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The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#31

Post by chrismorgan »

thfuran wrote: post #25
danw1979 wrote: post #14

> “The airlines do a great job” at reuniting most lost bags, said Bryan Owens, the store’s second-generation owner and CEO. That is a very generous statement indeed.

I don't think I've had a checked bag permanently lost since the '90s, though it seems like half the time I return to my home airport with ski equipment, they fail to send it out to baggage claim. But then they deliver it to my house a day or two later.

I’ve taken my recumbent tricycle overseas five times now, and gone overseas without it on a number of other occasions, and I’ve never had a bag misplaced; I know my parents did once (I think it was delivered a couple of days later). In fact, losing my trike even for a short time would be extremely inconvenient, because I’m normally intending to cycle out of the airport and, if it’s not when I’m heading home, probably don’t even have an address they can reliably send things to, because I’m keeping on moving.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#32

Post by rkhassen9 »

globular-toast wrote: post #28
TacticalCoder wrote: post #26

> Cheap ski equipment, Rolex watches All Rolex watches have serial numbers and there's an official database of stolen and lost rolexes. A police report should be filled and sent to an AD (authorized dealer). Knowing this allow righful owners to find their watches, selling found Rolex is... theft? FWIW when travelling the customs may ask you for the invoice of your fancy watch (I always have mine in my wallet).

Although it would be nice, nobody is under any obligation to go out of their way to return your lost property.

No legal obligation, but perhaps a moral and ethical obligation.

The law is there to support society...but in and of itself cannot create it. Only people can.

So perhaps it's an obligation to the kind of world you'd like to live in...?

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#33

Post by scarface_74 »

dcx wrote: post #27
scarface_74 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An airline owes you $2500 for lost luggage on domestic flights. They aren’t going to make that up by selling to places like this. It’s not like they tell the department responsible for getting your luggage back to you to go through the luggage and determine whether they can make a profit on you. Anecdotally, every thing my wife and I own are in four suitcases that we take across the country 7 months a year making one…

> On flights within the U.S., airlines are responsible for lost-luggage reimbursement up to $2,500 per person; on international flights, airlines owe you a mere $9.07 per pound, with a ceiling of $640. (That rate was set by an international treaty in 1929.) > Beyond that, airlines owe you nothing for your most valuable items. Most contracts of carriage specifically exempt from compensation things like antiques, art,…

The stuff you take in your suitcase when you travel has “emotional value”? What do you take with you when you travel?

Since our case is quite unusual, if I travel somewhere like a typical person and carry a weeks worth of clothes, that’s five- seven pairs of pants, 5-7 shirts, some underwear and some socks and maybe a change of shoes.

When I traveled for work, I also had some gym clothes.

That’s around $1500 - $2000 of clothes max. I fly mostly Delta and occasionally AA. Delta is not going to quibble about $2K for lost luggage. They claim less around .66% of luggage is lost or delayed.

This is how often the average person flies in a year.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/388484/air-travel-remains-down-...

The chance of the average person experiencing luggage being lost or delayed is slim.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#34

Post by McDyver »

globular-toast wrote: post #28
TacticalCoder wrote: post #26

> Cheap ski equipment, Rolex watches All Rolex watches have serial numbers and there's an official database of stolen and lost rolexes. A police report should be filled and sent to an AD (authorized dealer). Knowing this allow righful owners to find their watches, selling found Rolex is... theft? FWIW when travelling the customs may ask you for the invoice of your fancy watch (I always have mine in my wallet).

Although it would be nice, nobody is under any obligation to go out of their way to return your lost property.

> nobody

Nobody, no, but certainly companies which you entered an agreement with, and paid for the transportation of yourself and your property.

It's inexcusable that with the current existing technology companies "lose" your luggage due to anything other than bad-faith.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#35

Post by alexriddle »

globular-toast wrote: post #28
TacticalCoder wrote: post #26

> Cheap ski equipment, Rolex watches All Rolex watches have serial numbers and there's an official database of stolen and lost rolexes. A police report should be filled and sent to an AD (authorized dealer). Knowing this allow righful owners to find their watches, selling found Rolex is... theft? FWIW when travelling the customs may ask you for the invoice of your fancy watch (I always have mine in my wallet).

Although it would be nice, nobody is under any obligation to go out of their way to return your lost property.

Appreciate the focus is on the US but for contrast in the UK, 'theft by finding' is a specific offence - whilst you can generally keep unclaimed lost property you should make some effort to find the owner before doing so. People have been prosecuted for keeping money they have found on the floor [1]. That said, these days the police don't have the resources to track lost property so it's unlikely most items would ever be reclaimed and after a certain period it does become yours.

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-39...

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#36

Post by chrismorgan »

dcx wrote: post #15
Sebguer wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, indeed, fortunately if you actually read even the first line of the article you'd understand that this isn't talking about theft.

I think OP is right but hasn't fully unrolled what they mean. This seems like it creates a moral hazard [1], because it reduces the penalty to airlines for losing luggage. If airlines were prepared to accept X in costs from lost luggage before, and now get paid Y, they can now accept about X+Y in lost luggage costs. Meaning more lost luggage! After the system dynamics resettle, from a certain angle this is basically…

The obvious solution to the moral hazard is to require that the company not profit from the disposal of the lost luggage. Unfortunately this is difficult to achieve, even imperfectly. “Give the proceeds of the lot sales to charity” sounds like a straightforward solution, but who’s charity? Whoever ends up profiting now has incentive to cause more to be lost; the further they’re disconnected from the airline industry and the specific airline the better. Anonymous donation of proceeds would be best, if it can be managed.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#37

Post by TeMPOraL »

Guvante wrote: post #24
MongoTheMad wrote: post #10

The common denominator for getting a good bargain is camping outside to arrive early or visiting regularly. While I like a good deal, I do not care for those style of deals.

If economists are to be believed that is inevitable. The only way to get true economic gains is by sacrificing something. I will say a lot of bargain hunters have difficulty framing their hobby in a way that properly reflects the time investment when describing to others...

Indeed, this follows from "efficient market hypothesis", "TANSTAAFL", etc. and probably has some more solid theoretical grounding too: if you're getting a good bargain, someone is getting screwed. Quite likely it's you.

It may not seem like that to the bargain hunters, because they're being used indirectly (the bargain is there to get them into the store), longer-term (the bargain is there to form a habit), or stochastically (the bargain may screw over only subset of buyers, so while on average, the buyer is losing, you in particular may be winning this time around). Sometimes the scope is even larger (e.g. the vendor burning money to dig themselves into the market). Or, it may be just the buyer exploiting some corner case so obscure it's not visible unless your time is literally free.

It's a simple idea that's hard to swallow: the bargain benefits the dealer somehow, or else it wouldn't be offered.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#39

Post by cmenge »

After my luggage went missing for the first time recently, my key takeaways are:

- If at all possible, avoid checked luggage - it's overpriced, slow and unreliable. No news to pro travellers I guess

- Luggage reimbursement is capped at a relatively low figure that hasn't increased in decades (sources vary, jurisdiction unclear when international which just adds to the point). In any case, if you're traveling with a fancy Rimowa, the luggage itself is worth that... Never put valuables in checked luggage

- The whole process seems increasingly stupid to me. A lot of conveyor belts, tracking systems etc. just to get a bag that I can carry by my own, all because the space in the overhead compartments is limited - manufacturers are working on larger compartments recently

- Some airlines are nearly impossible to contact - you might be asked to call a number in and then wait in line for 2, 3 hours then the call drops randomly (looking at you, Aegean)

- I appreciate this might be unavoidable for families, i.e. when you carry luggage for multiple people, or when you need a set of suits etc. But still, keep the Rolex on your wrist

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#40

Post by mcny »

chrismorgan wrote: post #36
dcx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think OP is right but hasn't fully unrolled what they mean. This seems like it creates a moral hazard [1], because it reduces the penalty to airlines for losing luggage. If airlines were prepared to accept X in costs from lost luggage before, and now get paid Y, they can now accept about X+Y in lost luggage costs. Meaning more lost luggage! After the system dynamics resettle, from a certain angle this is basically…

The obvious solution to the moral hazard is to require that the company not profit from the disposal of the lost luggage. Unfortunately this is difficult to achieve, even imperfectly. “Give the proceeds of the lot sales to charity” sounds like a straightforward solution, but who’s charity? Whoever ends up profiting now has incentive to cause more to be lost; the further they’re disconnected from the airline industry…

It is not possible. This is the same problem I had with government fines such as traffic tickets. People can't afford to spend time away from work fighting stupid tickets So they pay to settle When the district attorney says pay and we will let you go.

What happens when government lowers it's taxes and instead gets funded with fees and fines?

I'd say airlines should not be allowed to sell any luggage. It is not theirs to sell. If they are caught selling items that don't belong to them, Put the CEO and the entire board in prison for life.

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