Seoul Metro will launch a doorstep delivery service for lost items starting next month, making it easier for out-of-town residents and busy commuters to reclaim belongings without visiting a lost-and-found center

Lost items held at a Seoul Metro lost-and-found center. [Seoul Metro]
Lost items held at a Seoul Metro lost-and-found center. [Seoul Metro]

A college student from Daejeon once left a bag full of textbooks on a Seoul subway train. When the lost-and-found center called to say the bag had been recovered, she still had to make the trip back to Seoul to pick it up.

An office worker faced a different problem: the lost-and-found center operates only on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. — the same hours he was at work — so retrieving his wallet meant burning a day of annual leave.

Situations like these are set to become far less common. Seoul Metro announced Thursday that starting next month it will launch a doorstep delivery service, shipping recovered items directly to any address a customer chooses.

The new service lets customers receive their belongings at home, at work, or any other location without visiting a lost-and-found center in person. Customers contact the center to confirm their item is being held and complete an identity verification process, then enter a delivery address and pay the shipping fee through a dedicated online portal. Some items — including food and cash — are excluded from the service.

Seoul Metro has operated a related service since June last year, allowing customers to pick up lost items from subway station lockers. Through the "Ddota Locker" app, users select a station, pay the fee, and collect their belongings at a time that suits them, such as on the way home from work.

With the addition of doorstep delivery, customers can now choose between picking up their items at a nearby station locker or having them shipped directly to their home or workplace. More than 160,000 lost items were reported on the Seoul subway last year.

"We will continue to develop practical, everyday services that citizens can feel the difference from, and work toward making the subway a more convenient experience," Seoul Metro President Kim Tae-gyun said.


ikson@heraldcorp.com