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Once in a while guests forget something at my house and I have to send it to them. I ask for the shipping cost (after I sent it so they have proof) and an additional $25 since this is MY cost having my house manager doing so (I live 2.5 hours from the house).
Do you charge extra for sending forgotten items? Obvisouly for the shipping cost but what about your time?
Yes… charge per hour. It’s justified since you had to pay someone to do it.
Or you can ask them to send UPS or Fed X to pick it up with a prepaid box. I think they offer that service.
I felt bad asking for the FedEx. Guy forgot an Apple charger, it will cost more to ship but he wants it back. Go figure…
I have it in my house rules that guests need to make sure they have everything before they check out, because I am unable to mail items back.
If you don’t want to do that, I would suggest that it would be the guest’s responsibility to have the item picked up from your house and delivered to them. They can arrange this through most courier companies.
Do not feel bad, why should you spend money because someone was careless?
Another idea is get them to print a prepaid label and then charge them to take it to the drop off place.
Never forget…
DO NOT WORK FOR FREE… !!!
I don’t mind doing it. Hey, it’s human. We’ve all been there. Just a few month ago I rented an Rv and forgot my son’s toys. They guys FedEx it the day after for no charge.
So it does suck when you forget something. I simply felt odd saying hey, it’s $10 for the time I’m putting into it.
At the other listing, sure. It’s my cost and I can’t get it lower - it is what it is.
I hear you but… these are the kinds of things that begin to add up and make us exhausted in the end. You can justify it by saying I had to pay someone to do this errand. ? Why? Because people don’t work for free!
Right on!
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Yes, I tell them I will send it. And then don’t.
No… what you say is:
It’s “$10 for shipping and handling…”
That’s the package, bubble wrap or peanuts, wrapping it up, driving, and postage – most people understand “and handling.”
Yes, the RV company sent it no charge, but they are most likely working on a higher profit margin than you are. They are also hoping you will rent from them again and tell everyone how great they were.
So - if you think the guest will come back again (and you want him back) and tell his friends and they will book, too - send it at no charge.
Or just buy him a new one over Amazon and send it to him - it might be cheaper!
Some stuff gets left that looks like trash so I treat it as such.
Other stuff I message asap but very rare for anybody to come back.
Not had a situation where they want to mail, I would collect my costs of that happened.
I have not shipped anything. I would do it for cost of shipping if I had the supplies here. USPS will pick up priority packages at my home for free and I already have the boxes here. I have boxes and tape and bubbles so those costs would be very minimal. If I have to go out to get supplies or drop it off I would charge a little extra.
When I was managing the beach house here, a guest called in a mad panic on the way to the airport and demanded someone bring their forgotten laptop immediately. Seeing how the airport is an hour away, I told them I just couldn’t do it and they needed to return. When I went down there to check on it, to take it off the lanai, I discovered there was no laptop. … then got a message from the guest, oh we had packed it in a bag and forgot we packed it. Eye roll. Waste my time! This was one of the last straws for me to quit that role… along with the time guests made a call up here for someone to come down and move their lounge chairs from the house lanai to the beach. Say what. Move your own damn chairs!
Really really really done…
A fee?? I don’t even charge for shipping costs unless it is big.
I’m harsh about this. I rent to adults. If they want their stuff they’ll take it with them.
For something expensive I’ll hold on to it for a week in case they want to prepay shipping to have it sent on.
So far no one has.
Does that means you NEVER forgotten anything behind?
Not that I recall. It’s not hard to check around and find all of one’s stuff. If I did leave something, it wouldn’t be the responsibility of the host to return it to me. So far, in five years, no one has wanted anything they left behind.
I’ve posted something a guest has left behind before at the cost price, which I was more than happy to do, however they left on a Monday, and I didn’t manage to make the post office the next day due to busy day at work so I sent a message saying I would go in my work lunch hour the next day, to which they sent me a stroppy messsge reminding me of their international flight the next week!! I didn’t get that package in the post to late Friday afternoon after that! 
Of course they didn’t leave me a review!
Time is counting the down for a review to be left for the next good deed I did for somebody on a recent stay!
I would be so appreciative if anybody went out of their way for me, as it seems a rarity in people these days - leaving a glowing review would be the least I could do!
I have shipped items back to guests three times so far. I do not charge for my time. I do ask them to pay for the amount of the shipping charge. They decide how an item will be shipped. One needed overnight. He left his interview shirt and needed in NYCity for an interview.
I would hope that someone would be willing to do this for me.
And yes, they all thanked me and left nice reviews.