Mail banned items home from the airport

Maybe you’ve been there: You get to the front of the airport security line and realize you forgot to transfer that very nice bottle of wine or fancy jar of face cream out of your carry-on and into your checked luggage.

In most cases, security won’t care how much you spent on the item, they’re still going to confiscate and add it to the giant pile of water bottles, nail clippers, and other banned items. But at a growing number of airports, there’s an alternative.

Kiosks where you can send banned items safely home have been become a more common sight near security checkpoints in recent years. Two types that you’re likely to run across are CheckPoint Mailers, available at 28 locations, and Mail Safe Express stations, with kiosks at six U.S. airports.

Some airports have their own programs in place. For instance, you’ll find Send It Home kiosks at Seattle-Tacoma International, and Daytona Beach International runs a free mail-back program for passengers. Kiosks are often marked on airport maps. If in doubt, ask at security to see if they offer a mail-back service.

The cost ranges from $7 to $12, which means not everyone will be rushing to spare their sodas and shampoo, but it does give passengers an alternative for items worth the effort. If the liquid bans are here to stay, it seems only right that mail-back options should become standard at airports around the country.

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