Luggage Unclaimed Store Center Baggage Airlines Alabama Lost

Most "luggage" (bags and suitcases one takes on a trip) gets to its "destination" (where someone or something is going) and most luggage is "claimed" (picked up) by its owner. But surprisingly, about "one-half" to "one percent" (1/2 to 1%) of luggage is never claimed at all. The airlines spend three months trying to get the luggage back to its owner, but if that is not possible because there is no "identifying information" (such as name, address, or phone number), the luggage is sold to a store called Unclaimed Baggage Center in the state of Alabama, in the southern part of the U.S. (Those who have lost luggage can file a claim and they are "compensated for it" (given money to replace lost items.)

The Unclaimed Baggage Center buys the unclaimed luggage from airlines "sight unseen" (without seeing it before buying), "sorts it" (organizes it), cleans the "contents" (what is inside) of the luggage, and puts it in the store to sell to the public, to people like you and me. The Unclaimed Baggage Center is organized similar to a department store that sells everything you can imagine, with the store adding about 7,000 items each day. The store is so popular that it is the number one tourist attraction in Alabama, with 1 million visitors each year.

At the Center, you can find anything from "precious" (worth a lot of money) jewelry, leather jackets, wedding dresses, "surfboards" (long boards used for standing on ocean waves) to half-used tubes of toothpaste! The guns and illegal drugs found in some of the luggage are not for sale, of course. However, because they do "come across" (find; see) unusual items in some of the luggage, the Center has a small museum "displaying" (placed for people to see) these special items.