If you’ve ever tossed your coins in one of those airport bins along with the rest of your valuables and then felt the pressure of the crowds behind you, it’s likely you’ve left a few pennies, dimes or quarters behind. Collectively, nearly a million dollars a year worth.
Unlike the laptops, wallets and suitcases that get a fair shot at rejoining their owners (although many do not), if both you and the agent behind the scanner overlook those coins, TSA keeps them. That came to $926,000 and small change in 2019 and $960,000 the year before. For obvious reasons this year’s take will be much smaller. New York JFK usually contributes about 10% of the total.
As of last September 30, the Agency reported to Congress that it had about $3.6 million in unclaimed cash on hand, after spending about $1 million on ‘training and development’ and another $32,000 on bookmarks advertising enrollment in the PreCheck program.
