Firm counts on Good Samaritans

With research showing that about three-quarters of lost items are returned if they have a security tag, Frank Hannigan figured there had to be a business model that would fit that statistic.

And, when you consider that 2,000 mobiles are lost in Ireland every week according to Vodafone, that a million unmarked items are left behind annually in Dublin airport, and that 63,000 mobiles and 6,000 laptops were left in London taxi cabs in six months in 2005, he was sure of it.

The result of two years of considering how to address that "pain point", as the marketers say, is Cork-based Yougetitback.com, a company that enables consumers and businesses to tag items like mobiles, USB flash drives, PDAs and laptops in the hopes that a Good Samaritan will find them.

"The logic of this business is that we all have mobile assets," says Mr Hannigan, managing director of the company. "There are 550 million of them in Britain and Ireland. The things that are on them are more valuable to us than the items themselves and can't be replaced."

In other words, while insurance will cover the replacement of a lost item, that's often not what is important to people, whether consumers or businesspeople. They want what is on the item - contacts, photos, presentations, work-related documents.

Mr Hannigan notes that companies estimate the cost of losing a single laptop at about €3,000 - well beyond the value of the laptop - as the lost items affect productivity and raise serious security concerns.

With Yougetitback.com, people purchase an identity tag that has an ID code for the item, a freefone number and a note that there's a reward for the return of the item. The tags cost €9.99 and provide three years of coverage.

The reward is a €20 gift pack, though owners can offer a reward as well if desired.

If someone finds the item, they call a number and Yougetitback.com will arrange for its return.

Are people honest enough to return items? Numerous trials in the US, where journalists deliberately left items such as PCs and mobiles in large cities to be found, showed about 75 per cent of the items were sent back to their owners. Reader's Digest tried leaving 1,100 wallets across the world. In the US, 70 per cent were returned; in Britain, 65 per cent, and in Norway, 100 per cent.

Yougetitback.com is targeting the consumer and corporate market in Ireland and Britain (corporates get bulk discounts) and sells the tags through its website, through marketers, and increasingly, in retail channels.

Hannigan says the company will launch the service in Benelux in autumn, and is aiming for the US and Asian markets in the coming year as well. The company expects to expand from eight to 13 employees in the near future.