Airport Security Spurs Bag Sales
Recently I flew from New York to Hamburg, Germany, with a short layover in London’s Heathrow airport. Since I was going only for a couple of days, I had no checked-in luggage; even so, British regulations require that anyone transferring flights has to go through security again, so I got in the long line with everyone else.
As I approached the X-ray machine, I saw a sign indicating that all liquid and gel toiletries had to be packed in a re-sealable, clear plastic bag no larger than 8 inches square.
Ever since last August, when authorities in the U.K., U.S. and elsewhere began restricting passengers’ ability to take liquids aboard planes, sales of plastic bags have seen a notable rise.
Last winter, at least two plastic bag manufacturers handed out free bags in airports during peak holiday travel times, just to remind travelers of the virtues of their wares.
Moreover, in February of this year, Hefty – a division of Pactiv Corporation in Lake Forest, Ill. – began selling a flat-pack of 7 Hefty quart-sized OneZip bags, specifically labeled as meeting security guidelines.
Lisa Foss from Pactiv’s media relations department declined to provide specific sales figures for the travel bags, but said that sales have been “strong and exceeding expectations.” She added that sales of the company’s normal quart-sized bags have also increased since last fall. Shares of Pactiv have risen about $4, to $32.40, since the U.S. restrictions were introduced last September.
David Kellis from Clorox said that prior to the new regulations, the quart-sized bag was not one of the brand’s biggest sellers (consumers using bags at home appear to prefer the larger gallon-sized).
According to Clorox’s most recent quarterly report, sales of the specialty group were up 7 percent, to $499 million, in the first three months of 2007 compared to the previous year. Clorox shares have also risen slightly since the September restrictions.
Photo by Infographic.
Dianne Lorang on July 6th, 2007 10:56 am
I thought airport security would go one further and require all carry on bags to be clear. Some department stores, corporations, and even schools have long required their employees/students to have clear handbags, brief cases, and backpacks. So I immediately registered a domain name, clearcarryons.com, thinking I could either start a business or sell the domain name. So far, though, nothing has happened except the requirement for quart-sized plastic bags, even though so much time is spent searching bags. Now this domain name is up for renewal and I have to decide what to do with it. I was hoping to sell it for a small profit, but the market doesn’t look good. For example, this was the only place I could find online except TSA’s page that really said anything about money being made on the new airport security requirements. Any takers?
simon cheong kah kit on July 7th, 2007 7:07 am
we are one of the company to provide the security sealing the tapes for the airport security plastic bag.
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