Most first-time visitors to the Unclaimed Baggage Center<\/a> in Scottsboro, Alabama, do a double-take. This is typically followed by disbelief (\u201cThis is all\u2026 lost luggage?\u201d), then incredulousness (\u201cHow is it legal to sell this stuff?\u201d), and, finally, by a feverish desire to paw through every rack and bin as quickly as possible, lest someone else discover something great before you do.<\/p>\n More than 800,000 shoppers pass through UBC\u2019s doors every year, many from out of town: Scottsboro is a day-trip from Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, and Nashville<\/a>. The 46-year-old institution is the only retailer in America to buy and sell the contents of baggage lost on U.S. airlines, trains, and buses. This is supplemented by bulk purchases of unclaimed cargo. Luggage is purchased sight unseen and processed in local warehouses that include one of the largest laundry facilities in the state. Workers unpack an average 7,000 items per day; what is not suitable for retail gets tossed or donated to Lions Club International, Salvation Army, and Second Mile Ministries, among other nonprofits.<\/p>\n The rummaging frenzy comes from the fact that UBC unpacks some pretty covetable stuff: Furla, Badgley Mischka, and Marc by Marc Jacobs purses<\/a>, for example, or Jimmy Choo<\/a> and Tory Burch<\/a> shoes. Also for sale are $10,000 engagement rings, Rolex watches, electric guitars, full sets of golf clubs, and mint-condition wedding gowns \u2014 plus some more unusual novelties: On a recent visit, we spotted power tools, rice cookers, sleeping bags, hair weaves, boxes of stethoscopes, a turkey-basting rack, a Dora the Explorer pi\u00f1ata, and a hand-painted rendition of Snoop Dogg\u2019s Doggy Style<\/em> cover art. Turns out, the store\u2019s motto\u2014\u201cYou Never Know What You\u2019ll Find!\u201d\u2014couldn\u2019t be closer to the truth.<\/p>\n Curious what UBC could teach us about packing and traveling in 2016, we hopped on the phone with Brenda Cantrell. The so-called \u201cbrand ambassador\u201d was born and raised in Scottsboro, shopped at UBC as kid, wrote a term paper on the company in college, and has been working for the family-owned business for the last 18 years. Here\u2019s what we gleaned from her years in the trenches:<\/p>\n Contrary to popular belief, lost luggage is actually at an all-time low.<\/p>\n Surprise! The airlines are not as bad at their job as you may think. A recent SITA Baggage Report<\/a> shows lost luggage is at a historic low: Only 23.1 million bags were mishandled in 2015, or about 6.5 bags per 1,000 customers. And that number has dropped 50 percent across all international airlines since 2007, while the number of passengers has increased exponentially. (RFID bag-tracking technology<\/a> and a hike in self-service check-ins are primarily to thank.) Lost luggage costs airlines a lot of money\u2014$2.3 billion just last year. \u201cIt is not in their interest to lose your stuff,\u201d says Cantrell. \u201cThe airlines spend 90 days trying to reunite bags with their owners and 99.9 percent of the time, they are successful.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep valuables in your carry-on bag\u2014but only if you can remember to carry it off.<\/p>\n The age-old advice to keep jewelry, computers, and cash in your carry-on only works if you can keep track of said carry-on. Unlike checked baggage, the airline is not legally liable for the safe transport of your hand luggage\u2014you are. So when you leave behind your phone, sunglasses, stroller, jacket, or a bottle of duty-free liquor in your rush to get off the plane, the airlines are under no obligation to return it to you. By the time you probably realize something is missing, your plane will be long gone anyway. \u201cWhat\u2019s the likelihood that bottle of rum or iPad had your name written on it?\u201d asks Cantrell. Exactly.<\/p>\n Our absurdity knows no bounds when it comes to packing.<\/p>\n Apparently, the question is not \u201cWhat do we pack when we travel?\u201d<\/a> It\u2019s \u201cWhat don\u2019t<\/em> we pack when we travel?\u201d Over the years, UBC has been on the receiving end of some pretty wild finds. Pay attention to the walls as you shop\u2014this is the UBC Museum. Among its permanent collection: tribal breastplates, Moroccan daggers, Neil Diamond\u2019s xylophone, antique wooden snowshoes, a pair of golden arches from McDonald\u2019s, a stand-up paddle board, a painting made by an elephant, and Hoggle, the four-foot-tall goblin from the 1986 film Labyrinth<\/em>. One of UBC\u2019s more recent acquisitions is a 2,000-pound African statue. \u201cYou just look at it and wonder, ‘Was it a gift from a government leader?’\u201d laughs Cantrell, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s so heavy, we can\u2019t move it. So it just sits in our warehouse. I don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to do with that one.\u201d<\/p>\n The airlines are not as bad at their job as you may think<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For every $100,000 diamond-and-platinum bracelet, taxidermied ram\u2019s head, or live rattlesnake that shows up in someone\u2019s lost luggage (all true stories), there are tens of thousands of swimsuits, sunglasses, scarves, maxi dresses, blue jeans, capri pants, Panama hats, neck pillows, and sunblock bottles. So. Much. Sunblock.<\/p>\n We still buy lots of tacky souvenirs when we travel.<\/p>\n Rest assured, Americans love a magnet, keychain, snow globe, and shot glass. And yet, there are surprisingly few Bubba Gump margarita cups for sale at UBC. That\u2019s because the warehouse doesn’t waste time pricing out 50-cent magnets when it\u2019s got gold wedding bands coming through the door. Junky souvenirs are usually tossed or bundled into plastic take-out bins and sold in lots for a couple of bucks.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Gilbert is the vacationer\u2019s book of choice.<\/p>\n We spotted more copies of Eat, Pray, Love<\/a><\/em> on our visit to UBC than any other title. Also more Apples than Androids, more Kindles than Nooks, and more Beats than Bose. \u201cFor years and years we had Bose QC2 and QC3 headphones, and then Beats came on the scene,\u201d says Cantrell. \u201cNow it\u2019s Beats, Beats, Beats! Millennials are traveling more, and this is their generation\u2019s choice of noise-canceling headphones.\u201d Loads of DSLR cameras come in, too, which must rank up there with laptops in terms of the most painful Items to lose on the road. (For what it\u2019s worth, the UBC warehouse follows strict Department of Defense protocol for wiping data from electronics before selling them.)<\/p>\n Amazingly, we still don\u2019t label our luggage right.<\/p>\n With so many stylish luggage tags<\/a> in the world, you\u2019d think we could take 20 seconds to write down our name and address. And yet, many of the bags that get separated from their owners have no identification on them: No tag outside (sometimes because it was ripped off in transport) and no contact info inside. When Cantrell flies, she lays everything she is packing out and takes photos of it. Then she places three identification tags on the outside of her bag<\/strong> and a business card for UBC inside, along with a print-out of her full itinerary.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s hysterical how I pack,\u201d she admits. \u201cBut I\u2019ve never had a bag mishandled.\u201d<\/p>\n For the full Conde Nast Traveler article, \u00a0click here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Watch this on Sunday night. <\/strong><\/span>It’s on National Geographic.<\/p>\n To watch the trailer, click here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Watch this in the theaters. <\/strong><\/span>This is from Men’s Journal:<\/em><\/p>\n Al Gore has a follow-up,\u2009An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power<\/i><\/a><\/i>, which opens in theaters nationwide on July 28. It’s a heartbreaking, frustrating, maddening, and inspiring look at both the current reality of climate change and its growing impact around the globe. The film chronicles Gore’s dogged, often thwarted efforts to make headway on the issue \u2014 culminating, like a sucker punch, with the election of \u2009\u200aDonald Trump.<\/p>\n You can read the full article here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Really impressive men clothes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Maybe it’s my antiquity? Maybe it’s because they’ve really improved their design. But LLBean men’s clothes fit well, feel great, wash well. And are cheaper than their competitors.<\/p>\n Cheaper shipping<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n UPS is hideously expensive. Several readers suggest I use PayPal UPS shipping, but that only works for stuff you sell on eBay.<\/p>\n UPS has a discount service you can sign up for. I did. And then I ran my package through again. Exact same price. $31.90 to ship 5lbs to my son in Portland, Oregon from me in New York City. Ridiculous.<\/p>\n Maybe it’s time to try FedEx Ground<\/strong><\/span>? I signed up for a FedEx discount program. I haven’t priced it yet. Click here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Looks like Amazon is jack of UPS. Look what you can now see in the west:<\/p>\n Don’t go snorkeling.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Two older friends had heart attacks while snorkeling in the islands.<\/p>\n Maybe this is another “Don’t Do Stupid.”<\/p>\n The French Tennis Open (Roland Garros) finals are this weekend.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Murray and Wawrinka are playing in a semi-final as I write this.<\/p>\n \u00a0Never lie to your Rabbi<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n At Friday night services, Morris goes to his friend Irving and says, “I need a favor. I’m sleeping with the Rabbi’s wife. Can you hold him in synagogue for an hour after services for me?”<\/p>\n Irving is not very fond of the idea, but being Morris’ lifelong friend, he reluctantly agrees.<\/p>\n After services, he strikes up a conversation with the Rabbi, asking him all sorts of stupid questions. Just to keep him occupied.<\/p>\n After some time the wise Rabbi becomes suspicious and asks, “Irving what are you really up to?”<\/p>\n Irving, filled with feelings of guilt and remorse confesses to the Rabbi, “I’m sorry, Rabbi. My friend is sleeping with your wife right now, so he asked me to keep you occupied.”<\/p>\n The Rabbi smiles, puts a brotherly hand on Irving’s shoulder and says, “You’d better hurry home, Irving. My wife died two years ago!”<\/p>\n![\"HellonEarth\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SwingforTheFences.jpg\")
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The other lines are … well … they’re the stocks your kids know and should have been in. Check them out: Amazon, Google, Netflix, Nvidia and Tesla.<\/p>\n
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\n+ iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF –<\/strong> This ETF seeks to track the investment results of large and mid-cap companies from developed market countries that use the Euro as their official currency (France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain having the most exposure). We recommend investors diversify internationally and currently have an overweight recommendation on the Eurozone. This ETF is a liquid, low cost way to get access to Eurozone equities. The current dividend yield is 2.56% and is up 19.7% total return year-to-date.<\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n