December 14, 2007
Subway's Lost and Fou . . ., Just Lost Department
A state office responsible for oversight of the MTA recently conducted a test of the NYC subway system's lost and found department and the results were not encouraging. Investigators turned over 26 items to the New York City Transit employees--both bus and subway workers, including keys, a purse, a Walkman, a watch, a jacket, and an electric shaver. Only three of the items eventually made their way to the Lost & Found office, which is located behind a metal door at the subway station across from Madison Square Garden on 34th St. and 8th Ave.
Inspector general Richard Kluger told The New York Times that the test was not meant as a sting operation, but rather an audit of a lost and found system that returns fewer than one in five recovered items to its original owner. He also emphasized that it's unclear whether the missing 23 items that were never processed were kept by transit employees, discarded, or simply misplaced. The audit did not include the Metro-North system, which operates its own Lost & Found room in Grand Central Terminal.
We find this an encouraging testament to New Yorkers' good spiritedness: the Times reports that contrary to what one would expect, wallets and purses containing cash are regularly turned in to NYC Transit's Lost Property Unit. Between April 2005 and March 2006, $59,050 in cash was turned over to the MTA. How much of that made its way back to the people that lost the money is unknown.
We wrote about the subway's interesting ads regarding forgotten items in 2005 that remind one to check one's belongings before leaving a train so one doesn't forget things like your dentures or prosthetic limbs. Of course, if you think you've found someone's lost property, be sure to turn it in right away. It could be a Lucky Bag and you will be busted for attempted theft.
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And if you try to return them yourself, you'll be arrested, as per Operation Lucky Bag.
ha- he's not clear what happened to the missing items? it's pretty hard to "misplace' something in one of those little booths. They should issue reciepts for returned items.
@ Tgirl
Now THAT'S a good idea. it'd establish a chain-of-custody thing. But unfortunately, the Lost and Found is such a low priority that they wouldn't bother implementing such a system.
This Lucky Bag thing really sucks. I find things all of the time in this city. A blackberry at Home Depot, credit cards on subway platforms, a celly on the sidewalk.
I always just pick the item up and pocket it, fully planning on seeking out the owner. I have a 100% success rate too.
I just don't trust the dude at the customer service desk at Home Depot. I feel it's a 60/40 split on wether the item will make it back to the owner.
One time, I returned a cell phone I found, the poor person had been robbed a few blocks away. They brought me a bottle of wine when they came to retrieve the phone. I thought that was really classy.
Op Lucky Bag sucks, it's backwards and a waste of time.
@thischarmingman, i do the same thing. i have found a few ATM cards on the subway, sidewalk, etc. i always pick it up and call the bank, and tell them i'll cut the card up and discard it.
yes operation lucky bag sucks!!!!
i lost my cell once and got it back by calling it. once i got a hold of the guy late at night, he actually drove from north brooklyn all the way to way upper manhattan to give it back. sure, i offered money (and actually upped the amount once he arrived), but, hell, i got a bargain! thanks, dude!!
a friend of mine lost her cell over the summer, and used her roommate's cell to call it. a guy picked up, and told her it would cost her $50 to get it back. she was apalled, but he said to meet her at the union sq whole foods and told her what he was wearing. i'm not sure if he realized that place is usually swarming with cops, so obviously she brought one over with her and got the phone for free, but moral of the story, there are still a lot of assholes in this city. you probably knew that though.
There was a woman in Yonkers who left her wallet on a train a few months ago. Inside were all sorts of important information and items like her passport. The bad samaritans who found it not only wanted the few hundred bucks already in the wallet, but an extra bounty for the woman to get her items back. She met them with cops in tow and the a-holes were arrested.
Dave,
Minor technical correction: The MTA didn't conduct this test. The Office of the Inspector General - MTA did. That office is an independent oversight agency designed to keep the MTA in check.
Thanks Ben. I made a note of it.
MTA employees gotta love their jobs- a token booth clerks gets the same bennies as a cop or firefighter, PLUS free goodies from Lost 'n Found!
Sweet! Time for a nap.
About ten or so years ago I once lost a 35 mm SLR camera on the LIRR. They found it and I collected it at the LIRR lost and found office at Penn Station. It had a photo of some LIRR office on the roll, but was none the worse for wear.