If your lost luggage is never returned, it can find new life – and owners – at this massive warehouse

They send your bags packing.

When passengers lose their luggage and never retrieve it, their bags don’t end up in a landfill or some forgotten storage unit—the bags are actually sold.

According to Vice, 2.1 million passengers board about 45,000 flights a day.

While most of their luggage finds its way back to its original owner, airlines lose 2 million bags each year, NPR reported.

Those unclaimed suitcases don’t just disappear into the ether, though—instead, they’re put up for sale at Unclaimed Baggage, a retailer in Scottsboro, Alabama, that takes about 7,000 items from airlines, trains, buses and other means. public transport and hospitality business.

The company, whose facility takes up an entire city block, buys and resells unsuitable items after airlines don’t return luggage to owners.

Lost luggage is given a second chance at life with Alabama’s Unclaimed Baggage retailer. Maksym Yemelyanov – stock.adobe.com

Typically, airline companies will attempt to reunite passengers and their luggage and reimburse them if they fail.

Unclaimed Luggage sells about 7,000 items, according to Vice. Washington Post via Getty Images

As a result, the storefront and online retailer boasts a diverse collection, from designer goods like Louis Vuitton pockets and Chanel tweed jackets to quirky items like fishing rods, fishing heads and more.

There are also AirPods galore, luxury jewelry and hair tools galore.

“It’s like Christmas every day — we never know what we’re going to find,” owner Bryan Owens recently told CNN. “I look at it like an archaeological dig.”

According to Vice, only about a third of the items Unclaimed Baggage receives are put up for sale, while the other third is donated to charity. The final third includes damaged or unsaleable items that are either thrown into the trash or recycled.

Customers (above) check out some of the merchandise available within the inconvenient retailer. Washington Post via Getty Images
“It’s like Christmas every day — we never know what we’re going to find,” owner Bryan Owens told CNN. “I look at it like an archaeological dig.” Happy customer Ryleigh Prickett (above) grabs a load of clothes from the warehouse in 2023. Washington Post via Getty Images

Sold items, however, come at a bargain, which is part of the allure for Andolyn Parrish, 28, who told CNN of her luxury finds, such as a Louis Vuitton closet bag that usually costs thousands of dollars, but she snapped up for just $350.

“Something I could never afford at retail prices, but I was able to get here,” she told the outlet.

According to spokesperson Sonni Hood, the most expensive item ever sold was a Rolex watch, which retailed at full price of $64,000, but was sold at a 50% discount from their store.

If the airline cannot find the owner and return the luggage after a few months, it is sold to Unclaimed Baggage. milkova – stock.adobe.com

“When I look around here, I see a store full of found things, not lost things — items being given a second chance,” Hood told CNN.

“Through loss, there is a chance for hope and redemption. Through our donations, we transform lives. Loss in any way is devastating. But how incredible is it to transform it into something positive for others?”

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Image Source : nypost.com

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