What do you do for lost scout stuff?

[Beavah]

Yah, so da parent thread raises a good topic, eh? What does your troop do to handle lost scout stuff and returning it, and how well does it work?

 

I'm not talkin' about da occasional thing which I reckon most of us would just return to da individual. I'm talkin' about the tricks yeh also use to try to help boys learn and remember to "put things in their place".

 

Please, no accusations of criminality or other abuse! If it works for some troop it works for 'em, or if they tried it and it doesn't work then they were just tryin' it, eh?

 

Beavah

[Tampa Turtle]

I was amazed at how much stuff was just left after summer camp. You could have equipped a patrol! We have a lost and found section. If it is something important (book, class A, knife, good sleeping bag) with a name I will try to contact the person with a reminder. So many families in our troop are loaded (alas not me)that I think a lot of boys do not respect their stuff. Also they are boys.

 

We have a lost and found corner. If it is there after a couple camp-outs it is "fair game" for scavenging. We just did an annual clean out day and gave it away, donated it, or pitched a mound of the stuff. Boys who came out to help picked over it. A lot of it was from boys long gone.

 

I keep debating if we need a policy or standard "pitch" dates a few times a year. I was tempted to post pictures of lost items on our webpage or a list. Boys being boys they forget a lot and a lot of parents don't know either. Seems so wasteful.

 

My older boy who cannot remember stuff but hates losing items combats this by constantly paring down what he takes on campouts.

[Eagle92]

We give it back at the meeting. But if things do not get claimed, they either get thrown away or kept.

[Basementdweller]

Hey tampa......don't pitch those bags....send them to me.

[The Blancmange]

We encourage everyone to put their name on their stuff. If something is found with a name, it is returned. If it has no name, we will ask at a meeting or two. If it is unclaimed and is something useful, it goes in with the troop gear, if not it gets pitched. I can't say that we have an excess of lost stuff, even without employing any "tricks."

[Engineer61]

If it's tagged...we give it back, if not, they'll ping the Troop a couple of times at the meetings, then dispose of it.

[qwazse]

As mentioned in the other thread. We sing.

What I didn't explain: If a boy's shy, the SPL and PL's will join him (half the time, they have to sing for stuff anyway). Usually there are several items, and the boys line up together.

 

Our crew doesn't meet as frequently, and they do a lot of organizing online, so I was toying with making venturers post a Youtube of them singing to claim the stuff they left in my van. But the president wisely nixed that one!

[Eagle92]

I like singing, esp if I am a suppose to be a supporting voice.

[Twocubdad]

What do we do for lost scout stuff? We politely return it to the owner, if it's identifyable, otherwise it goes into the lost and found tub. If it seems to be a recurring problem, I may mention to the Scout that being Thrifty means taking care of your stuff.

 

We don't do the singing thing. I personally agree that it is hazing (the common usage of the word, not the General Statute definition) although a fairly minor version. We don't make guys do pushups or assign chores as punishment for infractions. I don't care for the tone that sets in the troop. My experience is it creates a slippery slope which leads to more serious hazing.

 

But mostly, it's just not Scoutlike, in my opinion. Friendly, courteous, kind.

 

Still, a summer camp and camporees and such, our guys get called out to sing for lost stuff. Our guys do a pretty cool thing -- the whole patrol accompanies the scout forward and sings with them. Or sometimes is it's a little guy, a number of older Scouts sing with them.

 

Loyal, Cheerful.

[5yearscouter]

We circle up at the end of every meeting and most outings.

 

anything lost or found is shown/announced/asked about.

 

those who claim things sing for their stuff.

 

and it's usually I'm a little teapot, and there are usually about a dozen kids who run out to join in and a couple of adults who do the same, espcially if it's a song with silly hand motions or a dance that goes with it.

 

or the guy in the middle starts the song, and everybody in the circle sings with them.

 

I think the boys see it as an excuse to sing--they like to sing but they don't want anyone to think they are so uncool as to want to sing kid/baby/silly/scouting songs, so they don't sing unless "forced" to sing.

 

I would be hard pressed to see it as hazing. They'd get their stuff(and are told they'd get their stuff) even if they don't sing.

[Reasonable Rascal]

Heck, of all the things you would think a Scout would miss we still can't get anyone to claim the zip off leggings from their Scout pants that were left behind from summer camp after all the gear was claimed. Tonight I had 5 boys with their leggings missing, wearing the pants as shorts instead.

 

RR

[T2Eagle]

I saw the "sing for stuff" going very wrong one summer camp and put an end to it.

 

My biggest concern is having lost stuff not become my problem. So what we can't match up with its owner before we leave camp, if it's valuable, I have one of the scouts go show to the parents as they're hanging around the parking lot waiting for us to unload and release the scouts. That usually finds an owner and an ally in the cause of labeling everything and remembering what belongs to you.

 

The one that amazes me is socks, inevitably we turn up 2 or 3 unmatched socks almost every trip. And yet no one belongs to them, and we're not talking cheap 10 for a dollar cotton tube socks, these are name brand under-armour, nike, etc. They are inevitably wet and nasty and I have given up on them, if no one claims them at the camp we toss them.

 

This weekend one of my sons was the culprit. I noticed when I did laundry monday that one of his good hiking socks was unmatched. It happens we had his tent in the yard drying out and sure enough when we went to fold it there was the match. The kicker is his tent mate left Saturday so he was the only one in his tent. How do you not see something that is the only thing in a tent besides air????

[Eagle92]

Not a unit but day camp. We had stuff left behind, some with names, some without. Even after sending an email to folks about lost and found, and having 1 parent call and being told yes I have it, stuff still has not been picked up.

 

In Nov, I will be having a Day camp RT session, and delivering stuff to the units that I know of. Everythign unclaimed is getting pitched.

[Tampa Turtle]

Let me rephrase what we do for lost scout stuff? Obviously we haze our boys especially by making them do the little teapot hand gestures. I get a very *special* thrill when I see the sting of tears down their little humiliated faces. (simulate evil laugh here)

 

On the flip side, is there anything you do to keep them from losing stuff in the first place? (besides marking everything). I mean on the one hand we at the Troop tell them to travel light while simultaneously handing out "suggested" equipment lists that grow and grow every year "just in case". Seems like the more they pack the more they can loose. (unless getting them to loose stuff was just stepping them up to fail so we can get them to sing the evil song. Wicked, wicked Zeus!)

 

 

[Beavah]

I know one troop that charges "gear retrieval and storage fees" for lost personal gear. Scout required to pay cash out of his own pocket $1 per item per week. PLs tend to cover for their guys and just return stuff until they get sick and tired of picking up after someone and start usin' the system.

 

Stuff not claimed after a month or two is auctioned off to the highest bidder at a meeting.