Americans love their AirPods. They also lose them. A lot of them. The Wall Street Journal looked at how New York deals with the issue.
“They’re tiny. They’re hard to find,” said Steven Dluginski, an MTA maintenance supervisor. Given the darkened tracks where they drop, he said, “the only saving grace is that they’re white.” 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.
Check It Out: How New York Tries to Recover Lost AirPods
Charlotte:
Sadly, this article is behind a paywall.
That said, while the NY subway and the London tube are very different beasts, I shouldn’t want to wear EarPods on either of them, particularly during rush hour where the likelihood of being jostled and having one or more pods dislodged and trod upon would be highest.
I’d be curious as to the success rate, if any, in returning said lost EarPods to their respective owners, and failing that, what becomes of an orphaned EarPod.