Lost-and-found goes digital

Belon.gs lost-and-found service
Pay what you choose; sign up at belon.gs

From Finland, the country that gave us cellphone titan Nokia, here’s a shrewd new way to keep track of your personal possessions.

Sign up at the Belon.gs website, then order a set of plastic stickers, each with a unique barcode and Web address. When they arrive in the mail, attach the stickers to your most valued portable possession--your keys or your wallet, say--then scan the barcode with a smartphone. Now you can register each stickered object at the website. Just type in the object’s name an a brief description.

Now if you lose the item, the finder can scan the barcode with his own phone, or just type the Web address into any browser. The Good Samaritan will be told how to return a lost item to its rightful owner. In addition, Belon.gs lets its members offer financial rewards for returned items. You just transfer the money using a PayPal account.

Belon.gs will sign you up and mail you a set of stickers at no charge, but the company asks for voluntary contributions from consumers. After all, Belon.gs is based on the idea that people are basically decent sorts who’ll do the right thing even when nobody’s looking. If you share that philosophy, slapping a few Belon.gs stickers on your stuff is an inexpensive vote of confidence in your fellow man.