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Lost Post

 
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Loosing one's keys can be a stressful experiance. The process of trying to find them can be long and involved, and, if unsucsessful eventually leads to trips to the shoe repairing shop to have new keys cut (why this strange juxtaposition of services, I've never been able to figure).

Part of the problem lies in trying to work out where you keys, (or wallet, or pass card etc) might have been handed in by an honest member of the public. Thoughts race, you try random shops near where you were when you thought you lost them, you wonder; 'If it was me, and I found a big bunch of keys, would I go out of my way to take them to the police station, or would I just ignore them.'

A solution to this problem I lay out here; if small lost property is found (This won't work for coats, hats, umbrellas or paddle steamers, as will become evident) the finder should know that the course of action is to post it in the nearest mail box. This is a low involvement activity, it allows the finder to feel good about themselves without going far out of their way. When the mail is next collected the item is taken to the town's main post office. The first avenue for the searching party to inspect is said postal establishment, where, inorder to regain the property, they will have pay the correct postage. This would work well I think because the heavier something is, the less likely one is to loose it.

Catergory suggestions gratefully recieved

Zircon, Feb 25 2003

War Amps Key Tag service http://www.waramps.ca/keytag/keytags.html
Very baked, for keys anyway. [waugsqueke, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

its a full time job on London Transport. http://www.thetube....t/metro/02/0203/07/
[po, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]


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Annotation:







       how do you prove they are your keys?
po, Feb 25 2003
  

       What a simple, elegant idea. Croissant.
8th of 7, Feb 25 2003
  

       Attach one of those little plastic tags to your keys, and write your name and address on it. Then whoever finds them can bung them in the nearest post box, and your friendly local postal service can deliver them to your door.
sild, Feb 25 2003
  

       Attach one of those little plastic tags to your keys, and write your name and address on it. Then whoever finds them can rob your house without the inconvenience of breaking in.
angel, Feb 25 2003
  

       [po] As with reclemation of anything from any where you would have to be able to describe the item. This would probably be more secure than the handing it in to a shop approach because over time the post office employees would get used to handling lots of lost stuff and they would be more strict about getting you to describe your items.   

       [8th] oo ta!   

       [sild] I can see a major problem with that, it involves nasty neferious underhanded types knowing the address of your house and having a key to it too!   

       [angel] they don't call you quick-type McAngel for nothing do they?
Zircon, Feb 25 2003
  

       The War Amps have been doing this for ages. See link.
waugsqueke, Feb 25 2003
  

       Keychain-cards which are diminutive cousins of their credit-card-sized supermarket club, um, cards serve *heh* twofold porpoise - **not only** is it for "discounts" but keyring (with mini-card, duh) can be returned to any store location, whereupon the loser is contacted by an eerie ringing sound emanating from home which they're locked out of, and somehow or another s/he trudges through wind, fog, snails, gloom of night to retrieve aforementioned keys. <gasp><wheeze></wheeze></gasp>
thumbwax, Feb 25 2003
  

       [waugs] A little baked for keys in Canada, but my system beats that system in that loser/loosee reunification can happen quicker. I would expect the keys to arrive at the local post office with in a 12-24 hour period of the posting, where as with the War Amps system I'm guessing two full postal journeys, gonna be at least 3-4 days from posting.
Zircon, Feb 25 2003
  

       The War Amps also uses a courier system. The finder calls a number on the key tag. War Amps sends a courier by to pick them up and deliver them to you. You could have your keys back in a couple of hours or less, potentially.
waugsqueke, Feb 25 2003
  

       I'm insulted that people thought I wasn't kidding.
sild, Feb 25 2003
  

       Why is called "War Amps?" What a strange name.
snarfyguy, Feb 25 2003
  

       War Amputees charity / benefit association.
angel, Feb 25 2003
  

       Ah, I see. Was picturing some kind of armored guitar amp.
snarfyguy, Feb 25 2003
  

       Has anyone seen my post? I know I put it somewhere on this site.
Worldgineer, Feb 25 2003
  


 

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