Will lost & found database ever update?

[M F Bonz]

This is a real good thread.

Inspires a bit of nostalgia for me.

…‘Stupid Tax Insurance’, charge a buck or two.


If they don’t have a barcode, it’s 20 bucks.

“Stupid tax” you say?
Gives Token a Piercing look…. Ooookkkkeeeyy… I’ll bite..

But who gets to hold the money this time? Not Bill again is it?
Smiles ~

But let’s be clear …it should not be part of the ticket price. Let the stupid pay for their own stupidity.
The rest of us shouldn’t be paying for their stupidity Insurance.
I have enough of my own stupidity to worry about. I don’t need any of theirs.

[dustybear]

I'm all for the stupid tax. But how would you arrange the stupid tax transfer when tickets are exchanged? I think this should either be an insurance people can buy at any time before the event or be included in the cost of the ticket for everyone.

Heck, why does it need to be called a tax anyways? If the ticket price jumped from 575 to 600 next year to cover additional port-a-potties or L&F expenses, would we even know? Just do it. Given how much this event costs, I don't envision there will be a public outrage for a buck increase in ticket price.

[M F Bonz]

Yes. It Has been a nostalgic fun thread.

It’s like picking on a three year old …it’s funny as hell but you really shouldn’t be doing it.

You have been a good sport bear I’ll leave you alone now.

[BBadger]

The BM org knows you're going to take shit in the desert, so they contract 1700 port-a-potties every year and pay to have them cleaned. Nowhere in your ticket there are notes about how your shit will be cleaned.

No, they have toilet facilities because they can't have a permitted event without such accommodations.

They know you're going to need ice, so they offer ice for a fee.

They know thousands of people are going to lose their items, so why not plan and budget for a paid and better structured L&F too?

Because if you subsidize something, you get more of it. You get people who expect that they can just be irresponsible with their belongings and compensate for that with some prepaid indulgence.

It also makes people feel entitled to some level of service, like an expectation that whatever they lose they will get back.

As for the entitlement comments...Do you know what entitlement is? "a situation in which you have the right to do or have something".

Here is another example of entitlement: Taking other people's belongings home, when some are clearly labeled and have contact info, sitting on them for weeks, and not responding to the owners inquiries until you feel like it. Not doing the job you signed up for. That's borderline theft.

Now you're trying to flip this onto the L&F that somehow they're victimizing you because they don't process and return litter to previous owners in an expedited manner?

Don't gaslight us with your faulty entitled logic.

No. Those objects were littered and abandoned by their former owners the moment the person left the playa without their possessions. Those objects should have been packed out by their former owners, but instead were irresponsibly lost and left behind.

It's MOOP. A mess that volunteers such as those in restoration has to put extra effort into cleaning up.

That any of that MOOP happens to be transported to some location for possible return to their former possessors is entirely an extra effort and benevolence that nobody is entitled to.

Leave the shit in the desert, dispose of it, don't offer a L&F at all, or if you're going to offer one, do it right.

Or how about if you've lost something, and you don't have the patience or humility to wait for the MOOP you lost gets processed, just close the browser window and stop pestering everyone? Vote with your feet.

Dropping off lost phones at a mobile carrier store is an even better option than keeping them in the garage until the second coming of Jesus or who knows when.

Or just buy a new phone if you can't wait? Nothing is forcing you to window-shop at the Lost and Found.

[Token]

[gaminwench]

Someone finds a phone in deep playa.
They pick it up, with every intention of taking it to L&F on-playa. They drop it in their pocket/camelbak/backpack.

Shiny mastodons happen. Maybe a flaming octopus.

MOOP picked up, forgotten.

Ten months later, when prepping for their next burn, they find the phone at the bottom of a dusty bin. "Oh, shit!"

None of this is on *them*; you dropped your phone. (don't carry your phone on the playa).

Not to be snide, but I've been out there twenty one years and never lost a damn thing.
Carabiners and pouches are a thing.

Oh, wait! I did leave my goblet at a camp on the far side of the playa one night; I wrote it off when I realized later in the night. It was outside my door the next morning. (how that happened, I will never know).

[M F Bonz]

So… I spend a lot of time hitting thrift stores. I pick up some nice bar glass sometimes.

I was waiting in line and I can hear behind me a three/four year old.
She is with her dad.

She is holding a small stuffed toy.
And she’s ready to go.
Let’s go daddy
Let’s go daddy
Let’s go daddy

Dad: we can put the toy back and go or we need to pay for it.

Girl: Let’s move.

Dad: we need to pay for the toy.

Girl: Let’s move.

Dad: we need to pay for the toy.

Girl: put’s toy on countertop at
Empty register. “Use this one” presses buttons on the card scanner.

Dad: we need to pay for the toy to the person.

Girl: “Use this one”

Dad: we need to pay for the toy to the person.

I hear behind me.
Girl: “here” tries to hand me the dollar.

Dad: we need to pay the lady

Girl: Let’s go daddy

Dad: we can put the toy back or we need to pay for it.

Girl: puts dollar next to toy at empty register.

girl: now?

Dad: we need to pay the lady

I could hear and see dad’s frustration ..but with tremendous patience. I was impressed.

We both knew she just didn’t understand.
I offered to let him go in front of me in line. But he said no ..she needs to learn patience.

She understood some of the concept of paying for an item ….she tried several of the things she had seen work before.
….But she just didn’t get the full concept.

She just wanted her toy and had no patience to wait.

Remind you of anyone?

[dustybear]

From BM L&F page:
How often is the database updated?

The Lost & Found database is updated continuously while on playa, and post-playa it usually is updated daily but during slow periods updated weekly. Keep checking back for your lost items. A lost and found line MAY be added just for participants with a Phone Claim Number.

4 weeks without a single update and counting.

Is BBadger a lost and found volunteer or someone who knows someone at L&F? Give us something to be grateful for other than blindly cheering for the non-existent BM L&F staff.

You don't seem to understand that the phone itself has little to no intrinsic value. It can be replaced (it already has in my case), but the information inside the phone (photos, videos, etc.) cannot.

[dustybear]

Remind you of anyone?

My friend, since you like stories, here is one for you:

Last day of the burn....
John (random burner): Hey, look what I found Joe... A phone!
Joe (another random burner): Shit, we should take it to L&F...
John: But it has a phone number on it and return information.
Joe: Nauh, L&F will log it, post photos, and find the owner.

Jim (L&F volunteer): I'm tired of these dumb asses who lose their shit. Then posts this on reddit:



Jim: At least we had a cool spot here volunteering. Let's pack these stupid phones and go back to SF.

1 week later
Jane (another L&F volunteer): Hey Jim, what are we going to do with these 1400 phones?
Jim: I don't know. I don't care right now. I have my own job to worry about.

2 weeks later
Jane: Hey Jim, there are a lot of emails from people who lost their items. Should we respond?
Jim: It's not my fault that they lost their shit. Let them learn a lesson.

3 weeks later
Jane: Hey Jim, have you seen this long thread on ePlaya about L&F?
Jim: Yeah, fuck it. Some entitled idiots.

4 weeks later
Jane: Hey Jim, some of these phones have contact numbers on them, should we call the owners?
Jim: Look, if you get back to these dumbasses, they'll think L&F is a free service and they will lose their shit again next year. We don't get paid to do this. Let them wait.

...to be continued.

Sounds like John should have called the owner when he found the phone.

[M F Bonz]

Snickers ~

Yep …I see you don’t understand that I painted you into a corner so I only need to use a single phrase with you.

“You can leave the toy here and go or you need to wait for it.””

Don’t bring a slingshot to a tank Battle.

[BBadger]

You don't seem to understand that the phone itself has little to no intrinsic value. It can be replaced (it already has in my case), but the information inside the phone (photos, videos, etc.) cannot.

The value the former possessor places on the lost/abandoned MOOP, or contents of said MOOP, is entirely beside the point and doesn't and shouldn't expedite its processing.

Anyway, the information on that phone isn't going to evaporate in the sun. It's just further proof that you're being unreasonably impatient.

[ThirtyThree]

Gratefully waiting for that email. Has anyone been contacted from L&F so that we have an idea if the re-connecting has started?

[neemaburn]

Gratefully waiting for that email. Has anyone been contacted from L&F so that we have an idea if the re-connecting has started?

Unfortunately, no response to any of my emails.

[ThirtyThree]

I got an email on Saturday saying a parcel from Burning Man had been dispatched to me. It arrived today and I'm in Ireland. Hopefully the rest of you have received your items or will be very soon I'd think

[Burnorburn]

I got an email on Saturday saying a parcel from Burning Man had been dispatched to me. It arrived today and I'm in Ireland. Hopefully the rest of you have received your items or will be very soon I'd think

Was your lost item listed on the burningman.org catalog? If not, did you contact them with details about your lost item?

I also received an email from L&F on Saturday in response to a form that I filled on their website. My lost item was not listed on the catalog. The response was generic and asked me to take a look at the items on the catalog again. But the catalog hasn't been updated since early September

Regardless, glad to have received a response. Any progress is good.

[Burnorburn]

I reached some closure today after I received a response from the L&F: my phone seems to be lost (or stolen/damaged) forever.

I was hoping that the L&F catalog is not quite updated yet. Unfortunately, what you see online is what they have. There aren't any more items pending upload to the catalog.

Now, why I think my phone was possibly stolen/damaged? I could track its location remotely on Samsung's website. It moved from BRC to SF on September 7, then went silent (factory reset?)

The phone had a contact number on the screen. Never received a call. It's also possible that the screen was cracked. I may never know.

[Elorrum]

I reached some closure today after I received a response from the L&F: my phone seems to be lost (or stolen/damaged) forever.

I was hoping that the L&F catalog is not quite updated yet. Unfortunately, what you see online is what they have. There aren't any more items pending upload to the catalog.

Now, why I think my phone was possibly stolen/damaged? I could track its location remotely on Samsung's website. It moved from BRC to SF on September 7, then went silent (factory reset?)

The phone had a contact number on the screen. Never received a call. It's also possible that the screen was cracked. I may never know.

There are stories of misplaced items being “discovered” later by folks unloading totes later in the year and finding things they forgot about and didn’t take to L&F.

From resto: “…the area of the playa we cover is over 3,600 acres. That’s 156 million square feet.” A lot of things were also pretty swiftly covered in dust and buried due to the windy conditions. If it got to SF, that is lucky, and there may still be a little bit of a chance. I’m sorry, and glad you are into acceptance.