A lost and found Spreadsheet provides structure to your process. The addition of Google sheets creates a living document that the team can share and update live across several locations for a real-time centralized record.
Buuuuuuuut… most found property doesn’t fit that structure, and your team does a lot more work than they benefit.
Names are perfect for a spreadsheet; items with Identification Cards, Payment Cards, Wallets / Purses, so on fit in a spreadsheet is fantastic. An interaction will typically play out like so:
- A customer comes inquiring about a missing item.
- Staff asks for their name.
- A quick ⌘ F (or windows Crtl + F ), and boom, there’s the name.
- Or there isn’t, but that’s for another matter.
- Staff retrieves the item they’re on their way.
Now try it with a phone, keys, electronics, clothing, and on and on… The best you can do with a spreadsheet is a brief arbitrary description, subject to the staff’s discretion at the time, “Big, brownish, and has a dangly bit…”, which rarely, if ever, is helpful. This means you need to check the physical items anyway.
That’s just the found property side of the problem; the loss side gets much worse.