee!!!!
Pot, meet Kettle.....
I'm not even going to bother to say any more...
Too late. ;-)
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Please provide the name of the pizza company. I have an order to place. Thanks.
Wish I had thought of it.
Now the government will need to fund the thieves guild to make sure they can continue to provide this valuable service.
--
Guess I couldn't see the forest for the thieves.
No brain, no pain.
Parts of the military are designed to turn people like that into model citizens, or at least that was the case before Rumsfeld made a lot of cuts.
That's peanuts compared to what they steal.
you really know what borks the hell out of me. Is the lack of consistency between TSA agents. I travel a lot, and working in IT I usually keep a screw driver in my backpack, along with miscellaneous other things that i use in my job, external dvd drive, cables, etc. Now in the past year and a half i have flown in and out of this airport about 120 times. I had a nice electricians screw driver for the longest time. I looked up on the TSA website, and the longest screw driver you can carry on is 7". Now my screw driver was right at the max. I questioned the TSA agent when they told me they were going to take it. She told me it was 7" long, and i was "what's the max length i can carry on?" Their reply, "7 inches." So what's the problem? "It's our policy..." And their supposed to take any liquids that arent in that 1 qt plastic bag, and confiscate them. Can't tell you how many times i've seen people get through security with a bottle of water in their coat pocket or carry-on bag. Enough of me ranting, this article is about money. That senator is right, it should go to the USO or maybe some charity where it can do some good because i think you can throw as much money as you want at the TSA, but you can't fix stupid.
You DO know how the TSA recruits people, right...? They put adverts on pizza delivery boxes
You couldn't make this shit up it you if you hired a whole team of comedy writers...
Look closely at that pizza box -- it trumpets...
A career where XRay vision comes standard!
A career as a peeping tom. Where you get paid.
Is this country great or what?
It's as if it came from the movie Idiocracy!
I'm grateful living in China. Easily more free than America, in fact I'd wouldn't visit your shitty country even if you'd buy the tickets, getting my family harrased and fondled by TSA and overly aggressive police men on the streets, well no thanks, you keep it! Keep your niggers also, bye.
Isn't that an average of less than a dollar a day per metal detector gate. If only $1 was lost per day at each metal detector gate and there were only 200 airports with an average of only 6 metal detector gates each that would be $1*200*6*365 = $438000. Does the reported amount seem like a very low number?
Are all the detectors operated by TSA or are many operated by others?
You can be sure of this. I have a close relative whose job is to manage baggage operations at a major US airport. About two months ago I found that almost everything of value, including an Ipad, had been stolen from my bag during a trip from NY to Boston. I accused the baggage handlers and was told that this would have probably been the case ten years ago but now they are watched by cameras so closely that it is next to impossible for them to steal from luggage. The thieves are now the TSA agents, who scan a bag for loot, and when they find something interesting, use their keys to open the bag remove the items they find and relock the bag. Almost always this involves more than one agent as they usually work in pairs. In almost every instance in which the agents are surprise searched after their shift some are found with stolen items.
$40 daily in change in the three trains. We would divide it up among the 8 people working the ride and it was enough to buy some drinks and snacks.
what Six flags are you working at? The ones I've been to that would be enough for barely 1 pizza slice!!
I worked there as a kid which was around 1990. In the employee area the drinks were 25 cents and hamburgers 50 cents. Holy crap I feel old.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
I always forget some mundane detail.
Just another ignorant American.