Ever lost luggage? It may have ended up here

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This was published 9 years ago

Ever lost luggage? It may have ended up here

By MIKE TIERNEY
Passengers and their posessions can still part ways permanently.

Passengers and their posessions can still part ways permanently.Credit: iStock

In Scottsdale, Alabama, is a secondhand store, one of a kind. Its name, 'Unclaimed Baggage Center', doesn't quite say it all. Its shelves are stocked not only with luggage lost, forgotten or ditched by airline passengers; the store also carries all the contents of that stray luggage deemed suitable for purchase.

In the GPS generation, when the whereabouts of things as diverse as smartphones, house pets and children's backpacks are traceable, airline passengers and their possessions still permanently part ways.

While the number of "mishandled" items, as the aviation industry describes checked luggage that disappears or is damaged on its watch, is declining, the boom in carry-on belongings left in seat-back compartments and overhead bins - think iPads - has helped keep this repository of orphaned property thriving. And there is the promise of continued good times as more travellers take to the skies for the holiday season.

"Business is great," said Brenda Cantrell, whose title of brand ambassador at Unclaimed Baggage translates to tourism overseer and spokeswoman.

How great a business is unclear, given the family-owned company's reluctance to disclose what it considers proprietary information, other than to insist that the sign that stands outside this nondescript strip mall - "7,000 new items daily" - represents truth in advertising. She did estimate the annual traffic count at nearly 1 million, drawn from every state in the USA and at least 40 countries - including a commercial pilot based in Qatar who drops by regularly with his wife. Buses are welcome.

Little can surprise Cantrell anymore after seeing wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, full suits of armor and rare musical instruments wander in. Some items are so unusual that they are stashed in the company "museum," or exhibited on the store walls, unavailable for any price. On exhibit in late November was a tribal breastplate and an African djembe, or drum.

Amazon it is not. There is no online shopping component.

The boldest claim from Unclaimed, as it is known to local residents: There is no other place like it. Exclusive contracts are locked in with major US-based airlines to load suitcases and other stuff from primary airports in trucks and haul them back to this northeast Alabama town of about 15,000 that, if not in the middle of nowhere, is in the vicinity.

Recent ramped-up promotional efforts, largely through social media, have generated news coverage. A spot on local TV lured three residents from northern Georgia recently. Sandi Grimm, though impressed, found nothing that she said "floated my boat," but the shopping cart of her friends Pam Aiken and Ed Lyon was laden with a typically odd assortment of goods seen here: a mattress and an 11-piece cooking set, both new, along with two iPads, cleansed of data from the previous owners. The price was $625 for the pair.

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Behind them, the glass display case containing digital cameras could have been replicated from most any department store. On the other side was an article that distinguishes Unclaimed: a saddle mounted on a faux horseback, for the right price.

Nearby was an especially incongruous scene: skis and snowboards for sale in a rural Deep South store. In fact, the first Saturday of each November is Unclaimed's big ski sale. Hundreds of customers with powdered slopes on their minds queue up overnight to burst through the doors for bargains on skiing gear and garb.

A recent special was on jewellery and wristwatches, marked down further from the usual reduction storewide of 20 to 80 percent below retail.

David Chafin, an Alabamian visiting the area for work, had bought four timepieces earlier in the day and had circled back for more, with his wife and a colleague, Taz Tillery, in tow.

As "Little Drummer Boy" drifted out over the public address system, Chafin, who said he once ran a clothing and jewelry store, expressed delight with the higher-end apparel, much of which carries designer labels. He eventually toted out seven jackets.

The store "holds up to its legend," said Tillery, a first-timer, who poked fun at his co-worker's binge-shopping. "My expectations were lower coming in."

Standing out among the mostly affordable watches was an 18-karat piece with a $15,000 price tag, which amounts to half of the most expensive Unclaimed transaction ever - for a Rolex.

A modest purchase of earrings was made by Zoe Polk, whose father, James, had grabbed artificial fishing baits for a friend. Polk, who swings by periodically, likens the experience to a treasure hunt.

"You never know what you'll find," he said. For example, curious about the contents of a stuffed animal acquired there eight years ago, he cut it open, he recalled, and pharmaceutical drugs spilled out.

For every 1,000 fliers in the United States in the first six months of this year, 3.86 dealt with mishandled bags, according to the Department of Transportation. The rate is about half the peak in 2007, but it is enough to keep Unclaimed's trucks rolling.

The trend toward carry-ons has partly offset the decline. Unclaimed must wait 90 days to obtain checked luggage while airlines hunt for the owner. Some airlines hold onto more valuable property for a while longer, but are not required to.

Laptops and mobile phones are pouring in so much that Cantrell said, "We've become quite the Apple Store in our own way." The section offering headphones and earbuds seemed disproportionately large.

Tillery eventually piled a stack of garments on the checkout counter. "No telling what you're going to find," he said, echoing Polk's comment, before his credit card was tapped for $US277.65 ($A327).

Most of the store's 3,800 square metre space is occupied by clothes of all sorts, including wedding dresses and mink furs. Challenging laptops for the steepest hike in incoming items are coats.

"I think everybody who travels carries two jackets and leaves one behind," said Cantrell after detailing her own head-to-toe ensemble, including watch and necklace, that she said was acquired at the store.

Significant competition from similar businesses has been closed off by what Cantrell said were exclusive deals and strong relationships with airlines. Several who were contacted about Unclaimed declined to comment, explaining they do not identify vendors or confirm contracts with them.

Unclaimed could not have started smaller, with goods procured from bus lines sold off card tables in a two-bedroom house in 1970. The founder's son took over a quarter-century later, and inventory today - also supplied by buses and trains - spills over into a second building that serves as the children's department.

The growth of technology that will allow for more effective tracking of luggage could become a threat, Cantrell acknowledged.

Radio frequency identification devices are deployed by at least one major airport and could someday be attached to all checked baggage by airlines as the cost of such tracking devices continues to shrink.

"We've got some interest in examining RFID technology," a Delta spokesman, Morgan Durrant, said.

The New York Times

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