For the forgetful, scatterbrained and absent-minded, there’s a new lost-and-found service at a familiar online destination that many use to search for anything from real estate to used couches.
Craigslist.com, a community-specific online service that features classified advertisements for jobs, housing, personals and different forums, has added a new section to its increasingly popular site aimed at returning lost items to their rightful owners.
Craig Newmark, who created the Craigslist in 1995 around San Francisco as a method of informing his friends about upcoming events, said in an email that the lost-and-found service was founded on user suggestions.
There are approximately 20 new posts each day in the lost and found listing, and users can add postings on the site about their positive experiences, although the success rate is unknown, he said.
“We don’t know how often it works since we don’t bug people for reports,” Newmark said. “Anecdotally, it appears to work pretty well.”
Surely, with people listing items as expensive as iPods or Gucci wallets, altruism is not dead, and Newmark said reception to the service has been positive.
“It’s been very well accepted, since it really helps with a real need,” Newmark said. “It’s fairly popular, [but] not as much as housing, jobs, for sale or personals.”
As is the case any online listing, there are natural concerns that people will make fraudulent claims, but Newmark said he has not yet heard any complaints.
“I’ve never heard of a problem with the category of false claims,” Newmark said. “People are pretty good at smelling out problems.”
Susan McDonald, who found jewelry outside of a summer rental home, said she decided to post the items on Craigslist after she first heard about the online service in a Cape Cod Times article.
“I thought it was worth a try, but is really just a shot in the dark,” McDonald said. “I have not had a response, although I may keep posting it as it expires.”
Chris Leshock, whose daughter found a cell phone, tried to find the owner by calling numbers programmed into the phone until the battery died, and said she decided to list the phone on Craigslist after exhausting possible options.
“I think my husband suggested it,” Leshock said. “We just knew it to be one of those all-encompassing community-type sites. We tried to sell a couch on it once.”
The free posting on Craigslist is only valid for 30 days, but people can choose to repost their lost or found items.