Travelers tend to carry a lot of very bizarre items in their luggage. Unclaimed Baggage, a store in Alabama that collects unclaimed lost luggage from domestic airlines and sells what’s inside, has made that very clear in their report of the weirdest stuff found in 2023. I, myself, have flown with a two-foot-tall colorful garden gnome in my suitcase once, and I’m very glad nobody found out. I don’t know how I would have explained it without sounding like I had lost my mind. But apparently, people don’t need to be flying to be carrying kooky stuff with them. Uber drivers find all sorts of strange things left behind in their cars by seemingly regular people in need of transportation.
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A Taylor Swift Autograph, Pet Turtle, and Fart Sensor Top the 50 Strangest Things Left in an Uber Last Year
For the eighth year, Uber has published the Uber Lost & Found Index, a report of the things people forgot in drivers’ vehicles in the past year, from the most common to the most unexpected.
The most common items left being in Ubers in the past year are:
- Clothing
- Luggage
- Headphones
- Wallet
- Jewelry
- Phone
- Tablet
- Laptop
- Watch
- Vape
The 50 strangest things left behind in Ubers in the past year, as described by their owners, include:
- Frontal hair toupee
- Hot sauce and a breathalyzer
- I left a leaf in your car that’s much needed
- Two containers with spiders in them
- A Beyoncé fold up fan
- A tray of meat pie
- Ceramic cat
- Jar of oysters
- A personalized blanket with a picture of me and my dog
- Small rat skeleton prop
- Candle that says ‘See you in court’
- A fake tooth / retainer (it’s a really small plastic piece with a fake tooth in it)
- Gray tub of surgical implants
- Police-grade handcuffs
- My live pet animal turtle
- Waist beads and a burrito steamer
- I left expensive blueberries that are special that I need that the store is completely out of. There’s two packages that I absolutely need.
- My girlfriend’s pregnant pills
- Small box containing a gnome
- Standup paddleboard paddle
- Painting from SeaWorld. It was wrapped up in a roll and I love it.
- A playbill from the Spamalot show at the Kennedy Center
- My robot
- Benihana garlic butter
- Contraceptive Plan B from Costco and a BaBylissPRO massager machine
- A panic button
- A spear and a furry fox tail
- Taylor Swift autograph. Framed!!!!
- Fart sensor
- Bravo Con wristband
- A #bestdayever foam sign
- 3 feathers
- Fake butt
- Poster of Hillary Clinton
- Panty liner and 1000 bucks. That’s all I can remember
- Some lotion or my thong
- Meditation crystals
- Undergarments, bread, pack of ham and mayo
- Cardboard cut out panda
- Street sign saying ‘She’s drunk’ and a picture frame
- My father’s beard softener
- Big sentimental carrying jug
- Paternity test
- WWE championship belt
- Harry Potter wand engraved with name ‘Alexander’
- Large sticker with a dancing cartoon cat that says ‘Spanky Fest’ on it
- I might have left my garden fence in the trunk
- Jeep Liberty engine. Please call me
- I lost my wizard woman
- Three Japanese ceramic decorative cats – one gold, one black and one pink. All fist-sized.
If you’re a regular Uber user, the company’s findings on this year’s lost-and-found trends might help you remember to take your belongings with you next time you use the ride-hailing service. Note that Miami is the city where people forget the most things in Uber; January 21 is the most forgetful day of the year; people tend to leave stuff behind more between 9 PM and 10 PM; and those items are most often red in color.
In the report, Uber explains that “the best way to retrieve a lost item is to call the driver.” However, if it’s your phone you’ve left behind, you can log in to your Uber account from a computer and follow the following step-by-step procedure recommended by Uber:
- Open the Uber app and tap “Activity” on the bottom icon menu.
- Select the trip on which you lost the item.
- Scroll down to “Find lost item” in the Help section, and then “Contact driver about a lost item.”
- Enter your phone number to call the driver.
- If your driver picks up and confirms that your item has been found, coordinate a mutually convenient time and place to meet for its return to you.
- If your driver doesn’t pick up, leave a detailed voicemail describing your item and the best way to contact you.
