How to Never Lose Anything in a Korean Taxi

If you’re like me, you carry a lot of expensive gear around, take the taxi often because of it, and fear most the prospect of leaving something worth a month’s rent in the back seat.

Well, I’ve lived in Seoul for 8 years now and have never lost anything in a taxi. Ever. And it’s because I use a few anti-theft, anti-drunk, and anti-stupid tricks to prevent this from happening.

Follow these rules and you will also never lose anything in a taxi.

THE 3-SECOND CHECK
Get into the habit of opening the door, actively looking at the seat and floor before closing the door, and then going on your way. A courteous taxi driver will catch on that you’re double-checking and often turn on the light for you. An asshole taxi driver might actually yell at you for holding him up. Screw all other worldly concerns — be in the habit of stepping out, do a 3-second check, seat-and-floor, then closing the door — whether traffic’s bad and they’re honking, or your driver’s kvetching at you. 3 seconds! That’s all. You just might see your wallet, camera, or iPhone there. I’ve picked my dropped iPhone off the taxi floor at least 5-6 times, and seen it where it fell out of my pocket a few times as well. But you have to make it a habit. Once you do, you’re 90% loss-proof. I once had a secondary camera bag in the seat next to me, which I kinda forgot about because I was very tipsy. But since it was a habit, I did the check even when I wasn’t in my right mind. Saved me $3000.

BE CONSISTENT AND DON’T TRUST YOURSELF WHEN YOU’RE NOT
I could almost never lose the normal day bag I use all the time. My shoulder feels empty without it. So I’d never get out of the cab without it  on. But say it’s a day when I stick my big camera bag in the trunk and my normal bag in the car — it’s ludicrously easy to blank out for a minute (remember, you’re used to a routine when exiting the cab, and you’re exiting with your normal bag) and forget you have something extra in the trunk. And yeah, you’ll realize 5 seconds after the taxi has jetted off, but now, you’re already up the creek. Hope you have good eyesight and can see the taxi company written on the cab. Prevention? When you have extra gear and use the trunk, put ALL your crap in the trunk. Then you’ll have the empty shoulder feel, it’s obvious that something’s missing, and you’ll never have that absent-minded moment in which $4000 of gear is cruising around the city, forgotten about by even the driver himself until the next time he opens the trunk.

RIDE FAMILIAR IF YOU CAN
I always try to use “친절” company cabs because they have KT “Eggs” inside, which gives your wireless Internet inside (the network name always starts with “KWI-abcdefg” numbers and the password is “SHOW3382” and is case-sensitive. If you get into the habit of looking for a certain taxi company, then you’ll be more likely to be in that cab if you lose something. Same with the call taxi — I have 친절 in my phone and try to use them as call taxi when I have to. Whatever call taxi company you use, though, if you leave something in there, you can call them and they’ll be able to know where you got in, what your destination was, and thereby which car picked you up.

USE YOUR CARDS
Stick one of your name cards in the cover of each piece of equipment or badge you own. There are lots of honest people who surprisingly may call you if they have the means to. I stick a name card inside the rubber cover of my iPhone, have one in my iPad, and have also written my email and number in magic marker on the bottom of my Macbook. I have a name card in each gear bag I own. It’s easy to do and might just save your ass if you get forgetful with the above rules.

IF YOU’RE ANAL…
You can always take only call cabs, or always take a pic or make note of the license plate number, or ID plate in the front passenger’s seat.

But basically, if you just follow the first rule here — the 3-second check — you’ll never lose anything. But don’t listen to me and spend 3 seconds investing in easy-and-free insurance against leaving expensive stuff in the car — some people like to try it the hard way and just not think about it. 3 seconds can save you countless thousands more, expressed in the time it takes to make the money back to replace your lost iPhone, DSLR, or every credit card, ID, and discount in your clutch bag.