How about them apples? Uber reveals most unique items forgotten in Montreal
Posted April 8, 2025 12:58 pm.
Last Updated April 9, 2025 11:23 pm.
From a bag of apples and a wig to a curtain rod and case for dentures, Montreal residents have left behind some rather unique items in Ubers, according to the company’s latest Lost and Found Index.
Uber releases its Lost and Found Index list annually, which uncovers the most surprising, peculiar and commonly forgotten items left behind by Canadian riders over the past year.
“In Toronto, someone forgot their gold teeth,” said Jonathan Hamel, Public Affairs Manager for Uber Quebec. “Someone else forgot a snare drum in Toronto, it’s quite large.”
“The story doesn’t say why people forget these things but it’s just funny to look at what people forget,” he went on to say.
#WATCH: "I forgot my suitcase in the trunk," says an Uber rider, after Uber released its annual Lost & Found Index showing that Canadians are quite forgetful with their belongings, even leaving strange things behind.
— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) April 10, 2025
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Canada’s most forgetful cities, in order, are Lethbridge, Alta., Kelowna, B.C., Victoria, B.C., Windsor, Ont., Saskatoon, Sask., Red Deer, Alta., Winnipeg, Man., Regina, Sask., London, Ont. and St. John’s, N.L.
Toronto, Ottawa and Calgary are the least forgetful.
Top 10 most commonly forgotten items in Montreal:
- Phone / camera
- Backpack / bag / folders / box / luggage
- Wallet / purse
- Headphones / speaker
- Keys
- Glasses
- Clothing
- Passport
- Vape / e-cig
- Jewelry / watch / make-up
The top 10 most unique items left across Canada
- Snare drum, Toronto
- Physics test, Ottawa
- Stuffed sloth, Edmonton
- Piano, Toronto
- Grandparents, Vancouver
- Fuchsia pink cane, Ottawa
- A rock from Japan, Vancouver
- Gold teeth, Toronto
- Cat urine sample, Toronto
- Euphonium (similar to a tuba), Vancouver
“They forget their cell phones, their coats and even umbrellas,” said current Uber driver Mario Gomez. “But the strangest thing I’ve found was an amulet.”
According to Uber’s Lost and Found Index, the most forgetful day of the week for Canadians falls on Saturdays and the most forgetful day of the year being New Year’s Day as well as Father’s Day – but Hamel says the province of Quebec is more forgetful on another specific day.
“We looked in Quebec on what day of the year where people forget most things and it was on Oct. 28, which seems kind of weird at first sight, but then we looked into it and Oct. 28 was the Saturday before Halloween,” explained Hamel.
“Most of the Halloween parties were being held on that night, so many people left stuff behind in the car.”
The index also shows that the hour in which Canadians most frequently lost their items was 11 p.m. ET.
“Clients tend to forget things mostly late at night,” confirmed Gomez.
The easiest way to retrieve a lost item is to contact the Uber driver, but if you left your phone in the car, you can log into your account from a computer instead.
“You’re going to go into your app, open your app, you’re going to find the last ride you took and then you’re going to press that you forgot an item, you’re going to describe it and then the app is going to match you with your driver,” said Hamel as he described the procedure to follow on the Uber app if you’re one of the forgetful riders who left an item behind.
Montrealers who have had an item left behind say that most of the time Uber drivers are helpful in bringing lost items back, but according to Hamel it might cost them $20 dollars if the Uber driver needs to take more time to get to the person.
“My dad came to the airport one time and he forgot his passport in the Uber and then he called back the driver and he found it,” said a local Montrealer as she described her father’s experience.
–With files from Lucas Casaletto
