Uber highlights lost and found process, wacky items riders leave behind
When living in densely populated cities like New York, you learn quickly that anything you forget or leave behind on a park bench, in a subway car, or in a taxi is probably gone forever.
Yes, there are plenty of good Samaritans around, but they are far outnumbered by the people who live by the "finders keepers" rule.
So city veterans develop a natural system to ensure they don't lose their hard-earned valuables. That system involves exactly one mechanism: turning around and checking your seat before you leave.
That's it. A quick glance back at your seat before you hop out of that cab or off of that train has saved countless phones, wallets, and keys from being swallowed up and never seen again.
But not everyone is as street smart, and even when you are, it's easy to forget. Still, the items some people are leaving behind in their Uber ride are absolutely dumbfounding.
For the tenth year running, Uber released its annual "Lost and Found Index," and while some of the frequent lost items on the list make sense, many others do not.
Uber Lost & Found Index features mini fridge, wizard wand, and fish tank
Since 2017, Uber has compiled a list of items users leave behind when they exit the ride share. The company lists them in its Lost & Found Index.
This year, on the 10th anniversary of the list, the company decided to do a deeper dive, sharing some of the craziest one-off items they've recovered, along with lost-and-found staples like house keys and cellphones.
Uber has more than 36 million subscribers logged approximately 13.56 billion trips globally in 2025, according to Fortunly. That is a lot of opportunities to be forgetful.
And since Uber is the safest alternative for people who are out drinking, the fact is that Sunday was the worst day for lost items, "likely because 'Sunday Scaries' and brunch mimosas don't exactly boost situational awareness," according to Uber's tongue-in-cheek report.
Apparently, people are most likely to forget their IDs and wallets on Mondays, their headphones on Tuesdays, their phone chargers on Wednesdays, their bags on Thursdays, their keys on Fridays, their phones on Saturdays, and their glasses on Sundays, according to Uber's 2025 data.
Speaking of 2025, the company saw an uptick in Labubu losses as the toy has gained popularity in recent years. People are also leaving their pickleball paddles in the trunk and peptide GLP-1 pills in the car seat.
Some of the items on the list truly make zero sense, such as the people leaving veneers, gold grills, and entire dentures behind. Passengers are even forgetting their portable breathalyzers.
Uber has found a whole mini fridge, a fish tank, and a wizard wand left behind as well.
Uber also logged lost luxury items including a gold Rolex, Alexander Wang heels, and Hermes sandals, as well as tech items such as the Nintendo Switch, AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Pencil, and PlayStation 4.
Which cities have the most forgetful Uber riders?
While we started this piece talking about NYC and ways to navigate living in the metropolis without losing your treasured items, New York ranked top on the list for Uber's most forgetful cities, though that could be a function of sheer volume.
Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles round out the top five most forgetful cities in 2025.
But going back over the last decade, Uber has a special category for what's going on in Texas. "Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio consistently were close to the top of our list of most forgetful cities year over year. Austin took the #1 spot two years in a row in 2021 and 2022," Uber said.
But Texas may be getting its act together because Dallas was the lone city in the state to make the top 10 list this year at number 7.
But for all the weird items people have left behind over the past 10 years, one item stands out the most: phones. Uber passengers reported more than 1 million lost phones last year.
Uber offers new and improved way to reclaim lost items
Filing a lost and found claim anywhere can be a taxing experience, so Uber says it is updating the way it gets items back to their rightful owners.
The new lost and found process is as follows:
Uber's new lost and found process
- Open the Uber app and tap "Activity" on the bottom icon menu.
- Scroll down to "Find lost item" in the Help section, and report your missing item - you will receive a notification when your driver has confirmed they have located the item in their vehicle.
- Select "Request a return trip" with your original driver, enter the address for the item to be returned to you, and confirm the fare for the return.
- Follow along your driver's return trip in the app, and share the pin number with the driver when they arrive to confirm the return.
Source: Uber
The new process is already live in California, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, with plans to roll it out nationwide by the end of the year.
In the meantime, contact your driver directly if you leave an item behind, and arrange a time and place to pick it up if they have it.
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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 7:17 PM.