But what happens after Lost and Found?

After Lost and Found, what happens to the stuff?

You wouldn’t believe it, but we get asked about what happens to all the stuff after Lost and Found almost as much as “Do you have my phone?”.

It’s a close-ish 2nd place.

So what does happen after Lost and Found?

We can only speak for the process at Liff Happens, but we have a good hunch everywhere else it’s a bit rough so you might want to go ask them.

Well once Lost and Found is closed down we’re actually still pretty hard at work trying to get owners reunited with their missing treasure. Everything Liff Happens or our partners find is immediately logged into the Liff App, which you may be familiar seeing on the festival’s website or mobile app, here’s Firefly’s.

Through our application owners can claim items, they’re verified by the Liff team, and we coordinate returning shipping. That takes care of most of the Lost and Found stuff (over 5,000 items returned so far woo woo).

Awareness through snail mail...

In tandem, the Liff team and partners are pushing out messages and info to raise awareness to get owners to search for their stuff. The Liff App does some pretty sweet things to help with this process, such as an awesome postcard tool that sends postcards (duh) to the address on IDs and lets them know um… we like… have your stuff.

When all is said and done...

But yes when all is said and done after Lost and Found has been exhausted there is usually items still left over (and our shame… so much shame). For Liff Happens that’s after an entire year (365 days folks)!

So what then?

Well it’s pretty simple really. All the items are sorted by item requirements with a specific focus on personal information, recycle or reuse potential (based on charity specifications), and item disposal requirements. 85-90% of the value has been returned to owners so most times you are left with a few bits of clothing, some sunglasses, and a left shoe.

But once sorted, the items are then funneled through the partners to take care of specific item requirements, think recycling partners or date wiping. Any remaining value or usable goes straight to the charities of our partners choosing. So for example, the Firefly Music Festival 2018 Charity Partner was the Code Purple of Kent County.

The Code Purple team supports and aids the homeless in Kent County including, opening shelters in harsh weather, food, clothing, employment & financial help, and so much more.

After Lost and Found, we are able to provide important usable items to support their mission along with money recovered from the remaining items, all which go directly to a great cause.

So to answer your real question...

Nah bro… you can’t just have any of this stuff.

But if you have questions about Lost and Found, what we do after Lost and Found is over, or just want to pick of awesome brains then drop us a line with the contact link below!