The Transportation Security Administration has banked over $1 million in change from forgetful fliers over the past 3 years.

Passengers passing through TSA checkpoints in airports are required to remove coins from their pockets before passing through the metal detectors, and often drop the loose change into gray bins that get sent through the X-ray machine. When they fail to reclaim the money on the other side, TSA is the benefeciary --- to the tune of $1000 each day.   

It wasn't always this way. Prior to 2004, federal law called for TSA to turn over the abandoned money to a general Treasury fund. But that year, TSA successfully lobbied Congress to amend the law to let the agency to keep the change. It now uses the forgotten money to defray security costs.

One place the money doesn't go is into the pockets of TSA employees. Agency officials make that very clear. TSA has fired airport screeners for pocketing change --- even as little as "a nickel and two pennies," TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne told USA Today.

Instead, TSA outfits each of its 800 airport checkpoints with a lockbox to store the cash, which then gets transfered to an airport safe daily, and deposited to a local bank every 90 days or when the amount reaches $300.   

Of the 450 commercial airports where TSA operates, the cash leader is Los Angeles International (LAX), which raked in $89,375 between Sept. 30, 2004 and Oct. 1, 2007. Collecting the least was Chattanooga, Tennessee -- just $1.20 (yes, the decimal point is correct). Either the Chattanooga TSA employees are just better about reminding passengers to collect their belongings or they have quicker fingers!   

 McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas was the second biggest collector of cash, and might have taken the prize if it weren't for the ever-present slot machines that empty passengers' pockets before they get to the checkpoints. Perhaps installing government-run slot machines in all the nation's airports would increase the TSA windfall even more.

TSA says non-cash items are handed over to state agencies, which can sell them for profit. Is it good practice for TSA to use the abandoned change for general operations? Is there a better use? Tell us what you think in the comments.  

One reason proffered by TSA for all the mislaid change is "color blindness." Earl Morris, TSA security chief at Salt Lake City International Airport, said "The money blends in with a lot of the gray bins we're utilizing."  I don't know about that, but this much is for sure: the money left behind is not a tip for great service.