Originally Posted by studentff
If it were me and TSA were not going to replace my locks, I'd take the thing on an international trip and then mail it back to TSA from some extremely remote location via the most expensive express mail with an insured/estimated value of a couple thousand dollars (for customs purposes, and since I could claim ignorance as to the value of the device), postage due.
First, is it lawful in the US to destroy someone else's property? I mean, he was using TSA locks, in order to comply with the regulation mandating the use of such locks, so why can't he simply sue the TSA instead of dealing with them.
Regarding your suggestion, sending a DHL package from Beijing to the Western world, 2-days delivery, is 1040 yuans, or 126 dollars. Of course, I enquired for sending inexpensive items with no risk of breakage (clothes back home, as I didn't want my souvenirs to get lost in airport and wanted to keep them as carry on). Add to that:
- the fee for transporting a fragile item (padding, and so on, 12$)
- insurance fee for an unknown value...
- the custom fees on an electronic device
You could crank up the cost to around 250$...