They're Doing What With Our Luggage??

Scottsboro Ala. has a nickname of "the lost luggage capital of the world" because of their Unclaimed Baggage Center. Mishandled and unclaimed baggage ends up there, the contents sold off to bargain hunters who travel to visit the centre.

What I want to know is how the baggage gets there in the first place. Are there that many people who can travel with so many pieces of baggage that they don't claim one when it's lost? Have they forgotten about it?

The only other alternative is that the airlines are not being as thorough as necessary in finding the lost bags. Do NONE of the bags have ID tags? Is there no system in place to hold and back track the path of bags, no record of physical inventory to match up lost bags with descriptions from those filing claims?

This leads me to wonder if the airlines get a cut of the eventual resale of the baggage contents.

Seriously, I don't get it. Lost means GONE, not on the way to some claim centre with stocked shelves and priced contents, complete with a dry cleaning centre for all of the clothes. If they have the luggage to sell, then it's not lost. It's stolen.

In some countries, "lost" luggage eventually goes to charity. This, at least, is not a profit mongering scheme but a silver lining to an unfortunate mishap. However when something that is "lost" is eventually re-sold, I get a little suspicious.