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As someone who is constantly losing things, I love seeing a business in this space. A couple things holding I don't like: 1) Your stickers don't seem very visi

As someone who is constantly losing things, I love seeing a business in this space. A couple things holding I don't like: 1) Your stickers don't seem very visible. Faded green and white? Put some neon orange on there or something. 2) I don't know what happens when someone puts in a code? I tried with some of the codes I saw in your slider but I got an invalid tag error. Maybe I put the wrong code in. Here's what I would love: I give you $10-20, you send me a bunch of stickers/key tags/cards etc with my picture, email, and phone number on it. I don't think a middle man is that much of a value add. Especially since I don't know who you are, and have no reason to believe you will still be in business in 2 months. This might interest you too: http://www.asylum.com/2009/07/13/baby-pictures-are-key-to-having-a-lost-wallet-returned/ http://www.asylum.com/2009/07/13/baby-pictures-are-key-to-ha...

keesj 14y ago
I would recommend against adding any personally identifiable information to things like your house keys as you wouldn't want anyone finding your keys be able to figure out your house address.
MyKeysAreLost 14y ago
Umm, nice. As you can tell, I am from the IsThisLost.com team. The stickers come in blue and green now. We'll introduce other colors and laser engraving service in a couple of months. We talk to many of our customers, and people get it. They realize that a company going out of business is a smaller risk than losing stuff without any identification on it.
- Falling3 14y ago
  But this is not a unique idea. I've already seen several companies doing the _exact_ same thing. What does IsThisLost bring to the table? And what reason do we have to assume you're going to fare better than any of those other companies?
  - MyKeysAreLost 14y ago
    Yes, I agree that there are many companies out there. The key to success, in our minds, is to do it better than anyone else. To that end, we 1) have better name, 2) anonymizing service, 3) anonymous post back, 4) managed recovery, i.e. a service agent steps in, if needed and arranges for the return postage.
    - alex_young 14y ago
      What about economics? How many months of service would it cost me to replace my most valued possession? For that matter, we're talking some percentage of that amount since you can't guarantee I'll get anything back at all. For the money, I think I would rather just insure anything of value I can't afford to replace and be careful about misplacing other things.
      - MyKeysAreLost 14y ago
        Alex, I am from the IsThisLost team. We hear you. The way we figured the economics is that according to a recent survey (see http://mozy.com/reports/lost-and-found/data-loss-cost/ http://mozy.com/reports/lost-and-found/data-loss-cost/), a person is likely to irretrievably lose about $95 worth of stuff a year. With our observed 75% retrieval rate, you are getting about $70 value for $20 cost. Would insurance cover the intangible value, e.g. pictures and docs that were not backed up, or an item of sentimental value. Also, have you factored the deductible? I hear your argument well and will think about addressing those concerns. At the very least, I'll urge you to print your own tags and apply them to your belongings. Doesn't hurt, does it?

keesj 14y ago

I would recommend against adding any personally identifiable information to things like your house keys as you wouldn't want anyone finding your keys be able to figure out your house address.

MyKeysAreLost 14y ago

Umm, nice. As you can tell, I am from the IsThisLost.com team. The stickers come in blue and green now. We'll introduce other colors and laser engraving service in a couple of months. We talk to many of our customers, and people get it. They realize that a company going out of business is a smaller risk than losing stuff without any identification on it.

Falling3 14y ago
But this is not a unique idea. I've already seen several companies doing the _exact_ same thing. What does IsThisLost bring to the table? And what reason do we have to assume you're going to fare better than any of those other companies?
- MyKeysAreLost 14y ago
  Yes, I agree that there are many companies out there. The key to success, in our minds, is to do it better than anyone else. To that end, we 1) have better name, 2) anonymizing service, 3) anonymous post back, 4) managed recovery, i.e. a service agent steps in, if needed and arranges for the return postage.
  - alex_young 14y ago
    What about economics? How many months of service would it cost me to replace my most valued possession? For that matter, we're talking some percentage of that amount since you can't guarantee I'll get anything back at all. For the money, I think I would rather just insure anything of value I can't afford to replace and be careful about misplacing other things.
    - MyKeysAreLost 14y ago
      Alex, I am from the IsThisLost team. We hear you. The way we figured the economics is that according to a recent survey (see http://mozy.com/reports/lost-and-found/data-loss-cost/ http://mozy.com/reports/lost-and-found/data-loss-cost/), a person is likely to irretrievably lose about $95 worth of stuff a year. With our observed 75% retrieval rate, you are getting about $70 value for $20 cost. Would insurance cover the intangible value, e.g. pictures and docs that were not backed up, or an item of sentimental value. Also, have you factored the deductible? I hear your argument well and will think about addressing those concerns. At the very least, I'll urge you to print your own tags and apply them to your belongings. Doesn't hurt, does it?