Little Things That Matter — All of Your Cases are Tagged, Right?

All of your cases and backpacks are labeled with your name and contact information, right? If not, correct that problem ASAP.

Shacke's Mini Luggage Tags at Amazon have become my choice. They are available in 4 colors (including black) and $9.99 gets you four durable/bendable rubber tags.

If you are not sure that you need to label your cases, here is a story I shared nearly 7 years ago:

The title was something like "Why My Rebel T4i is in British Columbia — and How I Know That".

Upon arriving at our rental house in Maui, Hawaii, after being up/traveling for nearly 24 hours, my daughter asked me if I had her camera — a relatively new at the time Canon EOS Rebel T4i. With a sinking feeling, I replied that I did not.

My mind immediately began plotting a course of action to take but sleep had to come first. We had been in four airports and on three planes that day. Locating the camera seemed a daunting challenge — if not an impossibility.

I woke up the next morning to a voice mail from Janet at the United ticket counter in the Vancouver International Airport. The camera had been left on a plane and went at least one stop beyond our time on that particular aircraft. Janet knew how to reach me because: my contact information was on the camera case, despite the case being a very small one.

If you were to lose your camera and the case you are carrying it in, would someone know how to get in touch with you? This does not apply only to airline travel — a camera can be lost at a restaurant, hotel, wedding, park ... or anywhere. Labeling counts on the finder to have the integrity to track down the owner and return the lost item, but the odds are good that will happen and my story eventually had a happy ending.

Another option to consider is entering your contact information into the camera's copywrite information. Not all finders may know enough to look for this information, but at least the information is there for discovery — perhaps when someone is reviewing images captured by the camera.

 
Following is a relevant (and entertaining) infographic Mike shared with us at that time: