New York City commuters have lost so many AirPods over the summer that the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) is considering recording a new public service announcement aimed directly at AirPods owners. The potential PSA would ask commuters to refrain from taking their AirPods on or off when entering or exiting a train. The hope is that the PSA will reduce the number of times the MTA is forced to delay a train while its staff rescues one or more of the in-ear headphones.
MTA maintenance supervisor Steven Dluginski says the number of lost AirPods first spiked in March after Apple released the AirPods 2, but there’s been a considerable uptick this past summer, presumably due to the heat and humidity on subway platforms that makes “the ears and hands of New Yorkers pretty sweaty.” It’s true that during the summer months, stepping onto a subway platform is a disgusting, sauna-like experience. In an investigation, Gothamist found that some platforms can get as hot as 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s definitely steamy enough for those tiny earbuds to slip out of sweaty ears.
Up to 25 MTA workers comb the tracks for lost items every weekday. In the past, they retrieved items like baby pacifiers and dentures. Now, they find AirPods. The Wall Street Journal, says that on one particular Thursday, the MTA received 18 requests to fetch lost items, and six of them were for AirPods. “It’s job security, as far as we’re concerned,” Dluginski says.
MTA workers use an eight-foot pole with two rubber claws at the end to grab items, but retrieval can take a while. In July, one of commuter Ashley Mayer’s AirPods fell onto the tracks. She was told that it would take two hours to retrieve, and she had to be present for it. So she went on a DIY rescue mission and managed to retrieve her AirPod with some duct tape attached to the end of a broom. It may not have been the safest or most sanitary option, but it was certainly cheaper than paying $69 for a replacement AirPod.
Apple could easily solve a lot of headaches for both owners and transit authorities by redesigning its Bluetooth headphones to make them more customizable. Unlike almost every other pair of in-ear headphones, wireless or otherwise, AirPods don’t allow its owners to adjust the fit of the headphones with different sized in-ear buds and wingtips. Of course, it’s hard to see the company moving away from a one size fits all approach anytime soon. Until then, we could see other subway systems issue their own AirPod-related PSAs.
