Fliers can mail banned items to themselves from airports

• Reprints

Travelers now don’t have to chuck any security agency prohibited items they might bring to O’Hare and Midway airports.

Mail Safe Express has installed automated mail system kiosks just beyond security checkpoints at O’Hare and Midway, allowing airline passengers to mail the items from the airports.

Many occasional fliers don’t know what’s not allowed on commercial flights, said Steve Kranyec, president of Houston-based Hold It Right There, which owns the service.

“Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people don’t realize they’re breaking the rules,” he said. “TSA has a very difficult job. This is a way to get through the process with a little less pain.”

The service had been at both Chicago airports on a trial basis from December 2006 through December 2007, when it logged 10,000 transactions at O’Hare and 3,000 at Midway. Mail Safe, which also operates in Tampa, Houston, Austin, Portland and Burbank airports, got the permanent spots after being the only company to bid with the city to provide the service.

Hold It Right There also is expanding the number self-serve storage machines it has at Cook County courthouses and is testing a system that stores the property of inmates.

“Prohibitive items are our game,” Kranyec said.