The AirPods are small and light, which is great for actually using them. But it also makes them easy to lose, which the MTA in New York City sees as a major issue these days.
The Wall Street Journal has the report this week, which shares a variety of stories from people who have lost their truly wireless headphones while taking the subway. What’s more, and even better, are the lengths some people will go to to get their AirPods back.
The issue has become such a big deal that the MTA is considering launching a general public service announcement to let AirPods owners know they probably shouldn’t take off or put in their AirPods while they are entering or exiting the subway. To be fair, it’s not like AirPods are the only things people lose while riding the subway in New York, but the truly wireless headphones are a growing number of the total items:
AirPod rescues from New York City subway tracks ramped up in March, when Apple released a new version, Mr. Dluginski said. This summer has been the worst, possibly because the heat and humidity on subway platforms makes the ears and hands of New Yorkers pretty sweaty, he guessed.
Transit workers use a pole that extends to about 8 feet and has two rubber cups on the end that can be squeezed together to grab small objects. The “picker-upper thing,” Mr. Dluginski called it.
Around noon on a recent Thursday, Mr. Dluginski’s team had received 18 requests to fetch lost items. Six were for AirPods. “It’s job security, as far as we’re concerned,” the maintenance boss said.
One of the crazier stories include a broom and some duct tape. Yes, a passenger by the name of Ashley actually live-tweeted her adventure in trying to save her AirPod that had fallen down on the tracks. She waited for a lull between trains, then used the broom and duct tape she purchased to nab the lost headphone.
Here’s a picture of what the successful rescue looked like, taken from Ashley’s Twitter thread which you can read here.
He’s filthy but he’s mine (again)!
— Ashley Mayer (@ashleymayer) July 11, 2019
Gene Munster, the Apple analyst, has actually lost a lot of AirPods. 10 pairs!
Apple does provide an option to replace a single AirPod if necessary. You will need to fork over $69 for that individual headphone, though.
Have you, or anyone you know, ever lost an AirPod, or, worse, both AirPods? If so, tell us the story down in the comments.