TSA Took $531K From Our Pockets Last Year

...because we forgot to put our change back in our pockets
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 6, 2013 8:43 AM CST
TSA Took $531K From Our Pockets Last Year
In this June 27, 2008 file photo, shoes and small liquid containers are placed in bins to be screened by TSA Supervisor Jennifer Haslip at the x-ray machine at Ronald Reagan National Airport.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

The change in your pockets is lining the TSA's, well, pockets. The Washington Post shares the results of the TSA's 2012 fiscal report, which shows that it made off with a record $531,395.22 in change that travelers forgot to collect from security bins. (From 2008 through 2011, the total was closer to $400,000.) The biggest take occurred at Miami International, where TSA workers collected $39,613; it's one of 13 airports where the annual haul was at least $10,000.

Travelers are apparently more conscious at Guam’s Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, where the TSA's grand total was just $1.70. The Post notes that by law the TSA must use the jingling windfall on civil aviation security; to date, it's spent just $6,500 of 2012's change, largely on translating some airport security signs into other languages. (More TSA stories.)

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