Security "taking" discarded products

[ducklite]

The recent terrorist events forced TSA to make the rules. The employees did not make those rules. True - the unused items should be donated; however, if those items were going to be trashed then why not get some use out of it? I don't see a problem with it. I would feel better knowing that my $$ spent on the products was being used by someone rather than simply being trashed.

If they had donated the opened perfume to a womans shelter or the Cinderella Project, and then sold unopened products on E-Bay to raise money for charity or even the government, I'd have no issue with it. My issue is with government employees helping themselves to seized items, which is grounds for termination, and nobody stopping them.

Anne

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

I am totally of the opinion that these employees, at the very least, have remarkably poor judgment. Confiscating something that MAY be a hazard and then taking it home? DOH!

My DH works for the postal service, and they cannot even take their OWN MAIL from work. It must go through the system. Things with labels ripped off, that will go in the trash......go in the trash. Touch them and you are terminated. As LIFERBABE said, they are strict and clear on the rules. You can't take ANYTHING, trash or not from a govt. job, I would hope the TSA would have the same restrictions, especially considering the nature of the job.

I went through the process to become a TSA agent...then declined the position when I became pregnant. Thank goodness I did. I don't think I could take the abuse.

I had to go through testing in which I screened bags on the x-ray machine. Those things are REALLY hard to work with. A gun concealed under a cell phone or calculator is practically hidden beneath the wires. It is NOT an easy task.

And being that I was basically a TSA agent until I chose not to be, I do take exception to the comments about their stupidity. While your cousin may have the unfortunate distinction of being less than an Einstein, I happen to be pretty bright. I graduated from both high school and college with a 4.0 average, and I am a card carrying member of MENSA. I applied with the TSA after 9/11 because I felt I wanted to do my part for the US somehow, to try and help protect citizens. I unfortunately could not agree to lift 70 pounds if requested while I was pregnant, so I stayed home doing transcription.

I think the TSA is a faulty agency...it is run by our government, which makes it destined to be faulty. I think many agents may be lacking in either the wherewithal or the motivation to do the job well. They hired ALOT of people FAST because travelers were complaining about long lines. But I do think some of the agents do the best they can to try and keep us safe. And they are human. Human error is one of the biggest flaws.

The only way to completely erase the human error in security is to completely disallow ANY carry-on items. And the proverbial poop will sure hit the fan then.

 

[ducklite]

I am totally of the opinion that these employees, at the very least, have remarkably poor judgment.

You just hit the nail on the head. They have poor judgement, yet are tasked with guarding our lives and national security.

Anne

 

[madonna31]

You are missing the entire point.

No, actually YOU are missing the entire point.

I'm not faulting the TSA for searching me. I'm faulting them for having "banned" items right under their noses and not "seeing" them.

And I'm faulting you for boarding a plane KNOWING that you had a banned item in your carryon.

So why the 'pointing the finger' attitude? What makes what you did ANY better then the TSA agents? At least they made a human error mistake, you quite clearly (as you boasted NUMEROUS times on this thread) made your "mistake" on purpose.

 

[ducklite]

No, actually YOU are missing the entire point.



And I'm faulting you for boarding a plane KNOWING that you had a banned item in your carryon.

So why the 'pointing the finger' attitude? What makes what you did ANY better then the TSA agents? At least they made a human error mistake, you quite clearly (as you boasted NUMEROUS times on this thread) made your "mistake" on purpose.

My item was harmless. If they are looking right past harmless items, how do we know they are not looking right past weapons of mass destruction?

And how can I be any more to blame than people who bring on lighters and other banned items.

Anne

 

[Lewisc]

Anne and others who have problems with the TSA screeners. This may have changed, but about a year ago there were articles describing the problems that the TSA was having keeping screeners. They were paying screeners LESS than what the food court was paying. In some airports the food court was actually recruting screeners. Better pay and less stress.

It doesn't help when infrequent flyers don't have the slightest idea what to do.

And how can I be any more to blame than people who bring on lighters and other banned items

Because you fly enough to know better. Other people don't know the rules or don't fly enough to think of going through their bags to remove the items that don't belong.

 

[K9pal]

Back to the original subject... Our local news last evening had a feature about one of our homeless shelters - the director of the shelter contacted our airport about the discarded products, and they were more than glad to have them come pick up the boxes and boxes of confiscated toiletries. Shelter volunteers will go through and determine what is usable and the rest will be tossed. There's so much that they are coordinating their efforts with other local shelters.
Now THAT'S a win-win situation.