The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage • Hacker News Board

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#41

Post by Ekaros » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 9:53 AM UTC

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).

I wonder if we could start adding tracking chips to absolutely everything all the way to each sock of a pair. And then you could register them to some online database and if someone found your lost sock they could return it, just like more expensive items.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#42

Post by 9dev » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 10:27 AM UTC

cmenge wrote: post #39

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 f…

What if during boarding, you walked through the cargo compartment of the plane yourself, which consists of huge lockers you can store your baggage in, then proceed to the seating area?

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#43

Post by JCharante » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

drewcoo wrote: post #5

theft == bargain There are other places to purchase cheap stolen goods, too. But they're not backed by DHS . . .

Well you won’t find apple devices being sold there. Because apple cares about its customers.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#44

Post by globular-toast » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 10:43 AM UTC

alexriddle wrote: post #35

globular-toast wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 eve…

Tbh I wrote my above comment in a state of barely-awake and missed the important point: by selling the item they are making a claim of ownership.

I was merely stating that nobody should be obliged to try to track down an owner of a lost item, but they equally shouldn't be claiming it as theirs either. You wouldn't just get on somebody's bicycle and ride off with it, so don't put on someone's watch and walk off with it either.

What's interesting is that if you buy a stolen item, even if you don't know it was stolen, you still don't own said item. Happens with cars. Would be interesting if a person who bought a Rolex from a place like this took it to a watchmaker who took it upon themselves to confirm the rightful owner.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#45

Post by 4death4 » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 1:41 PM UTC

texuf wrote: post #23

4death4 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is

I’ve had this issue for a while now. How do I fix it?

The only fix is to disable private relay. The people who run archive don’t like Cloudflare, for some reason, which is the service provider for private relay.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#46

Post by sheepscreek » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 1:50 PM UTC

alexriddle wrote: post #35

globular-toast wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 eve…

Interesting. In this case however, it is up to the Airport authority to make every reasonable effort. Once they auction off the stuff, it is presumed the reasonable effort was unfruitful.

I’d be surprised if UK Airports didn’t do something similar with unclaimed/lost baggage.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#47

Post by teaearlgraycold » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 2:18 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #37

Guvante wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 stocha…

For one off events you can have genuine bargains. I give away perfectly good computer hardware for free on Craigslist or at steep discounts.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#48

Post by peterleiser » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 2:22 PM UTC

9dev wrote: post #42

cmenge wrote: post #39

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 f…

What if during boarding, you walked through the cargo compartment of the plane yourself, which consists of huge lockers you can store your baggage in, then proceed to the seating area?

Lockers would be an inefficient use of cargo hold space. The added weight would also be costly to fuel consumption.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#49

Post by bradleyjg » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 2:23 PM UTC

cmenge wrote: post #39

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 f…

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

On the contrary. Increasingly humongous bags being wrestled into giant compartments makes boarding and deplaning a stressful and lengthy process.

I totally get why travelers don’t want to check bags given the status quo, but the stupidity is that the system works so poorly that they don’t want to check rather than that there isn’t enough room in the passenger compartment for everyone’s belongings.

Cargo should be able to safely and efficiently travel separately.

Re: The thrill of the bargain hunt at unclaimed baggage

#50

Post by bookofjoe » Sun, Nov 12, 2023, 2:24 PM UTC

9dev wrote: post #42

cmenge wrote: post #39

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 f…

What if during boarding, you walked through the cargo compartment of the plane yourself, which consists of huge lockers you can store your baggage in, then proceed to the seating area?

The plane would never take off.