A ankle monitor, an industrial meat slicer, a container of expressed breast milk, and a sealed package of live butterflies – these are not punchlines to a absurdist comedy sketch, but some of the weirdest items left behind in Uber vehicles over the past year. To mark the 10th anniversary of its annual Lost & Found Index, the leading US rideshare platform has released its decade-end roundup of the most unusual, unexpected, and culturally telling items forgotten by riders across the country.
For 2026, New York City claimed the unenviable title of America’s most forgetful major city, with Sunday taking the crown as the day of the week when riders are most likely to leave belongings behind in backseats. Beyond this year’s rankings, the 10th anniversary edition of the index doubles as a retrospective of changing cultural trends across the past decade, turning the collection of lost items into an unofficial pop culture time capsule.
“From AirPods becoming an everyday essential that’s constantly left behind, to vaccine cards and cloth face masks dominating lost item reports in 2021, Ozempic pens turning up in backseats in 2025, and viral Labubu plushies claiming a spot on this year’s list, the Lost & Found Index has become an unexpected time capsule of the past decade,” Uber explained in an official press release.
As the dominant player in the US rideshare industry, Uber handles a staggering volume of lost item reports every year. Per 2024 market data from Bloomberg Second Measure, Uber controls 76% of the US rideshare market, far outpacing rival Lyft and smaller competitors. That massive market share translates to more than one million phones reported lost in Uber vehicles in just the past 12 months alone.
This year’s roundup of the 50 most unique lost items includes a lineup of deeply unusual belongings that range from the surprising to the slightly shocking: George Washington University hospital discharge papers, a textured portrait of Jesus embellished with rhinestones, a two-pound container of blue raspberry Gushers candy, a set of partial teeth wrapped in tissue, 20 pounds of duck sausage, medical pelvis implants, a child’s prosthetic eye, and a signed group photo of 1970s pop icon Donny Osmond, among many others.
Looking at 2026’s top trends in lost items, vapes and e-cigarettes, viral Labubu plush dolls, all types of dental items (including gold grills and cosmetic veneers), and Croc sandals were the most commonly forgotten unique belongings over the past year.
The index also looks back at the most headline-grabbing unique lost item from each year the project has run: a live lobster in 2017, finalized divorce papers in 2018, a raw salmon head in 2019, a lanyard emblazoned with the phrase “virginity rocks” in 2020, an oversized oil painting of Kate Middleton in 2021, 500 grams of high-end caviar in 2022, a live toy poodle (accompanied by a frantic note that read “MY DOG IS IN THE CAR!!!”) in 2023, a prosthetic fake butt in 2024, a taxidermied rabbit in 2025, and a full 75-gallon fish tank in 2026.
To coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Lost & Found Index, Uber announced it will roll out a streamlined, updated lost item reporting process to its mobile app, with a full national launch scheduled for the end of 2026. The new feature is designed to make it faster and easier for riders to reconnect with belongings they left behind.