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rrh

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Check book, cell phone chargers, shampoo, soap, swimming suits - and that was just this weekend!!! What do you do with all this stuff?
The check book was a couple weeks ago and the guy paid the postage to mail it. The guy stopped the next time through for his charger but geeze, gather your stuff up folks.
How much do you guys mail home to people? This takes time! And $...
 

JunieBJones (JBJ)

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I had a charger left this weekend and called his cell phone and he zipped back for it. Another reason I go immediately into the room upon check out. (Bathrooms are notorious for cell phones and cameras near the sink)
I have a basket of stuff I keep for a few weeks then give to goodwill with my regular drop off. If it glasses or something valuable I call as well.
If they want me to post it back I run their card for it. I won't bill them, I simply run it. Even adding an addtl $2 for my gas, my time, my trouble doesn't cover it. I hope they appreciate it, they never reply or say they do.
I tell guests to please use a vibrant color on their own pillows - hot pink or something so they won't leave them behind. Usually a rye pillow or something expensive, and I end up tossing them.
 

MTLLodge

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All hotels I have ever worked at, we don't contact or send anything out unless the guess contacts us and we charge them to send it. I wouldn't want to take the risk if "he or she" came to my B&B and it wasn't their spouse. JBJ has a great plan for this.
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JunieBJones (JBJ)

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Things I had sent back:
  • a shaving mirror left in a shower
  • a pair of shoes
  • a pair of eye glasses
  • a phone charger - 3 times
  • an earring
  • Fedexed a camera to the next B&B they were staying, due to sentimental value-he was a fighter pilot back from Afghanistan - the photos very important
  • a camera
  • another camera
  • a ring
Things I never mailed back because they didn't call for them:
belts, shoes, blouses, slacks, a cool jacket from a couple from Wales, phone chargers, costume earrings, makeup, lingerie, socks, pillows, books, a card from a spouse, butt-ugly flannel pj's
I haven't had much left really in the grand scheme of things.
 

Samster

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I do email them, IF I know the guest situation. I put whatever it is in a plastic grocery bag and put the guest info in there. It goes in my overcrowded laundry room. Things yet unclaimed: sports shorts, socks, cell phone charger, expensive perfume. Mailed to guests: a couple of polo shirts, cell phone chargers, a pair of ladies' dress shoes. No jewelry or anything really valuable has been left to date. Now I try to say as they're leaving, "You have your cell phones and chargers, right?"
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Guest here now lost their cell phone at their departure city airport! (Good news is that happened to a friend of mine & she got hers back!)
 

gillumhouse

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I mailed a huge bag of medications left in a drawer - no thank you, no postage, and to add insult to injury, it was a donated GC with no tip left - from someone in the tourism industry!
I no longer send anything back unless they call me. I have a toll-free so it cannot be the cost of the call stopping them. I have a couple VERY nice jackets that after 2 years will go to the coat drive.
 

JunieBJones (JBJ)

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most common left behind item bu tnot worth mentioning to guests here would be personal shampoo forgotten in the shower. A brand new bottle they buy for their trip and leave it behind oh and hair clips of sorts.
 

scrambled_eggs

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It just started getting ridiculous all the stuff that was left behind. Lots of phone chargers, socks, underwear, night gowns, make up, pills, a small suitecase. When I first started I was mailing them back free of charge but never got a thanks for anything. It was a lot of work finding a box and sending it off. Now I only send them back if they call. I then change the credit card for the postage. The rest of the stuff ends up in a box in the garage until I decided what to do with it.
 

Morticia

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If it's cheap (under $5) I mail it back if it's called after. Otherwise, I have a drawer full of cellphone chargers that I loan out when someone has forgotten theirs at the previous place. Everything else gets tossed after a month, unless it cleans up nicely, then it goes to the Salvation Army.
Undies and socks go right in the trash.
 

Samster

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most common left behind item bu tnot worth mentioning to guests here would be personal shampoo forgotten in the shower. A brand new bottle they buy for their trip and leave it behind oh and hair clips of sorts..
Oh, I don't really think of shampoo and little stuff like that as being all that important.
 

scrambled_eggs

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If it's cheap (under $5) I mail it back if it's called after. Otherwise, I have a drawer full of cellphone chargers that I loan out when someone has forgotten theirs at the previous place. Everything else gets tossed after a month, unless it cleans up nicely, then it goes to the Salvation Army.
Undies and socks go right in the trash..
My neighbor takes all the undies and socks after they have been washed.
 

josh

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I have had a Guest Leave a Diamond Cartier Watch once and Diamond Earrings . I called the Number listed and the lady who answered said "she was not in Seattle" said her husband would call and he did, But asked me to not bother him again. OOPS ... Can we say Expensive Hook-Up!! Other stuff like panties, Robes, slippers, Clothes, Pillows , a white noise machine, Keys, Bag of Adult toys!!!,,, and the list goes on.
 

Willowpondgj

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Cell-phone chargers
video camera tapes
earrings
shorts
shirts
jackets
herbal pillows
pillowcases
We mailed back almost all of it, only two responses...we are probably going to go to the "call if it's valuable and add the postage to the bill" procedure...
 

hawley

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Not much left really.
Shoes
deoderent
socks
underwear
facial mask liquid
tape player
No cameras, cell phones or chargers
 

happyjacks

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Found: We get the usual pajamas, pillows, socks, books left behind.
Lost (my story from the other side): About 6 months after we sold our house and moved here, I went back to visit my previous next door neighbour. The lady who bought our old house recognized me at the neighbour's and gave me a small bag of laundry--neatly folded--that I had left in my old dryer before we moved!
 

gillumhouse

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I forgot the video camera - and she DID send a check for more than the cost of the postage and insurance.
 

Willowpondgj

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They stayed at my inn and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!
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Another addition to "the box".
 

NW BB

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Along with all of the above mentioned items everyone else has described, we have twice found whips left behind!
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We definitely use the "don't mail unless they call" policy.
 

birdwatcher

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So far not much left behind although someone did call about a book, but for the life of me I could not find this book. Lo and behold the next time I did "Spring Cleaning" I found it but didn't send it back. But I'm sure that with time things will come up.
 

1linda

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Most of the time no thank you or response, so I too do not send back unless called. I call if I think they are still in the area and they come back to pick up their items.
 
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