Get Lost…Get Found Print E-mail
Written by Pat Meier-Johnson   
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Lost Luggage Sculpture, Rotterdam

We're off to CES, the  huge Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where we will be reporting on the latest apps and gizmos of interest to travelers. Every year the good folks who stage the event give journos a tote bag, a rollaround or a backpack. We have started a collection of them and they do come in handy. Only problem is, though adorned and festooned with all kinds of company logos, they all look alike. That means that our carefully collected company brochures, camera gear and throat lozenges could very easily be picked up by another well-meaning scribes thinking it was theirs whilst we are shooting a story or watching a demo.

While a room full of identical knapsacks or suitcases might resurrect the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, fear not.

2ReturnMe has created an anonymous return system of labels, luggage tags and key tags with PIN codes and phone numbers that connect finders of lost items to their owners without divulging the identity of the owner. Think about it. You lose your key ring and not only are you out the $200 or more it takes to replace the computerized car keys and other more standard keys, but a nefarious ne'er do well might seize the opportunity to unlock your precious dwelling once you identified yourself, particularly if you were traveling miles further away from your house than the perp...oh say, at a trade show.

2ReturnHere's how it works:
The plastic 2ReturnMe tags come on a 13-piece or 9-piece set of luggage and key tags. The 13-piece includes peel-off strips that are great for cameras, tablets and laptops as well as those expensive chargers you keep leaving plugged into outlets in hotel rooms or conference centers.  Each contains a PIN number, a toll free phone number and instructions. If found, the good, honest person who found your neglected goods calls the phone number, inputs the PIN number and the system connects the caller to you. You can put in as many as five phone numbers when you register. It's that easy

Michael Salit, President and CEO of EM8 Corporation is extending the 2ReturnMe program program to corporations for private labeling as well as to organizations for fundraising, including branding of the labels and tags. Considering that 400 million items are lost each year, and that 12,000 laptops are reported lost every week at 36 of the largest U.S. airports alone, a program like this is a whole lot more useful and appreciated than the promotional t-shirts and coffee cups and pens you have rolling around in drawers and cabinets.

Pricing ranges from $19.95 for the 13-pack tags and stickers down to $9.95 for the four-piece tag set. Three years of anonymous connection service come with the tags. After that it's $4.95 per year...about the price it takes to copy a single simple key at the hardware store.

Salit says that organizations that give away or sell the private-labeled tags incur repeat revenue as a portion of the renewal fees go to the organization. Check it out for yourself at www.2ReturnMe.com and enter GIVE in promotional code.