Random observation. I now know why certain metal detectors go crazy when I try to go through them.....

My Citi Exec card got hacked over the weekend and I called the fraud alert desk to alert them. They reversed the charges and sent me out a new card on Wednesday (didn't get here until Friday owing to snow in MEM and WAS).

Got the new card and proceeded to cut up the old card. Couldn't. I actually broke my cheapie scissors doing it.

Turns out there is a nice piece of tinplate steel in the middle of that credit card that gives it weight and serves as a stiffener. So, if you go through a magnetometer at the airport or in a courthouse and you don't take your wallet out, that piece of tinplate may be enough to set off the detector.

The more you know........