Realizing that you’ve left something precious in a hired car — a bag, a phone, a clarinet — is not a great feeling. But in order to turn that frown upside down and have your stuff returned to you, you’ll have to pay Uber $15 in some cities. [More]
lost and found
Apple Granted Patent For Crowdsourced Bluetooth Lost And Found
By 10.25.16
Imagine this: you run some errands after work, and don’t realize until after you get home that you left your umbrella… somewhere between work and home. Instead of checking every store’s lost and found, you just open up an app on your phone and report the umbrella, which has a low-energy Bluetooth tag on it, missing. The app responds with the approximate location of your item, and the last time it was spotted there. [More]
Baby Book From Lost Luggage Mysteriously Reappears On Family’s Doorstep 3 Months Later
By 4.19.16
When a family from near Los Angeles traveled with their toddler to visit family on the other side of the country, they gate-checked a carry-on suitcase that contained family treasures, including their wedding album and their daughter’s baby book. Somewhere during the flight, the bag went missing or was stolen. They assumed that the albums were gone permanently, but then a mysterious car dropped the book on their doorstep and drove away. [More]
Update: United Still Looking For iPad They Shipped Back To Customer
By 1.15.16
You might remember Denise, who left her iPad behind on a United plane, getting it back after Consumerist intervened and a wonderful United employee helped her. Then she received an interesting e-mail, presumably reading it on her iPad. The airline wanted to send an update about the status of her lost item claim: they were “still searching” for it. [More]
Applebee’s Server Returns $32,000 In Cash Family Accidentally Left On The Table
By 12.18.15
If you work in a restaurant, finding a large amount of cash on the table might be one of those moments where you think you’ve just lucked out and scored a huge tip from some abnormally generous person, and you figure the money is yours to keep. Or, if you’re like one Applebee’s server who recently discovered $32,000 left behind, you turn it in and save the day. [More]
18-Year-Old Tracks Lost Smartphone Using GPS, Is Shot To Death
By 6.17.15
Authorities still aren’t quite sure what happened in a case in London, Ontario, Canada, where an 18-year-old man set out to find his missing smartphone using GPS and ended up shot to death. He tracked his phone remotely, and followed it to an address in the city of London. After a confrontation with three men in a car, he was shot and killed. [More]
Even $100,000 Diamond Encrusted Watches Can End Up At The TSA Lost & Found
By 5.8.15
We can’t help but be curious about the person who managed to forget he or she was wearing a $100,000 diamond encrusted Cartier watch and walk away from a security checkpoint that much lighter. Yes, that is a thing that can happen. [TSA on Instagram] [More]
Ryanair Flight Attendant Lists Passenger’s Camera On eBay, Gets Caught
By 4.16.15
When we leave something behind on a plane, we like to believe that it is not going home with the cabin crew to be immediately listed on eBay. Yet that’s exactly what one attendant for Irish discount carrier Ryanair is accused of doing. He was caught at his second job when the owner of a camera up for sale was browsing eBay looking for a replacement. [More]
If You Dropped Your Cocaine At This Super Dollar, You’re Not Getting It Back
By 2.18.15
Usually, if you drop something while shopping and another shopper doesn’t walk off with it, it ends up in the store’s lost and found. That is not the case for an item that someone dropped at a Super Dollar discount grocery store in Virginia, a bag of cocaine. Local cops have put a call out in case the owner wants to reveal himself or herself and…definitely not get their coke back. [More]
Man Who Lost His Class Ring Surfing Gets It Back 35 Years Later From A Treasure Hunter
By 1.8.15
Usually the kind of stuff treasure hunters armed with metal detectors pick up off the beach is of the loose change and worthless crap variety. But every now and again, something valuable shows up just begging to be reunited with its long lost owner. Such was the lucky case for a man who lost his gold class ring 35 years ago. [More]
Traveler Gets Luggage Back From Airport’s Lost & Found 20 Years After Plane Trip
By 12.18.14
We’ve all been there — the airline has lost your luggage and it’s probably never going to show up again. But maybe if you wait 20 years, your missing property will find its way back to you. [More]
Cop Guesses Woman’s iPad Password, Uses Find My iPhone App To Locate Woman Missing After Car Crash
By 10.16.14
In possibly one of the only instances where you might be lucky to have chosen an easily guessed password, a woman stuck for 13 hours after her car flipped over was finally located after a police officer was able to get into her iPad and activate the woman’s Find My iPhone app. [More]
Savings Bonds Stashed In Attic, Found After Hurricane Sandy
By 8.13.14
Almost two years ago, Hurricane Sandy caused flooding and property damage in areas that aren’t accustomed to dealing with heavy storms. While one woman in Massachusetts was cleaning up damage from that storm, she discovered some hidden treasure in an attic crawlspace: savings bonds that were more than 30 years old and had been stashed there for safekeeping. The bonds were safe, but they didn’t belong to her. Who did they belong to? [More]
Amazon Still Not Interested In Reuniting Lost Kindles With Owners
By 7.24.14
Two years ago, we tried to reunite a Kindle left behind on a plane with its owner, and we didn’t succeed. The reader who found it didn’t trust the airport lost and found, and Amazon wasn’t any help. Even though Amazon knows full well who each Kindle belongs to, with their e-mail address and even their credit cards and billing addresses. That doesn’t matter, though. When Steve called about a Kindle that he found, Amazon told him to throw it away. [More]
The Internet Was Invented To Reunite Children With Lost Stuffed Animals
By 12.16.13
The invention of the Internet has created some jobs, rendered others obsolete, and changed all of our lives. It has also made things possible that we couldn’t imagine before an interconnected world. Like the little girl who lost her stuffed lion, but found him again…thanks to Twitter. [More]
I Left My Phone At Safeway, Then Things Got Weird
By 7.22.13
Rachael absent-mindedly left her phone at Safeway, a grocery store chain. Leaving things behind is a normal thing: it happens to everyone, even if you won’t admit it. What isn’t normal is what happened between Rachael and Safeway in the days afterward. She was lucky that no other customers wandered off with her phone, and that the store held on to it for her in their safe. At least, that’s what they said part of the time. [More]
FitBit Wants Device I Found Back, Will Return It To Owner
By 3.26.13
We’ve covered the FitBit, a tiny movement tracker that syncs to computers and smartphones, on the site in the past, noting the company’s generous replacement policy. Fitbits have been dunked and lost, and the company still replaced them. But we’ve never heard of anything quite like what David heard back when he turned in a FitBit that he found. [More]
Southwest Airlines Mails Lost Phone, Provides Outstanding Service And Terrible Poetry
By 3.6.13
Jane’s husband left his mobile phone behind on a Southwest Airlines plane. Oh, no! How sad! He had every reason to expect not to see it again, but someone turned it in to Lost and Found. The kind souls at Southwest mailed it back to him, enclosing a poem. We’re not saying that it was a good poem, but it’s certainly a thoughtful one. [More]
