Prince Of Petworth » Dear PoP – Taxi Lost and Found

Dear PoP – Taxi Lost and Found

Photo by PoPville flickr user hellomarkers!

“Dear PoP,

Did you know that the DC Taxi commission operates a centralized lost and found where drivers from all the different cab companies can drop stuff off so you don’t have to call each one if you lose something? I didn’t until I left my wallet in a cab Friday morning around Foggy Bottom. It took me a while to realize that the yellow cab I got out of wasn’t owned by the Yellow Cab Company in DC. Their cabs are black and orange. Go figure! Anyway, eventually I realized that it was a checker cab and I called their office. They connected me to the taxi commission right away and the lady there saw my name on the caller id and said she had my wallet. This was all in less than an hour!

The office is down in Anacostia, but it’s worth trip if you lose something you want back. Here’s their website with more info. The wallet was missing a finder’s fee, but everything else was there and there were no charges on my cards. Overall, a very good system people should know about.”

Great to know and glad you got your wallet back!

Category: Dear PoPville

By: Prince Of Petworth | 01 March 2010 11:00 AM | 10 Comments

dreas

Wait. You leave your wallet in a taxi. Which is registered to/driven by one individual. Who drops your wallet off at the centralized taxi lost and found. And it’s missing money when you pick it up. You call that a “very good” result?

This is a city of such low expectations.

March 1, 2010 at 11:33 am
- Eric in Ledroiit
  
  who knows how many other passengers had been through the taxi by the time it was found?
  
  and yes getting your cash back after losing it in a taxi is an amazingly good result in any city.
  
  March 1, 2010 at 2:30 pm
  - dreas
    
    S/he got out in Foggy Bottom and the wallet was located at the Taxi Commission’s lost and found in Anacostia in “less than an hour.” The driver couldn’t have had that many passengers, although it does only take one. And as you said, getting your cash back is a good result. Not getting your cash back, like the email writer, isn’t.
    
    What I consider to be an amazingly good result is my husband leaving $150 worth of dog medication (don’t ask) in a cab, the driver finding the vet receipt inside, calling them to get my cell phone number, and then dropping the bag off at my office the next day.
    
    March 1, 2010 at 3:54 pm
ontarioroader

Agree dreas, most cabbies are thieves though, so not exactly surprising. At least this person didn’t get suckered into some crazy extortion plot like this guy:

http://dcist.com/2010/01/dc_cops_nab_would-be_extortionist_i.php

Not the first time I heard of this happening either. If you lose anything in a cab you have a better chance of trying to buy it back at the 9th and Ust Flea Market [aka stolen goods fence].

March 1, 2010 at 11:37 am
Jim

Seems just as likely that the next passenger helped him or herself to the finder’s fee before turning it over to the driver.

March 1, 2010 at 11:54 am
- ah
  
  Or the operator at the Taxi Commission.
  
  March 1, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Eli

Ha “finder’s fee.” I’d probably be pleased with the results if the “finder’s fee” was less than $20, which is generally as much cash as I carry.

March 1, 2010 at 12:01 pm
cs

I lost my wallet and camera in the back of a taxi and I called and called the commission for weeks and no one turned it in. It was a brand new camera, so I’m sure the cabbie kept it, along with my wallet.

I can’t beleive someone actually turned in your wallet…..

March 1, 2010 at 12:21 pm
matt

Yeah, I’m totally blown away that anything worth more than $0.82 actually gets turned in.

Finders-keepers and all.

March 1, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Columbia Heights Boy

I lost a cell phone in a cab 4 years ago. I called it several times and checked with lost and found and they didn’t even try to help me…

March 2, 2010 at 10:14 pm