The Transportation Security Administration is collaborating with airports in a program that allows businesses to place advertisements on bins used to hold passengers’ carry-on items during screening.
The one-year pilot program allows airports to partner with businesses, which provide colorful bins and other aesthetically pleasing equipment used in the screening process.
“The program provides TSA with equipment free of charge,” said agency spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. “In exchange for allowing bin advertisements, TSA will be provided equipment upgrades.”
The program, known as the SecureTray System, has been implemented at 11 airports around the country, including Richmond. It runs through next May, Kudwa said.
Joe Ambrefe, president of SecurityPoint, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based company that provides the bins used in the program, said the goal of the program is to improve customer service during screening, while providing businesses the opportunity to reach customers in an untraditional setting.
“It’s a process improvement,” he said. “It helps the TSA with not having to procure [bins and other] materials. Airports benefit because aesthetically it’s more appealing. Instead of having gray industrial equipment, it’s clean and bright. Folks get through a little more quickly.”
The company that most recently joined the SecureTray System program is Zappos.com, an online footwear retailer. Advertisements for Zappos will be placed on bins in Reno-Tahoe, Nev., and Chattanooga, Tenn., airports, the company said in a statement Monday.
