Travel+

TSA Pockets $400,000

The TSA has been known for stealing a lot of things. Your shampoos, my socks, our freedom. These thefts have all become so common that we expect them. It should be an outrage that we’ve come to expect the government to steal from us, but that’s the TSA for you. Now, remember all that crap you have it your pockets whenever you’re about to go through the airport’s metal detector?

Where you got 3 dollars and 47 cents in change you will never know, but where it will end up is already pre-destined: the TSA’s pocket. Whether you’re forgetful, in a rush or just too much of a high-roller to pick up your change after passing through the metal detector, the TSA will keep the coins you leave behind. On an individual level, a few cents here and there shouldn’t matter to you (and if it does, I sympathize with your fiscal struggles), but on a broader scale think about how much that change totals up to in a year. I’ll save you the trouble of working the math and tell you that it sums up to $409,085.56. Granted it’s not really stealing, but would you rather keep your $409,085.56 or let the tyrannous TSA keep it and use it as they please? After every shift the agents count the coinage and send it to the finance office, where they distribute it into the TSA’s general operating budget for everything from the tech to the lightbulbs. To bring an end to this unfair collection, legislation has circulated around that could possibly give the money to the USO in order to aid the country’s troops and the families. Really anything’s better than continuing to fund those sock-stealers, they already steal enough from the national budget.