# Never returning a lost item again



## DontGoToPaterson (Mar 15, 2019)

Drove 35 minutes to drop a phone off to a wealthy person thinking id get a tip. 

Got a thank you instead.

Next time any item is going out of the window


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## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)




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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Future tip: anything more than 5 or 10 minutes away, have them come to you and then claim the return fee anyway.


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## HPRohit (Apr 9, 2018)

DontGoToPaterson said:


> Drove 35 minutes to drop a phone off to a wealthy person thinking id get a tip.
> 
> Got a thank you instead.
> 
> Next time any item is going out of the window


Somethings just have to be learned the hard way.


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## Cvillegordo (Oct 30, 2019)

I have had nothing but headaches from returning items. Can't say that I will "never do it again" but I will certainly think twice.


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## Fusion_LUser (Jan 3, 2020)

DontGoToPaterson said:


> Drove 35 minutes to drop a phone off to a wealthy person thinking id get a tip.
> 
> Got a thank you instead.
> 
> Next time any item is going out of the window


I find tossing phones in to a garbage can when a porta-potty is not easily available a very satisfying option!


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## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

Fusion_LUser said:


> I find tossing phones in to a garbage can when a porta-potty is not easily available a very satisfying option!


When tossing into a porta-potty, remember to power the phone back up to reactivate the GPS so the owner can go diving for it.


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

I have good luck returning lost valuables. I always get the $15 and most often get a nice $20-50 cash


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

ANYTHING that I found in my car that didn't belong to me goes in the next and nearest mail box. 
I have driven away from many mailboxes with phones ringing away in them.

The only exception to that was a $100 bill I found once. That was mine -- sure of it.
Lucky that I found it.


.


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

Disgusted Driver said:


> Future tip: anything more than 5 or 10 minutes away, have them come to you and then claim the return fee anyway.


Only problem with that, is they can go right back in the app and 1 star you right outta a job.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

95% of the time i get compensated very nicely for cell phones. This falls under the heading of do your best and most likely you will get rewarded. If you dont try you are guranteed zero. I had a client leave their phone in my car a few weeks ago. they lived in florida so i fed exed the phone back to them. I fronted the 15 bucks,they promised to send me a check. and they did,for 200. sure they could have screwed me but I have very good instincts reading people,I felt it was a very high chance of getting paid and i was right. on other occasions when they are still in town i have received 40,60 100....so it works out most of the time. in the end if you dont get anything just submit for the return fee,it's a wash but it's not zero. when a customer takes care of me i never submit for the return fee.


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## ANT 7 (Oct 14, 2018)

I've always got the $15 fee plus a tip for the two times I returned a cell. Other stuff though I photograph and submit in the app, and wait for a response from Uber or the pax.

I'm not a nice guy, I want the $15.


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## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

tip. do the found item in the app. Have them come near(er) to you. Your time, their dime.


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## Coachman (Sep 22, 2015)

I've never had a problem with lost phones. I give them an option. You can come pick it up for free at the corner store near me. Or I can deliver it to you for $25 cash. Take your pick. If they don't like either option the phone goes in the garbage.


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## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

Coachman said:


> You can come pick it up for free at the corner store near me.


nope, I want at least the $15. NO way am I going to deliver it, tho. I don't do deliveries.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

you guys crack me up...you should write a book called I have a service job,but i dont extend service


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## rkozy (Apr 5, 2019)

Cvillegordo said:


> I have had nothing but headaches from returning items. Can't say that I will "never do it again" but I will certainly think twice.


Yep. The entitlement mentality of pax really kicks into high gear once they carelessly leave stuff behind. Unless the person really made a positive impression on me, all their lost stuff becomes my property. I'm tired of people acting like I should be happy to cover for their carelessness.


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

BestInDaWest said:


> you guys crack me up...you should write a book called I have a service job,but i dont extend service


We don’t offer happy endings either. Well…..can’t speak for you.


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

BestInDaWest said:


> 95% of the time i get compensated very nicely for cell phones. This falls under the heading of do your best and most likely you will get rewarded.



Perhaps in your market, but not in mine. People here almost never give you anything for your trouble. This was the case with taxicab drivers even before Travis Kalanick was sitting in the eighth grade Detention Hall in California.




BestInDaWest said:


> .you should write a book called I have a service job,but i dont extend service


They have a name for uncompensated service: slavery. Where I come from, that has been illegal since 1781.


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## Volvonaut (May 1, 2016)

Disgusted Driver said:


> Future tip: anything more than 5 or 10 minutes away, have them come to you and then claim the return fee anyway.


Recently made the MISTAKE of disclosing to Rohit my impatient very annoying rider came to me. Be sure not to word it that way. The thanks I get for handing out my home address phone # and dealing with round the clock 3 am 10 am messages questions and calls? He said no rupees today! And the rider pretended not to understand to bring cash. So make up something more inconvenient and never mention them coming to you. This was a rather fancy iPhone 12 skimming stone so I tried my bad. Our club goers are pretty extra rusty post-lockdown, out of practice lacking swagger. Hard to believe these are grown ass adults dropping their shit left and right, or pity their dilemma. Like it just started happening more than ever. I don’t mind telling any passenger who asks or brings up a story how hard drivers lose on returning anything, or telling Uber whatever story I feel like. Plus a lot of times it’s actually not even in the car but they emphatically assume it is because where else. I’ve had riders later apologize for their accusatory tone. Soon as I get a random call I know better than to pick up, and let the message if they can string two words together decide their fate.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Volvonaut said:


> Recently made the MISTAKE of disclosing to Rohit my impatient very annoying rider came to me. Be sure not to word it that way. The thanks I get for handing out my home address phone # and dealing with round the clock 3 am 10 am messages questions and calls? He said no rupees today! And the rider pretended not to understand to bring cash. So make up something more inconvenient and never mention them coming to you. This was a rather fancy iPhone 12 skimming stone so I tried my bad. Our club goers are pretty extra rusty post-lockdown, out of practice lacking swagger. Hard to believe these are grown ass adults dropping their shit left and right, or pity their dilemma. Like it just started happening more than ever. I don’t mind telling any passenger who asks or brings up a story how hard drivers lose on returning anything, or telling Uber whatever story I feel like. Plus a lot of times it’s actually not even in the car but they emphatically assume it is because where else. I’ve had riders later apologize for their accusatory tone. Soon as I get a random call I know better than to pick up, and let the message if they can string two words together decide their fate.


Yup, all I ever say is "I returned it". 

Honestly, if the pax isn't a walking sphincter and gives me a 10 or 20 for getting it back to them, I don't request the fee. Is they bust my chops, or Robb it's included in the price that I serve them them yes I get my fee. 

As far as stars go @Bork_Bork_Bork I usually have 2 or 3 I star ratings at any given time and I earn every one of them. You have to be awful to get deactivated for low ratings. I would start to worry if I had 15 or 20 of them.


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## Guido-TheKillerPimp (Jan 4, 2021)

SHalester said:


> tip. do the found item in the app. Have them come near(er) to you. Your time, their dime.


Tip. If the item belongs to @SHalester, run over first with the wheel of your choice before returning!


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## Cvillegordo (Oct 30, 2019)

One of my "most satisfying returned item" moments. Picked up a 30-something woman around August last year, short ride to a restaurant area. She's wearing a mask, but immediately begins coughing and constantly clearing her throat. I ask "are you currently sick?" and get a nasty "None of your f-ing business!" tirade in response. Ride was just ending, good riddance. I pull away, see her cheap, broken umbrella on the seat. HA! $15 returned item fee.


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

Bork_Bork_Bork said:


> Only problem with that, is they can go right back in the app and 1 star you right outta a job.


Ya know, I have always had a kind of a odd perspective on that kind of a situation.

I got a summer job once while in college selling cars. I sold Fords and used cars. It was a commission job. If I didn't sell something I didn't make any money. I did pretty well, I could make a couple grand a month (this was a long time ago when money had value).

The sales manager came up with a job for me. 
He wanted me to write down all the serial numbers on all the tires in the new car lot. Some kind of an audit they were going through. 
I thought about that for about 10 seconds and said, "No. I get paid to sell cars. If I'm not selling cars I'm not getting paid. Counting tires doesn't pay anything."
The jist was "Do what I tell you to do."

Three days later I had sold two cars and a pickup truck ... and had no tires counted. Boss fired me, but he had to pay me for my sales. And, then I went and got a job that allowed me to be paid for my time.

Why keep a 'job' that doesn't allow you even the CHANCE to make a buck?


.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I have had very good luck returning items. Heck I even got a decent tip returning a lipstick left in my car. She was so grateful when I contacted her. It was going to be a long day at a wedding and she was thrilled I returned it.


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## The super uber (May 23, 2020)

In the last 4.5 years I have had 23 cell phones left in the car. Currently the last three or four phones ...I contacted the owner told them they could come to my location to pick them up from my mailbox which is 500 ft from the main road. They don't seem to care. Phones are insured and they never come to pick them up and they claim that they lost their phone so they get a new phone.


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## The super uber (May 23, 2020)

UberBastid said:


> Ya know, I have always had a kind of a odd perspective on that kind of a situation.
> 
> I got a summer job once while in college selling cars. I sold Fords and used cars. It was a commission job. If I didn't sell something I didn't make any money. I did pretty well, I could make a couple grand a month (this was a long time ago when money had value).
> 
> ...


Sweet...smart choice.


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

While I sympathise with the chuckers, I do not do it myself. I turn it into the police or Department of For Hire Vehicles and get a receipt. It is usually quite the hassle for them to get back their belongings from Lost Property Division. This is a legal way to wreak vengeance upon them for daring to be careless. I have turned in to F*ub*a*r*, as well. The "Expert" there fills out a paper. He has let me photograph the paper with my telephone. The customer does have less hassle fetching the item from F*ub*a*r* or Gr*yft*.


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## May H. (Mar 20, 2018)

ANT 7 said:


> I've always got the $15 fee plus a tip for the two times I returned a cell. Other stuff though I photograph and submit in the app, and wait for a response from Uber or the pax.
> 
> I'm not a nice guy, I want the $15.


$15 isn’t sufficient for the return of an expensive device.


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## Kurt Halfyard (Dec 13, 2017)

In 4 years of driving I've had half a dozen cell phones, designer sunglasses, several vape pens. But driving the 'drunk shift' for a lot of those years (pre-Covid) I'm surprised there were not more things. 
I take the $15 return fee, and usually return the item when I'm back in their 'hood' 
I have not had much drama in this department, nor have I had to drive too many extra miles. I've claimed the $15 even when I was driving around the block to return a phone I spotted in the back seat. 

This was probably the most complicatd (and most profitable) phone return: 









Is This How To Handle A Lost Cell Phone?


This article is intended for discussion on the minutiae of a situation that is bound to happen (often) to any regular Uber/Lyft Driver. While it happened in Toronto, Canada, it's a pretty universal experience in any market, and this particular instance has been elaborated in full detail to...




www.uberpeople.net






And this lady, who threw her pizza and her phone at it me some sort of rage/meltdown, was probably the most dramatic, and resulted in a 15h deactivation on my part, and a ban from the platform on her part (and no return fee for the gangsta-standoff that resulted):









My First Account Deactivation [UBER]


I should have known better. That is the primary lesson here. It was slow last night and I (FOOLISHLY) accepted a 4.66 STAR passenger, lets call her "N" who happened to be nearby at 10:40pm, and was (via Uber Pro's time and direction info) doing a halfway decent length trip on UBER. I arrive in...




www.uberpeople.net


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

This morning I found a $180.00 pair of Costa sunglasses in my car. She hooked them in the seat pouch on the back of the drivers side front seat. Checked dash cam footage for the last few days, don't see where anyone got in with sunglasses on and out without sunglasses.

Sent a message to Uber telling them they were left Monday or Tuesday as I detailed my car Sunday and they were not there.

In 14 days they will go up for sale.


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## kingcorey321 (May 20, 2018)

Phones . The nicer ones have tracking systems . Besides the point.
What i do i throw it in the glove box. At the end of my shift If the idiot calls me through the app . 
I will tell idiot loser no car dui that he can come pick it up from my sisters house . Its really my house but they dont need to know that. I throw it into the mail box. There very lucky i do that. 
Update Update . I have not took a lyft ride in a year . A uber in about 17 months . 
Well its getting slow with door dash grub hub here. I Turned on lyft again updated some insurance so on . Its all ready to go for that slow day if i want to pick up jerks .


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

kingcorey321 said:


> Phones . The nicer ones have tracking systems . Besides the point.
> What i do i throw it in the glove box. At the end of my shift If the idiot calls me through the app .
> I will tell idiot loser no car dui that he can come pick it up from my sisters house . Its really my house but they dont need to know that. I throw it into the mail box. There very lucky i do that.
> Update Update . I have not took a lyft ride in a year . A uber in about 17 months .
> Well its getting slow with door dash grub hub here. I Turned on lyft again updated some insurance so on . Its all ready to go for that slow day if i want to pick up jerks .


ALL phones have a tracking system. It’s baked into the Os


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## Syn (Jun 30, 2017)

What's this "returning a lost item" that you speak of?


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## Daves0077 (Nov 21, 2020)

DontGoToPaterson said:


> Drove 35 minutes to drop a phone off to a wealthy person thinking id get a tip.
> 
> Got a thank you instead.
> 
> Next time any item is going out of the window


On my last phone I received $15 drop off fee plus $50 tip, college kid. The one before that was $15/$15. Just bad luck that one.


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## Escoman (Jun 28, 2016)

Disgusted Driver said:


> Future tip: anything more than 5 or 10 minutes away, have them come to you and then claim the return fee anyway.


I have them order a trip from me to their place.


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

I've got 2 full sets of house keys that my passengers don't seem to want back. I took the pic and sent it to uber. No response. Ok then.


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## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

Atom guy said:


> I took the pic and sent it to uber. No response. Ok then.


....that's really all that is required. No need for drama.


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

SHalester said:


> ....that's really all that is required. No need for drama.


They were both local passengers so it would be easy to return the items and get the $15 lol.


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## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

Atom guy said:


> They were both local passengers so it would be easy to return the items and get the $15 lol.


my rule is I do the 'found item' dance in the app. if the pax contacts me, they come to me as I'm not going to them. The $15 is to cover the voice call dance.


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## DontGoToPaterson (Mar 15, 2019)

Got another phone last night. Sold it on facebook for parts. Got 120$. Easy.


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## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)




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## Justadiver (Jun 1, 2021)

DontGoToPaterson said:


> Drove 35 minutes to drop a phone off to a wealthy person thinking id get a tip.
> 
> Got a thank you instead.
> 
> Next time any item is going out of the window


3 out of 4 time I get a tip.. if they're far away I just tell them what the fair is to get to them and I can do it. Or they can wait till I'm in the area. Usually ends up being very worth it especially if it's keys or a cell phone


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## Justadiver (Jun 1, 2021)

DontGoToPaterson said:


> Got another phone last night. Sold it on facebook for parts. Got 120$. Easy.


You got to be really careful with that do you have to do a true master reset. Otherwise it's tracked back to you. And I'm not just talking about taking it back to factory settings


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## DontGoToPaterson (Mar 15, 2019)

Justadiver said:


> You got to be really careful with that do you have to do a true master reset. Otherwise it's tracked back to you. And I'm not just talking about taking it back to factory settings


Nah sold it to dudes who take care of it and sell it. Its off my hands.


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