A Chicago startup is creating an incentive for returning lost items by allowing people to tag and create rewards for their things.
GoReturnMe, which recently won RedEye's Big Idea Awards and launched out of beta this year, allows people to apply a tag to their wallet, phone, keys, or any other item, create an award amount on GoReturnMe's website, and if the item is lost, the retriever can track the person down and get their reward.
Essentially creating a cloud-based lost-and-found, GoReturnMe is trying to help people track down lost items by issuing a monetary reward. GoReturnMe recently launched a Kickstarter campaign that aims to raise $10,000 to scale the company and distribute more tags, with the hope of giving out 1 million tags a year.
"GoReturnMe tags have over an 80% successful return rate," the Kickstarter reads. "Why do they work so well? We believe it's because of the human factor. Our tags give people an incentive to return your item when you lose it."
GoReturnMe provides the tags to users for free, which come with an identification number and the company's website. Users register the item online, set a reward amount, and--if it gets lost--they then are notified once the item is found. The retriever gets paid through PayPal, Venmo or check, and the item gets shipped to its owner. GoReturnMe makes money when the item is successfully returned.
The website also works for people who haven't tagged their lost item by letting users post lost or found items on the platform.
GoReturnMe, which won RedEye's Big Ideas Contest in November for the Technology category, says it will use the Kickstarter funds to manufacture between 240,000 and 480,000 tags. It also plans to make tags for pets, so you no longer need to print out reward posters to post throughout your neighborhood.
The startup says it has already returned around a dozen items to people, and some finders have actually declined to accept the reward, so GoReturnMe has built into its website the ability to donate the reward to charity. Kickstarter backers can get their GoReturnMe starter packs (2 sticky tags and a keychain) by May, the company says.
Image via GoReturnMe Kickstarter
