Lost & Found Tip

I work with people to avoid problems. That's usually the best way to go. We also need to be prepared though if the problem should pop up despite our best efforts.

Here's a simple example that I use and you can use very simply to deal with the potential problem of losing your digital camera. I say losing as opposed to having it stolen because I doubt a thief would bother returning it.

I got this idea after reading an article one day about someone who found a digital camera in a New York City taxi. There was no way to identify the owner except from the images in the camera. The person who found it spent months tracking down the owner using nothing more than the pictures as a starting point. It made me think that there had to be a better way. I want to make it easy for someone to return my camera to me. If it takes too much effort, they may just keep it.

First off, there are many things you can do to avoid losing your camera. I'm not going to go into them today but you know that using a strap to hold it around your neck, putting it in a secure bag (and then not losing the bag), checking before you get off the bus, train, boat, etc. will reduce the chances of losing your camera.

Sometimes though, we still loose a camera. What I did was create a document in MS-Word (it doesn't matter what you use, you could use crayons and cardboard) to make up a poster that asked anyone who found my camera to call or e-mail me. I put my name, e-mail and phone number on the poster. Then I took a picture of the poster using my camera (you could also tranfer an image file) and then saved the picture and locked the picture. This prevents me from accidentally erasing the picture.

Of course, I'd rather not loose the camera in the first place and, if I do, I have to hope a nice person finds it and is willing to return it. All I can do is make it easier for them.

Give us a call, we can help.

John Schneyer

Boca Consultants