Scottsboro, Alabama and your lost luggage

Unclaimed baggage, or as the airline calls it, "bags that didn't make the flight" and later unretrieved by the passenger are farmed to the South in a town call Scottsboro. According to an article this week in THE WEEK magazine, millions of bags are handled each year, with only a small percent of them never again becoming reacquainted with their owner.

Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior are just a few of the brand-name goodies found in lost luggage; "people tend to take their best things on trips" said Bryan Owens owner of United Baggage Center (UBC) who buys all those lost pieces of luggage by the pound, "it's a bit like an archaeological dig."

Once items are sorted and cleaned, as needed, they are sold in the UBC store in Scottsboro where shoppers are bound to find new "treasures" as they sift through the next batch of lost goods.

Source: The Week Magazine July 6-13, 2007