The Fortune Lost Yearly as Pocket Change Falls Through the Cracks
You reach for your phone and keys as you grab your bag and jacket to dash off a flight. In the shuffle, a few errant coins slip out from your pocket, rolling under the seat as you rush away. Multiply those forgotten pennies and quarters and other pocket change by millions of airline passengers each year, and you have a financial phenomenon – the millions of dollars in loose change left annually on commercial flights.
A Fortune Between the Cushions
According to estimates, around $58 million in spare change and crumpled bills are abandoned on airplanes in the U.S. every year. With hundreds of millions of domestic flights annually, it’s easy to see how coins quickly add up as they work their way into seat cushions and crevices.
While discovering a few dollars in loose change might seem like a welcome surprise, don’t get too excited at the thought of striking it rich. Even if you flew daily, the likelihood of finding more than a few nickels and dimes left wedged in your seat is low.
Still, small change can make a big difference in the aggregate. And often that money goes not to other lucky passengers but directly into the coffers of the airline industry.
The TSA’s Unintentional Revenue
In addition to pocket change left behind on planes, a sizable sum gets abandoned at TSA security checkpoints each year. In 2022, it’s estimated that travelers will have forgotten over $1 million in bins and scanners.
Unlike the airlines, the TSA gets to keep and utilize any money collected at checkpoints, which contributed over $960,000 to the federal agency’s budget in 2018 alone.
So why are travelers leaving more cash at TSA gates? The increased prevalence of cashless payments means many people rarely carry bills and coins anymore. Scrambling to empty pockets at security, it’s easy to forget a few errant dollars and cents among small luggage items. Or passengers may simply choose not to hold up the line to dig that quarter out from the bottom of the bin.
Either way, the TSA surely doesn’t mind this unintentional revenue stream from American travelers each year as payment for their services keeping the skies safe.
Think Twice Before Tossing Your Change
The millions in abandoned pocket change each year sheds light on a peculiar byproduct of mass air travel and security – the tendency to misplace and forget about our pocket change.
So next time you’re flying, take a moment while boarding or going through security to double check for any loose coins or cash. Unless you want your forgotten nickels and dimes contributing to the millions in lost airline revenue or TSA funding, it pays to be mindful of keeping those cents in your pocket.
