TSA to pilot new service – “Ship Hazardous Items in Transit”

We’ve covered all the bad things the TSA has done in recent years – but we are not always anti-TSA. When the PR agency for the TSA contacted us about a new service they are currently testing at Las Vegas airport, we decided to prove we are not always on the lookout for bad TSA news.

The new service is called “Ship Hazardous Items in Transit” and aims to provide a secure and affordable way of returning your items that are not allowed to be carried on board your flight.

Some of the items that the TSA would normally confiscate are guns, knives, crack pipes, pot and oversized sex toys.

All these items can now be placed in a special express mail envelope, and shipped to your home for just $14. Guns require a special box with registered mail and cost $32 to ship home. Bubble wrap and packing tape will be available at the checkpoint at no additional cost.

A TSA spokesperson let us know that the agency is always looking for new and improved ways to help passengers, and that no passenger should have to give up their crack pipe or gun just because the excitement of air travel made them forget to leave it at home.

During the first week of the trial, 41 passengers took advantage of the new system. A total of 18 guns, 3 hand grenades and over $15,000 in drugs were shipped home instead of having to throw them away in the checkpoint trash container. If the program is a success, it will be expanded to other airports by the end of 2009.