Sure, there are also ascetics and minimalists. But for the most part, wealthy people tend to carry too many things around with them. Through life in general and traveling in particular.
Sometimes people are forced to clean out, for example at the security checkpoint at the airport. Certain liquids and creams as well as sharp objects in hand luggage or in trouser pockets are not allowed on board the machines. There is widespread fear that the mineral water is actually liquid explosive or that individual passengers could be able to take control of the crew of an aircraft using just a nail file.
One can certainly argue about the sense and nonsense of such regulations from a safety perspective. When it comes to detoxifying one’s existence, it is definitely to be welcomed that people are getting rid of things that they have too much to own. A lot of it is primarily a burden, especially when traveling, where you tend to burden your spine with far too much stuff.
The downside of this small-scale cleaning at the security checkpoint is that tons of things that are still usable, be it filled beer cans or knitting, end up in the trash. This is unfortunate for the environment, expensive for the airports – and sometimes very annoying for passengers. And the more annoying the higher the material and, above all, the ideal value of the object from which one is forcibly expropriated.
At Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt am Main, there is the option of storing such possessions for a fee and collecting them again upon return. This has its price in individual cases, depending on how long you are on the road, but it seems quite practical.
The airport in Warsaw is now taking a different approach: In the future, you can send the forbidden pocket knife, your grandfather’s heirloom and thus an irreplaceable souvenir, or the anti-aging cream that costs several hundred euros by post. Directly from the security checkpoint to your home. Sounds good, it might also be cheaper than storing it at the airport. However, it has one or two catches. The least of these is that the service will only be offered within Poland, at least for now. Berliners, for example, who switch to the one in Warsaw due to the lack of their own functioning airport, would have to find an acquaintance in Słubice to whom they could address the package and pick it up occasionally when they had business in Köpenick anyway.
Above all, the procedure is cumbersome: If you want to use the service, you have to buy a ticket for fast-track inspection. Because the mailbox in question is only located at this counter. A security officer then checks the item to be sent, accompanies you to the post office, monitors packaging and delivery. At the same time you probably went home again to bring the pocket knife back to your apartment. Otherwise there will be no one there for the next few days. So no one who could accept the shipment that you sent yourself.
Stefan Fischer recently moved and experienced what it means to have too many things.
(Photo: Bernd Schifferdecker (illustration))