The lost property warehouse of the Hanover transport company ÜSTRA, which provides the capital of Lower Saxony and its suburbs with tram and bus services, is constantly bursting at the seams with items left by passengers. As reported by "Russkaya Germaniya", someone once even managed to forget a denture in the transport!
People forget smartphones and umbrellas, bags and backpacks, bicycles (dozens of them!) and even baby strollers (though without babies). Once, someone forgot a flute – and not some children's toy, but one played by professional musicians. But a denture, you must agree, is the ultimate absent-mindedness. Yet even a denture was forgotten by someone while traveling on tram line 1 across the city on their business.
However, worthy competition to this poor soul can be provided by owners of walking frames (rollators): at one of the 2018 auctions for the sale of lost items, as many as three were put up. As local wits later joked, ÜSTRA must possess a miraculous healing property, known to humanity from the biblical call "Arise and walk!"
Lost items found in urban transport are transferred to the Lost and Found Office, where they are stored for six months. During this period, the forgetful person who has realized their loss can report the forgotten property by phone to the Office or by filling out an online form on the company's website, and then retrieve their belongings by paying a small fee for storage.
But if within these six months the owner does not show up (as, for example, the owner of the flute did not), the passenger transport operator holds an auction for the sale of property left in transport, notifying citizens in advance through its website and local media. On average, about 30% of lost items are claimed by their owners, the rest go to auctions.
In 2018, at the June and November auctions of ÜSTRA, forgotten umbrellas of all types were sold in bundles of 6-10 pieces each, with starting prices from 4 to 6 euros per "bunch." For 5 euros, an almost new sleeping bag went; for 2 euros, an electric iron; for 30 euros, "high-end" smartphones; bicycles from 12 to 40 euros; and for 3 euros, a badminton racket (not new, but a Yonex Nanoray – the kind used by pros). At a starting price of 8 euros, a huge poster (two by three meters) with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck was sold.
A fierce battle broke out over that forgotten flute, ending with the victory of a young woman who paid a whole 210 euros for it. But, as it later turned out, "a whole" is by the standards of this auction. The winner turned out to be an orchestra musician who, in her own words, intends to offer the flute to her colleagues for a much more impressive price.
Many visitors to such auctions are attracted primarily by the low prices. For this reason, everything is sold off – even seemingly completely unnecessary household items – they are added as a bonus to obviously popular lots. All proceeds from the auctions are used by ÜSTRA to cover the costs of conducting them, including inventorying and storing the items received at the Fundbüro.