Most people are familiar with tales of lost luggage. You check it in at the curb and six hours later are more than a little aggravated to learn that somehow it didn’t make the trip over with you. Sometimes it is located and sometimes it never catches up with you. So you may wonder what happens to those lost pieces. Well you might be surprised to learn that it is possible that someone purchased your bag and is selling the items within.
Unclaimed Baggage is a one-of-a-kind store snuggled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and bordered by the 70,000 acre Lake Guntersville. Founded in 1970 by Doyle and Sue Owens as a part-time business, it soon became a full-time venture. In 1978, the Owens incorporated the company and watched it prosper as one of the great ‘hidden’ bargain centers for savvy shoppers.
While I can’t fault people for trying to make a buck I do find it a little disheartening to read about all of these lost items.
Over one million items pass through the store annually. About 60% of the merchandise is clothing with the balance of the store dedicated to cameras, electronics, sporting goods, jewelry, designer optical, books and of course, luggage. The vast majority of items are from unclaimed baggage which, after at least 90 days of intensive tracking by the airlines, are declared unclaimed. However, lost and unclaimed cargo is also now available in special areas of the store.
I’d like to say that I wouldn’t be irritated or upset by any of this. It is just stuff, but there is something that bothers me about this. I irks me to think that because of someone else’s mistake my stuff is being parceled out to whomever is willing to pay.
It is hard work breaking clothes in so that they achieve maximum comfort. What do you think?
I have never had much trust in the airlines. This story just reinforced that. I understand the bitterness.
CLothing is the least of it. I’ve had things like tanakhs or sfarim disappear into the random world of airline carelessness.
I”m now very careful what I pack versus take on board, and try to avoid taking anything valuable with me anywhere, ever, by plane. Of course sometimes, there’s no choice.
(can you tell I’m bitter?)
The land of the missing sock is vast. I can’t count how many of my own socks are there now.
the land of lost luggage is not very far from the land of the missing sock.