Life at the BYU Lost and Found

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Hundreds of items, from shampoo to iPads, are received, recorded and stored daily by student employees at the BYU Lost and Found.

It contains over 3,000 lost items in total, and employees are responsible for tending to almost 200 students a day who come to claim lost items.

According to the Director of Guest Services Gayle Nielson, more than 70 percent of the items are returned to their owners and the rest are often left behind because students don’t come to look for them.

[J.J. Despain] More than 20 water bottles are brought to the BYU Lost and Found each day.

“A lot of things people never bother to come look for,” Nielson said. “It’s amazing how many will lose a wallet and never come.”

The Lost and Found student manager Doug Pinkel said while students move from their apartments and during summer camps are the busiest times of the year.

“We get eight or nine trash bags a week from sports camps and EFY during the summer,” Pinkel said.

Items unclaimed after three months are bagged and kept in a storage unit until the yearly Lost and Found sale, when they are sold for a fraction of their original price.

“There was once a really nice leather coat that still had the price tag for $130, and we sold it for about $8,” Pinkel said.

Money made from the sale is donated to Student Activities.

Hundreds of similar items, such as coats, pile up in the meantime, making it difficult to find the right one when a student comes to claim it.

[/media-credit] BYU Lost and Found sells thousands of unclaimed items once a year for a fraction of their price.

“Most people don’t remember a lot of stuff about their clothes,” Pinkel said. “So we have to ask them questions like, ‘Do you remember the brand name?’ ‘Does it have a logo on the outside?’ ‘Does it have a zipper?’ ‘Does it have a hood?’ “Does it have a collar?’ ‘Does it have pockets?’ ‘Do the pockets zip up?’ ‘Are there any little features (you) can remember?'”

The most common lost items are balls, coats, headphones and water bottles. Pinkel says the Lost and Found gets 20 to 30 new water bottles a day.

A wheelchair, crutches and a high chair are some of the more random articles brought to the facility, but things like socks, underwear or Tupperware with old food in them are not accepted.

Nielson said she is often impressed by the good nature of students who turn in valuable items.

“It’s good to see how honest people really are,” Nielson said. “We’ve had it where someone has lost $100 and it’s just fallen in the Brigham Square courtyard and people bring it in.”

Seth White, a freshman from Camden, SC, studying electrical engineering, was relieved to find his wallet in the Lost and Found with all its contents still in it.

“(It) was a 10/10,” White said about getting his wallet back. “It happened to me at the beginning of the semester, and it had like $40 in it.”

Pinkel said helping someone find their valuables is the most rewarding part of his job.

“When somebody gets their stuff back and they’re really excited (is the best),” he said. “It just feels good to make somebody happy.”

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