I Am The Keymaster

"Drop in any mailbox, we guarantee postage." Did this really work, and was it cost-effective? Absolutely yes, and absolutely no.

When we got keys mailed back to us, they would arrive wrapped in a piece of taped paper with a postmark stamped on it. While you made small talk with the mail man ("Whaddya got, Stan?" "Got another one for ya there." "Oh yeah, people sure are forgetful. How's the wife?"), you went into the cash drawer for the quarter to pay the COD charges. That was the cost of the key, since the tags were cheap and the labor to make them was free (I ground the new keys myself). So why bother? Because it made the panicked guest feel better to know that when they discovered the key in their luggage days later, all they had to do was find the nearest mailbox. We ate the extra cost so they wouldn't freak out and do something crazy, like drive the key hundreds of miles back to our motel to return it. Yes, it happened -- honesty can make people do strange things.

photo from flintexpats.com