Follow our top tips to manage lost property appropriately
Luckily, after 3 months of lockdown, we’re finally seeing doors reopening. However, strict government guidelines are in place to ensure customer and staff safety at all times.
Did you know that NotLost have seen a 200% increase in lost property registered on the platform since the opening of transport operators and non-essential shops?
1. Reduce contact with found items
Your staff shouldn’t physically handle items found at your venue more than necessary.
Use technology to eliminate this concern and minimise exposure to items. NotLost provides a digital way to upload lost items in a matter of seconds. Just take a quick photo of the item then store it away safely.
Avoid rummaging through a box of lost property by utilising our powerful search tool. This enables staff to identify the item on the platform then locate it quickly, ensuring there is minimal contact with found items.
Find out more about registering items with NotLost here.
2. Move your lost property process online
Direct your customers to an online lost report form. This will reduce the number of people that your customer service or security team have to deal with face-to-face. Customers can do this any time, any place, so there’s no need to revisit your venue. All of our Hammerson shopping centres, such as Birmingham Bullring and Grand Central, have an accessible online lost report form.
Furthermore, helpful, automated emails keep your customers informed and reassured that you have received their enquiry and it is being dealt with.
Find out more about digitalising your lost and found process here.
3. Spend less time rummaging through lost and found
Divert time spent on lost and found onto more important tasks, like keeping your business safe and clean.
Use a digital lost and found software to speed up the process. With our new automatic matching engine, staff no longer need to manually compare and match lost reports with items.
4. Store and dispose of items sensibly
Make sure to handle all found items whilst using the appropriate PPE and hand sanitiser.
Firstly, get rid of any perishable items, such as food, immediately! Keep items such as phones, wallets, keys etc. in clearly labelled storage locations. You might choose to sanitise these items if appropriate to do so.
Once lost property has been kept for a reasonable amount of time, but it is still unclaimed, it should be disposed of properly.
Explore our best practice guide for item disposal here for more tips.
5. Return lost items via post
Reduce the number of customers that have to return to your venue to collect their lost property by offering flexible postage options.
Our easy customer checkout function means your customers control how they want their item returned. Simply package their item up and send it in the post with a postage delivery partner. Plus, promoting an online payment system also means you staff don’t need to physically handle money.
Find out more about how lost property and postage go hand in hand in our latest blog.
Conclusion
We’re so keen to support businesses as they re-open by introducing appropriate and safe solutions to lost property problems. Simply follow our 5 easy steps!
Want to find out more about how NotLost could assist your organisation at this time? Read more about how we work on our specific industry pages or get in touch with us here!
Plus, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date with all things lost property.