Ever wondered what happens to your clothing donation when you drop it off at a charity like the Red Cross? One TikTok user decided to find out by hiding an AirTag tracker inside a pair of sneakers before donating them to a Red Cross bin. He then used the Find My app to track the sneakers’ journey.
In a viral video shared by MacMagazine, TikTok user Moe.Ha demonstrated how he tracked the sneakers he donated to a Red Cross bin in Munich, Germany. Over the course of five days and several border crossings, the sneakers ended up in a second-hand shop in Bosnia and Herzegovina, nearly 800 km away from Munich.
According to his Find My app, the sneakers made stops in Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia before reaching the Bosnian resale store, where they were put up for sale for about 10 euros. Moe.Ha even went to the shop, found the sneakers on the shelf, and bought them back.
When he asked the shop employee where the sneakers came from, she explained that her boss, who lives in Germany, had brought them to the store.
While this might seem like a scam at first, the Red Cross assures that it’s a common occurrence due to the organization’s handling of donated items. The German Red Cross website explains their sorting process, which involves distributing suitable items to thrift shops and selling surplus items to recycling companies.
So, while it may be surprising to see your donated sneakers end up in a thrift store far away, it’s all part of the Red Cross’s system. And it’s not the first time an AirTag has been used to uncover questionable practices, as seen in a case involving a Houston woman tracking her city’s plastic recycling program.
The use of AirTags to track donations and recycling efforts sheds light on how items move through the system and where they ultimately end up. It’s a fascinating look at the journey of donated goods and how technology can reveal the behind-the-scenes of charitable organizations.
