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Comment by noboostforyou | Hacker News Reader

Riding the bullet train from Kyoto to Osaka, accidentally left my iPhone in the seatback pocket. Didn't realize it until way later, but was able to use find my phone to see that it was still powered on and had made its way all the way to the end of the line. Went to the local train station's lost and found, they called the other station where the phone had been turned in. They shipped it to where we were staying. I can't imagine ever getting my iphone back like that in the US.

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I lost some clothes, sneakers in a duffel bag on my first ride with LIRR from NY Penn. Nothing valuable, but certainly essential. Was told off by the on-duty person to either show them a picture of the bag & items or get new ones lol.

My wife left her Kindle on a United Airlines flight, and two days of searching later, they found it and shipped it to us.

A friend left an iPad on a flight. That was shipped back to him as well, albeit with a dick drawn on the screen in sharpie.

You usually (there are some exceptions) don't hop off and on planes. With trains is the norm, so you simply cannot compare the anecdotes.

Fwiw I live in Barcelona, pickpocket capital of Europe due to misguided laws, and I always turn in lost property to the authorities. Over time I've turned in at least 10 ID cards, phones and a bunch of bags. It does happen :)

Of course I'd return a wallet as-is as well without dipping in the cash (though I would count it and register the amount on the form when submitting it to the authorities to avoid any 'mislaying') but I've never found one with any in it. Most of the 'lost property' I find here is just discarded by the pickpockets.

Also, when there's identifiable information in the wallet I would contact the person on Facebook or LinkedIn if possible.

PS the misguided part is that pickpockets get only a fine for thefts below 400€. Even if it's the 5000th time.

I had a similar thing happen to me in Belize. I left a bag with my $2k DSLR on a park bench and didn’t realize it until hours later. I went back and talked to a couple of the groundskeepers, someone had turned it in and they had it waiting for me, nothing missing.

Nark Rober - 200 wallets. https://youtu.be/jnL7sJYblGY

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