6 ms·

As someone who has been in a similar space, I guarantee you over half of those luggages do have identified owners who simply aren't contactable because they wil

As someone who has been in a similar space, I guarantee you over half of those luggages do have identified owners who simply aren't contactable because they will not answer the phone, check a voicemail, read their email, or open any letter addressed to them. It takes two to tango and nobody knows how to dance.

Mountain_Skies 3y ago
This is a consequences of every communication medium becoming saturated with advertising. How many airlines refrain from ever using customer contact information for marketing purposes? And even if a few do, they exist in the context of a society where such behavior is pervasive. People who want to go about their lives without being hounded constantly to engage in unwanted economic transactions are often unable to fight back any other way other than ignoring communication attempts from entities with an economic desire to engage in commerce with everyone as much as possible.
- ncallaway 3y ago
  Yep! Most of my email? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Most of my physical mail? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Most of my cell phone calls? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Many of my SMS messages? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Why won't he answer his phone? Or respond to an email email or a letter? Because the government has completely failed at maintaining a trusted and not overrrun by spam communication channel of any kind in our society.
  - Aerbil313 3y ago
    I guess you live in US. In my country (Turkiye) every commercial SMS sender needs your permission to send advertising SMS. This usually happens when you sign up for a website/app, an optional checkbox to allow commercial communication via SMS and email. There's a second (mandatory) checkbox for an agreement regarding our version of GDPR. Every advertising SMS includes a shortened link or something like "text DENY to 1234" to be able to opt-out of them at any time. To date I've seen only one vendor which still sent SMSs after I opted out, which I promptly sent a complaint about to our presidency. No more texts after that. Every email is the same, with an unsubscribe link. I've encountered only one brand which didn't comply and I blocked them in the Mail app. Even when it is this simple to block spam most people I know still don't do it. They are in a rush, stressed, commuting, with kids running around, doing something else simultaneously. Too busy with life, checking all the boxes in a hurry, scrolling past all the advertising spam to find the one message/mail from their contact. For many, it needs to be literally zero effort, fully automatic. There are those SMS scams from foreign numbers which go like "Thanks for signing up for our job offer, please send your card details to get the $1000/day payment". But they are rare, once a fortnight at most IME. We don't get physical advertising mail. Maybe cultural? Not economical? No one bothers. Everyone gets calls from a fiber high speed internet company every once in a while. Since people are able to recognize the recorded voice so fast and close the call, now they added a several seconds delay before playing it. I don't know what makes fiber internet vendors special, since I only ever get those calls. Telecom-ISPs intentionally not blocking them? And those WhatsApp calls from third world numbers. Once a month maybe, but this is Meta's problem.
    - j000 3y ago
      What I find amusing as the owner of several vanity numbers (NPA)777-0000, 888-0001 and similar is that I receive no spam calls or texts. I wonder if the spamming/robocalling software has a restriction on these numbers because they seem fake.
    - ncallaway 3y ago
      > I guess you live in US. I do! > In my country (Turkiye) every commercial SMS sender needs your permission to send advertising SMS Mine too! I report each violation to the FCC (the responsible governmental agency), but I still get lots of unsolicited SMS spam. In fact, you'll note that SMS was the only one that broke my pattern and was "many" instead of "most". SMS is the one medium where the rules are OK, but the enforcement is lacking.
cm2187 3y ago
Statistically, a small portion of those customers may have died shortly after their flight...
- sandworm101 3y ago
  And a slightly higher percentage may have been arrested prior to retrieving their luggage.
rdp36 3y ago
I mean how hard is it to recognize you lost your belongings? Pretty hard for a segment of the population. SIGH!
- Towaway69 3y ago
  There are YouTube channels where people open lost luggage as entertainment. Enough viewers makes this business also profitable. So much for respect of personal privacy.
sandworm101 3y ago
I was at a convention once listening to an FBI agent talk about contacting companies that had been hacked. They would not reply to emails or even open letters labeled "FBI". The likelihood of a scam was just too high. So they asked the room what it would take for us to believe that an unsolicited communication came from the real FBI. In short, the room wanted Mulder and Scully at the front door, in suits, with badges/guns, and even then many calls would be make before believing a believe a word. That is what the constant stream of online scams has done to people.
- irrational 3y ago
  I think I’d blame it more on entertainment media. How many tv shows and movies have there been with fake FBI communications and agents?
  - sandworm101 3y ago
    >> How many tv shows and movies have there been with fake FBI communications and agents? Technically? All of them. The FBI rarely allows its agents to appear on TV shows.
- morkalork 3y ago
  Reminds me of a story about an allied sabateur working in occupied France during WWII. They were trying to convince someone that they were indeed the "real deal" and nothing was working until they agreed on a coded phrase to be played on the BBC radio. Only after hearing the message on the radio the next night was their identity trusted.
  - fbdab103 3y ago
    I would find it unlikely that a low level guy would have the connections to slip a phrase into the BBC and would think they have to be a spy with high level connections.
    - guappa 3y ago
ijhuygft776 3y ago
too bad they force you to hand them your luggages

Mountain_Skies 3y ago

This is a consequences of every communication medium becoming saturated with advertising. How many airlines refrain from ever using customer contact information for marketing purposes? And even if a few do, they exist in the context of a society where such behavior is pervasive. People who want to go about their lives without being hounded constantly to engage in unwanted economic transactions are often unable to fight back any other way other than ignoring communication attempts from entities with an economic desire to engage in commerce with everyone as much as possible.

ncallaway 3y ago
Yep! Most of my email? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Most of my physical mail? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Most of my cell phone calls? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Many of my SMS messages? Junk and spam that I didn't sign up for. Why won't he answer his phone? Or respond to an email email or a letter? Because the government has completely failed at maintaining a trusted and not overrrun by spam communication channel of any kind in our society.
- Aerbil313 3y ago
  I guess you live in US. In my country (Turkiye) every commercial SMS sender needs your permission to send advertising SMS. This usually happens when you sign up for a website/app, an optional checkbox to allow commercial communication via SMS and email. There's a second (mandatory) checkbox for an agreement regarding our version of GDPR. Every advertising SMS includes a shortened link or something like "text DENY to 1234" to be able to opt-out of them at any time. To date I've seen only one vendor which still sent SMSs after I opted out, which I promptly sent a complaint about to our presidency. No more texts after that. Every email is the same, with an unsubscribe link. I've encountered only one brand which didn't comply and I blocked them in the Mail app. Even when it is this simple to block spam most people I know still don't do it. They are in a rush, stressed, commuting, with kids running around, doing something else simultaneously. Too busy with life, checking all the boxes in a hurry, scrolling past all the advertising spam to find the one message/mail from their contact. For many, it needs to be literally zero effort, fully automatic. There are those SMS scams from foreign numbers which go like "Thanks for signing up for our job offer, please send your card details to get the $1000/day payment". But they are rare, once a fortnight at most IME. We don't get physical advertising mail. Maybe cultural? Not economical? No one bothers. Everyone gets calls from a fiber high speed internet company every once in a while. Since people are able to recognize the recorded voice so fast and close the call, now they added a several seconds delay before playing it. I don't know what makes fiber internet vendors special, since I only ever get those calls. Telecom-ISPs intentionally not blocking them? And those WhatsApp calls from third world numbers. Once a month maybe, but this is Meta's problem.
  - j000 3y ago
    What I find amusing as the owner of several vanity numbers (NPA)777-0000, 888-0001 and similar is that I receive no spam calls or texts. I wonder if the spamming/robocalling software has a restriction on these numbers because they seem fake.
  - ncallaway 3y ago
    > I guess you live in US. I do! > In my country (Turkiye) every commercial SMS sender needs your permission to send advertising SMS Mine too! I report each violation to the FCC (the responsible governmental agency), but I still get lots of unsolicited SMS spam. In fact, you'll note that SMS was the only one that broke my pattern and was "many" instead of "most". SMS is the one medium where the rules are OK, but the enforcement is lacking.

cm2187 3y ago

Statistically, a small portion of those customers may have died shortly after their flight...

sandworm101 3y ago
And a slightly higher percentage may have been arrested prior to retrieving their luggage.

rdp36 3y ago

I mean how hard is it to recognize you lost your belongings? Pretty hard for a segment of the population. SIGH!

Towaway69 3y ago
There are YouTube channels where people open lost luggage as entertainment. Enough viewers makes this business also profitable. So much for respect of personal privacy.

sandworm101 3y ago

I was at a convention once listening to an FBI agent talk about contacting companies that had been hacked. They would not reply to emails or even open letters labeled "FBI". The likelihood of a scam was just too high. So they asked the room what it would take for us to believe that an unsolicited communication came from the real FBI. In short, the room wanted Mulder and Scully at the front door, in suits, with badges/guns, and even then many calls would be make before believing a believe a word. That is what the constant stream of online scams has done to people.

irrational 3y ago
I think I’d blame it more on entertainment media. How many tv shows and movies have there been with fake FBI communications and agents?
- sandworm101 3y ago
  >> How many tv shows and movies have there been with fake FBI communications and agents? Technically? All of them. The FBI rarely allows its agents to appear on TV shows.
morkalork 3y ago
Reminds me of a story about an allied sabateur working in occupied France during WWII. They were trying to convince someone that they were indeed the "real deal" and nothing was working until they agreed on a coded phrase to be played on the BBC radio. Only after hearing the message on the radio the next night was their identity trusted.
- fbdab103 3y ago
  I would find it unlikely that a low level guy would have the connections to slip a phrase into the BBC and would think they have to be a spy with high level connections.
  - guappa 3y ago

ijhuygft776 3y ago

too bad they force you to hand them your luggages