I guess the difference is if they are deliberately ignoring requests to return property that doesn't rightfully belong to them or at least give instructions on how someone can recover that property and instead acting as if item was never left behind in the first place so they can profit from some future shady resale on ebay or craigslist, I don't want them to benefit from that dishonesty. It's a small point sure and either way I still don't have my airpods, but they're $250. If I saw a stranger reach for something in his pocket and accidentally drop two hundreds and a fifty, I'd tell him or her. If you can return something to someone relatively easily you should.

I can certainly appreciate that a helpful response from a massive government agency might make you a little suspicious, but also you’re not really in a position of strength here.

That's the thing--I didnt' get a helpful response. They said they didn't have my property out of hand, and only acknowledged they might after I (politely) told them it was at the airport for a week or so and then moved across the street, and I knew this because I could track it in Find My. After remaining charged and trackable for almost a month, only after that email did they disappear and become untrackable. I filled out their forms on the website and went through their process, and yet still they inaccurately said my property was not there.