Free Help to find lost stuff...

[Bayter]

Just signed up. Can't wait to do my part to help out.

Bayter

 

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[Jerry311]

I Signed up as well

San Diego CA

 

[BOOTY SEEKERS IA]

I'm sold, on my way to sign up right now.

 

[Goodyguy]

Fogcity (John),

I see you are taking cash donations. Who receives those? Are they divided up between all the members of the group or just pocketed by you?
Is the amount and frequency of the donations made public or kept secret?

Was getting ready to volunteer my services but seeing as how the website was asking for cash donations raised my concern.

Appears to me John, that while the members are truly donating their time, travel expenses, wear and tear on their equipment, etc. You are going to be compensated for your efforts of running your website through donations.

Just asking ....Is that the right thing to do in light of the fact that the members are working completely out of pocket?
Seems that all donations should at least be shared with those who have incurred out of pocket expenses by either attempting or completing a find.


GG~

 

[fogcity]

Goodguy --

Sorry I was slow to reply to your post, I don't visit here (Treasurenet) on a regular basis.

The Lost My Stuff Group was never intended to be a money-maker. It was created solely as a way to help people everywhere find any jewelry & stuff they'd lost without having to pay a fee...

If you'll look at the website you'll notice there are no advertisements of any kind -- no links to detector stores, no clickable google adsense stuff, nothing whatsoever. Sure, I could've put them on there, just like most every forum & blog does in their endeavor to make a profit, but that wasn't the goal. And in my opinion, anyone who was looking for help wasn't going to interested in that sorta stuff, they were just going to be interested in finding some help.

In July of 2011, when the Group was just about a year old, the donation button was added to the website. My thought was that people might possibly contribute enough funds to make the Group financially self-sufficient... i.e. enough funds to cover the hosting fees & other expenses of maintaining the website. Suffice to say it hasn't worked. The majority of the donations received have been from members who have just wanted to help out. Hopefully the Group will become self-sufficient at some time, but I haven't figured out how to get it there yet. If someday I ever do figure it out, any "extra" will be reinvested into the Group.

By the way, if you check the Group's Success Stories, you'll see I've gone out and made some recoveries, donating my time, travel expenses, wear & tear on my equipment, etc. just like our other volunteers. In the cases where the person who lost the item really insisted on paying me a reward, even though I'd said it was totally unnecessary, I've applied those funds directly to the Groups expenses.

Anyways, I hope that answers all your questions and concerns... If the way I'm running the group makes you uncomfortable then for sure, don't join.

Regards,

fogcity

 

[Goodyguy]

Fogcity,

Thank you kindly for taking the time to respond to my concerns. I am heartened to see that you have, "applied those funds directly to the Groups expenses", even though I'm not quite sure what that entails.

I appreciate that your reply was both courteous and forthright. You seem to be an honest person and are providing a great service to those in need of a helping hand. With that being said, I would be honored to join your noble group of good Samaritans.

Sincerely,
GG~

 

[fogcity]

Your welcome and I'll be watching for you to join !!

It's been 6 months or so since my last update so let me give you our latest stats:

We're up to 1307 members now in 13 countries...

We've received reports for 289 lost items in the past year, and of these we've had volunteers near enough to help search for 169 (~58%) and 81 of those were found (~48%). As we get more known and more people ask us for help, we definitely need more & more members so we can have Volunteers available in as many places as possible!

You can check all this out on our website (Lost My Stuff Group - Home Page) and also on our facebook page (The Lost My Stuff Group | Facebook).

 

[sky355]

I joined up. Im in the Denver Colorado area. I dont mind offering assistance. Are we not allow to take rewards on this or is that acceptable and just not require it? I dont mind helping folks out for Free but wouldnt turn down a reward if they offered it. I love this hobby!!

 

[fogcity]

sky355 --

This question gets asked a lot, and as far as the Group's concerned, if someone reports a lost item to LMS and you go and search & find it for them, it's our policy that you don't request any reward or compensation for your efforts as you volunteered to help them for FREE. But, if the owner offers you a reward, or a meal, or some gas money or whatever, then whether you accept it or not is totally up to you, and we don't care either way... We just don't want our volunteers to request any compensation.

Another question that comes up is if someone reports a lost item to LMS (let's say a gold bracelet) and while you're searching for it you find something else (let's say a wedding ring or a mercury dime)... Do you give the ring/dime to the person you're searching for or do you put it in your pouch and keep it? My response for that situation is that if you're at the owner's house or property, I believe it falls into the same category as a reward or compensation and the proper thing to do would be to give it to the owner and not ask if you can keep it. If the owner offers the item to you, then like above it's totally up to you. On the contrary, if instead of being on the owner's property you're at a public beach or park searching for someone's lost bracelet and you find a ring or dime, then the ring/dime is yours... no questions asked.

fogcity

 

[sky355]

sky355 --

This question gets asked a lot, and as far as the Group's concerned, if someone reports a lost item to LMS and you go and search & find it for them, it's our policy that you don't request any reward or compensation for your efforts as you volunteered to help them for FREE. But, if the owner offers you a reward, or a meal, or some gas money or whatever, then whether you accept it or not is totally up to you, and we don't care either way... We just don't want our volunteers to request any compensation.

Another question that comes up is if someone reports a lost item to LMS (let's say a gold bracelet) and while you're searching for it you find something else (let's say a wedding ring or a mercury dime)... Do you give the ring/dime to the person you're searching for or do you put it in your pouch and keep it? My response for that situation is that if you're at the owner's house or property, I believe it falls into the same category as a reward or compensation and the proper thing to do would be to give it to the owner and not ask if you can keep it. If the owner offers the item to you, then like above it's totally up to you. On the contrary, if instead of being on the owner's property you're at a public beach or park searching for someone's lost bracelet and you find a ring or dime, then the ring/dime is yours... no questions asked.

fogcity

Thanks for the response fog. This actually exactly how I was thinking.

 

[chenty]

I joined a few days ago....I'm from the Ojai/Ventura County area.
Printed off some of the Group flyers to post around the area.

 

[fogcity]

And we're glad to have you as a member!!! The more members we have the people we can help!!!

Just to update everybody here, we're up to about 1550 members now in 14 countries...

As of today we've issued reports for 583 lost items. Of those we've had Volunteers near enough to help search for 336 (~58%), and 170 of those were found (~51%). As we get more known and more people ask us for help, we definitely need more & more members so we can have Volunteers available in as many places as possible!

You can check all this out on our website (Lost My Stuff Group - Home Page) and also on our facebook page (The Lost My Stuff Group | Facebook).

 

[CaptEsteban]

A very good group that I am proud to be a member of !

 

[Goodyguy]

A very good group that I am proud to be a member of !

Me too

 

[coyote3]

Guess what?? I joined to. I always have loved to help people out... This is another good way of doing it...

 

[LuckyThirteen08]

I actually found my first standing liberty in a ladies yard who has asked me to help find her daughters wedding ring,She let me keep the coin an actually gave me a few more from inside her home when i left that day,Wasnt able to recover the ring though

EDIT: the coins from inside her house were Franklin Halves not standing libs but still yet,It was a very nice gesture.This was in late 2007!

 

[G.I.B.]

If Good Guy is in, I'm in.

Signed up for the deep water as well.

 

[Joe hunter]

This sounds totally cool I will be joining soon for now I can't find half the stuff I bury I'm a noob

 

[Mzjavert]

Impressive results. Count me in.

 

[ToastedWheatie]

Great job on the website.
The member and lost item maps are a GREAT idea and resource!

There's a lost item report in my area that hasn't been addressed.

I'm in.......

(And on a selfish side, you never know where new leads will come from....)