Trackitback, It’s Laptop Insurance
Trackitback, which calls itself as a lost and found service, is esentially in the business of insuring laptops (and other gadgetry) against theft.
Here’s their official pitch:
Trackitback is a 24/7 Lost & Found Service for portable items. In today’s world, almost everyone owns a cell phone, camera, notebook, MP3 player or other valuable item. And the more gadgets we have, the more likely we are to misplace them. Unfortunately only 5% of lost items are ever returned to their rightful owners due to a lack of identification and convenient return process. Until now!
I think that it’s a half-assed attempt at laptop insurance. Disclaimer: I have never used their service, but I do have half-a-brain to understand how it works.
The label you buy is actually the premium you pay you avoid a small probability of loss in the future. So in case your laptop gets lost, there’s a label attached promising the finder of your laptop a reward if they call a phone number and turn it in.
The company is betting on the fact that there are more folks who worry (willing to buy insurance) than there are honest people in the world (who have to be paid a reward). It’s a crude way of doing business, but you can say that about the insurance industry in general (insurance/warranty premiums are always greater than the expected payouts — that’s how they make money).
The fact that their in business means piece-of-mind is worth something to people. Maybe a sticker on the side of your iMac helps you sleep better at night. For you folks, Trackitback is at your service.
UPDATE: Trackitback’s President, Jason Wagner, just commented gave me the some stats about the rate of recovery:
We have a recovery rate of over 80% and actual clients to prove it.
I was probably a bit too critical with this post. Just like I said, I’ve never tried the service before. So thanks for clarifying the facts, Jason.
November 17, 2005 at 3:56 pm
Hello Omar,
I read your “piece” on my company, Trackitback and wanted you to know that I respect your opinion. I think this is where I am suppose to say that “any publicity is good publicity”?
The bottom line is that if you lose your laptop and all of its valuable information, you will be very upset. By using Trackitback, you have increased the odds of having it returned to you. And, we pay the shipping charges to get it back to you.
We have a recovery rate of over 80% and actual clients to prove it. I encourage you to watch the Chicago Loves Trackitback video on our website at http://www.trackitback.com/northamerica.php . True, in this video, these are cell phones being returned but, my guess is that these honest people would have returned a laptop as well.
People are honest and want to return things, Trackitback simply gives them a convenient way to do so.
Thanks for hearing me out!
Regards,
Jason Wagner
President
Trackitback