Should the United States get rid of pennies, nickels and dimes? The debate has been occurring for years. Many people are in favor coin storage ON considerations of economic fairness. Others are calling eliminating them because the government is losing money by minting low value coins.
One strategy to resolve the debate is to see if people still use small denomination coins. There can be an unlikely source of information showing how often people use change: Transportation Security Administrationor TSA. Yes, the same individuals who check passengers at airport checkpoints can answer whether people still use coins and whether their use has trended up or down over the years.
Every 12 months, TSA provides detailed report to Congress shows how much money is left at checkpoints. A decreasing change amount would mean that fewer people have coins of their pockets, while a constant or increasing amount means that folks proceed to hold coins.
The the latest TSA data shows that in 2023, air travelers left almost $1 million price of change at checkpoints. That’s roughly double the amount left in 2012.
At first glance, this means that increasingly people carry and use coins. But as University researcher who studies each travel and money, and a keen observer of queuing habits at airport checkpoints, I do know the story is more complicated than these numbers suggest.
What is left behind?
More than 2 million people fly each day in the USA, passing through a whole bunch of checkpoints at TSA-operated airports. Every airman passing through the checkpoint is asked to put items from pockets comparable to wallets, phones, keys and coins, into a basket or carry-on bag. Not everyone remembers to select up all their items on the other side of the scanner. ABOUT 90,000 to 100,000 items lags behind every month, TSA estimates.
For expensive or identifiable items comparable to cell phones, wallets and laptops, The TSA has a lost and located list department. For coins and occasional paper bills that find yourself in scanner bins, TSA uses a different procedure. It collects all this money, catalogs its amount and periodically he deposits them into a special account utilized by the TSA to enhance security activities.
That money adds up, as travelers have left behind nearly $10 million in change over the past 12 years.
The amount of money left varies depending on the airport. New York JFK International Airport is consistently situated in a single of the the best slot machines where you’ll be able to lose the most moneyand travelers will leave behind almost $60,000 in 2022. Harry Reid International Airportwhich serves Las Vegas, also reports large amounts of money being left behind. Love Field in Dallas, home of Southwest Airlinesis commonly at the bottom of the list, and has only lost about $100 in 2022.
People lose money when going through security for several reasons. First a little cross it near the airport accessand so as to not miss the plane, they don’t collect all the pieces after the screening. Secondly, sometimes TSA lines are extremely long, leaving people scrambling to make up time again. Finally, TSA checkpoints are often confusing and noisy places, especially for latest or occasional travelers. This is more confusing some airports have promoting binsthat distract travelers who just glance quickly to be certain that they do not have all their items.
How much is lost?
TSA closely tracks how much the agency is losing may keep any unclaimed money at checkpoints. TSA records show that in 2012, people left half a million dollars behind. In 2018, this number increased to almost a million. The decline in travel as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic reduced that number back to half a million in 2020. In 2023, people left $956,000 behind.
This raw data requires two adjustments to accurately track trends in lost coins. First, the numbers must be adjusted for inflation. In 2012-2023 the price index of consumer goods and services increased by 33%. This means that a dollar of change in 2012 bought a third greater than it did 12 years later.
Second, the number of people flying and passing TSA security screening has modified dramatically over time. In 2012 approx 638 million people passed through checkpoints. By 2023, that number had grown to 859 million people, or about 1,000 people every 30 seconds across the U.S. when airports and checkpoints are open.
Taking under consideration each inflation and the number of people checked showed no change in the amount of money lost. By my calculations, in 2012, roughly $1.10 in coins was lost for every 1,000 people surveyed. In 2023, roughly one penny more was lost per 1,000 inhabitants, or $1.11.
The peak 12 months for money loss was 2020, when $1.80 remained per 1,000 people. It probably happened because of people not wanting to the touch objects out of unjustified fear that they could come into contact with Covid-19. During the pandemic, people generally carried less money with them.
The world is they increasingly use electronic payments. However, data from TSA checkpoints clearly shows that folks are carrying coins at about the same rate as in 2012. This suggests that Americans are still using physical money, at least to make small payments – and that the desire to get rid of nickels and dimes should hold on a little longer.