Stop Dropping IDs in the Mail - seriously it's a burden on the USPS

The USPS shouldn’t be trusted! Hence shipping insurance…

Where is this coming from?

I’m a lost & found expert, you’re welcome… After managing L&F at more than 70 major festivals and events, along with several arenas and colleges, we always get the question/demand/statement with an upwards inflection of well, “can’t you just drop my ID in the mail.”

This myth plagues us on a regular basis and typically results in a hair tearing out frustration scream of “Are you nuts?!??!?!”

Where did this start?

We went back to try and find out why anyone could want this. The best source we’ve found is a Lifehacker Article and a Reddit Thread both from 2013. — Ah 2013, a wonderful time before everything was being hacked and no one had a care in the world about information security —

Funny enough, in that Reddit Thread a relative expert immediately shoots down the idea.

Well what should we do instead? Honestly, not Facebook either. It gets a little creepy and no matter the good intentions it ends up failing far more than it succeeds. Now this is a tricky problem (which happens to be why Liff Happens has some awesome loss tools to tackle this very problem… but I digress ;-). If you found the owner and they want it back then one of you should pony up some shipping money, wrap the ID in paper, and send it out in an envelope. Easy. (Note: If you’re a Liff Happens’ consumer, this can actually happen automatically with registered items through digital registration and the brand new property tags) If you don’t IMMEDIATELY find the owner or the item is more than just an ID you need to turn it in! That’s where these people are looking for their stuff. Holding onto items, even out of the best intentions, leads to higher failure in Lost & Found than anything else. We are amazing at it, but even we can’t return what we don’t get (actually we can and have, but that’s for another time).

Ya… but why should we trust you?

Other than being ridiculously good at it. Trusting Liff Happens is easy since we actively invite you to look over our Lost & Found shoulder. For example: Lost Lands Music Festival Lost & Found

We are taking this transparency even further by building connections so the “finder” will be notified and, optionally, can connect to the “loser” when an item is returned. Is that trustworthy enough?

Let us know by shooting us an email, yelling on Twitter or check out the Liff Tools below: