I’m excited about seeing my sister, who’s flying in from Northern California for the holidays.

Since I live closest to the airport, the duty of picking her up falls on me. But the truth is, I don’t mind picking people up from the airport. I pick up families that are flying in as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. And I pick up friends or take them when they’re flying out.

And when I’m talking with them at the luggage carousel, I always wonder why you don’t hear about more suitcases being stolen.

In the latest DeNiro movie, he has an accident and is rushed off the plane in an ambulance. The next scene shows a lone suitcase with nobody around to pick it up. It adds a nice powerful punch to the medical emergency we just witnessed.

I don’t travel a lot, but have always been pleasantly surprised by my suitcases arriving with no problems.

When I flew to a friends wedding in Colorado, a bridesmaid lost a suitcase. It had her dress for the wedding. That’s the only person I know that has lost a piece of luggage.

In Phoenix a month ago, the police found piles of stolen airport bags at a couples home. They’re suspected of stealing 1,000 pieces of luggage from baggage claim.

You know those stories that gross you out, when police go through a house that has 50 cats? Well, this is was one of those stories you could just read and laugh about, without the icky factor.

Cops tried walking through the house, climbing over stolen bags strewn throughout.

The guy is 61 and the woman 38. And they were discovered in a way you love to hear. After stealing a suitcase and being arrested, the police decided to put some surveillance on him. Not sure why the guy didn’t realize, after being caught, it would be a good time to get rid of the thousands that were in his home.

Apparently, the Phoenix airport stopped checking passengers’ baggage claim tickets 10 years ago, as a cost-cutting move.

So, we can all take our shoes off and have our liquids confiscated. We just can’t check people for stealing luggage. Nice.

For some reason, when a story like this breaks, I always think about the businesses that are happy by the news. For example, every other airport. Or, the postal service. You see, the letter carriers have it tough.

They might have a shooting every 10 years and because of that, a phrase like “going postal” comes out. Yet there are shootings at other businesses, too.

And every five years, you hear about a letter carrier that has bags and bags of stolen mail at their home, car trunk, or buried in their backyard.

I’d love to get a mail man that steals my catalogs and Pennysavers. Try going away for a few days in December and those things have just piled up in the mailbox.

Now that I think about it…I haven’t received a free sample in the mail in over five years. Hmmmmmm…