Losing a treasured possession while out shopping can feel like the ultimate inconvenience. It‘s an experience that can turn a quick trip to pick up essentials into a frustrating ordeal. This is especially true when the item goes missing in a massive retailer like Walmart, which averages 230 million customer transactions per week globally.
While Walmart aims to save shoppers time and money, the company also understands that time spent searching for a lost item is time that could be better spent on other activities. That‘s why Walmart has policies in place to help customers locate missing items as quickly and painlessly as possible.
The Psychology of Lost Items
There are many reasons why losing a possession while shopping feels so catastrophic. People often have strong emotional attachments to their belongings, especially items they use every day like phones, wallets and keys. "The items we carry with us on a regular basis become an extension of ourselves and our identities," says Dr. Sarah Roberts, a consumer psychologist. "When we lose them, it can feel like we are losing a piece of ourselves."
Anxiety about losing vital possessions like identification, credit cards and expensive electronics amps up emotions even more. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, 41% of Americans have encountered fraudulent charges on their credit card, highlighting the stress of a lost wallet.
On top of the emotional distress, losing an item often creates logistical hassles like replacing IDs or cancelling credit cards. A poll by Asurion found that Americans spend a total of $7.4 billion per year replacing lost phones alone. Facing the time and expense of replacing a lost item amplifies an already frustrating situation.
How Often Are Items Lost at Walmart?
With millions of shoppers passing through Walmart‘s doors each day, it‘s no surprise that the lost and found bins at the retail giant stay pretty full. While Walmart could not provide exact figures on how many items are turned in to lost and found at their stores, a spokesperson said the number is "substantial."
"Our stores see a high volume of lost items, ranging from small things like chapstick to valuable merchandise and personal possessions," said the Walmart representative. "During the holiday shopping season, our lost and found bins reach their peak capacity."
To manage the high number of misplaced items, Walmart trains its associates to regularly check the store for stray objects and encourages customers to turn in anything found to the lost and found repository at the customer service desk. "If something is left behind, chances are very high it will end up at our service desk," said the spokesperson.
Tips for Not Losing Items, from a Retail Expert
As a 20-year veteran of the retail industry, I‘ve seen my fair share of tears shed over lost items. While most stores, including Walmart, will do everything in their power to reunite lost objects with their owners, there are steps shoppers can take to avoid losing important possessions in the first place.
My number one tip is to take a few moments before leaving home to ensure you have everything you need and nothing extra. Check that your essential items are all accounted for, then consider downsizing to only bring in necessities. The less you carry, the smaller the chance of leaving something behind.
Designating a specific place for your most important belongings and returning them to that place immediately after use is another useful tactic. If your credit card always goes back in the same slot in your wallet, you‘re less likely to absentmindedly leave it on a checkout counter.
Investing in a small bag or purse that zips closed and can be worn crossbody will do wonders for keeping track of your things while browsing. Look for one with an outer pocket for your phone for easy access. Digging around a large tote bag makes it more likely you‘ll pull something out and set it down without thinking.
Harnessing technology can also help make sure your valuable devices make it back home with you. Enabling the "Find My" feature on your iPhone or installing a GPS tracking app on your Android will allow you to locate your phone if you accidentally leave it behind at Walmart. Some retailers are starting to use RFID tags to keep track of items left in dressing rooms and remind customers to retrieve them.
The Environmental Impact of Lost Items
In addition to being a pain for shoppers and retailers alike, items that are lost and never claimed take a toll on the environment. Unclaimed objects that cannot be returned to their owners often end up getting thrown in the trash, contributing to the growing global waste problem.
The EPA estimates that Americans throw away 1.5 million tons of e-waste like smartphones per year. Many components of these devices contain toxic chemicals like mercury and lead that can leach into soil and groundwater. Tossing lost cell phones and other electronics in the garbage furthers this environmental threat.
Other commonly lost items like clothing, jewelry and keys often get discarded as well when left unclaimed. The average American throws away 81 pounds of clothing per year. Jewelry requires mining precious metals, a process which pollutes the environment. And while keys can be recycled, most end up languishing in landfills.
The bottom line? The less we lose, the less ends up in the trash stream. Keeping careful track of our possessions is a win for the planet.
The Evolution of Retail Lost and Found
Lost and found procedures have come a long way since the days of haphazardly tossing found objects in a box under the cash register and hoping the owner comes back for them. As technology has progressed, so too have the ways retailers manage wayward items.
Walmart used to rely on physical log books to record lost items turned in at each store. Associates would jot down a description of the object, where it was found and contact information for the owner if known. There was little uniformity or organization to this method.
Now, many Walmart stores have turned to software to digitally catalog, track, and manage lost and found items. Using a database allows associates to sort items by category, search for specific keywords, and pull reports. It also ensures there is a central repository for all misplaced merchandise, rather than various log books floating around the store.
Some major shopping centers have even turned to artificial intelligence to help get lost objects back to their rightful owners more quickly. Walnut Creek Mall in California implemented a location-based AI system that uses GPS to track and pinpoint the exact spot where lost items may have been left behind by triangulating shoppers‘ smartphone locations. The technology enables the concierge desk to swiftly find and return items, often before the shopper even realizes they are missing.
The Final Word
At the end of the day, Walmart‘s lost and found policy boils down to a commitment to help shoppers locate missing items as efficiently as possible in order to provide a positive customer experience. No one wants to accept that they‘ve left behind a cherished belonging. But if it happens at a Walmart store, customers can trust that there is a process in place to help them recover it.
By taking some common sense measures to keep track of important possessions, shoppers can prevent the headache of a lost item in the first place. But it‘s reassuring to know that the nation‘s largest retailer is doing its part to get missing merchandise back in the hands of its rightful owners. Because at Walmart, customers can save money, live better, and hopefully never lose anything irreplaceable.
