People lose stuff in the outdoors. It just happens. The rod tube cradling my beloved Winston 5-weight somehow took wing and soared out of my backpack and landed on a county road. Knives evaporate from my pockets and never reappear. Sunglasses vanish like Jimmy Hoffa, never to be seen again.
All this is mostly just an annoyance if it’s cheap stuff. But sometimes it isn’t cheap stuff. Sometimes, we pay serious money for that rod or those drift boat oars or that giant fly box filled with our favorite flies. It would be nice to be able to get it back if it somehow decides to vanish without a trace.
Enter Karmik Outdoors based in Boise, Idaho. Aaron Akins and Robert Gillingham hit upon a simple idea: create an online lost-and-found service for outdoor enthusiasts. There is no initial activation fee required — simply purchase the individualized QR code decals at $3.99, then activate them by scanning the code with your phone or entering in the ID number using your desktop. Put the decals on your gear and walk away reassured that if you misplace your items, you will get them back.
After one year the active decal costs $1.99 annually to renew. When someone finds your lost gear and scans the code on the decal, you’re notified via email — you then get your gear back and the good Samaritan gets a reward. Simple, right? And pretty darn cool.
www.karmikoutdoors.com, $3.99