AirPods are a bit pricey but cheap enough that I wouldn’t even bother reporting them lost to the local park authority. I doubt there’s much you can do besides a sign at the trailheads.
Valuing your time at $20 an hour, that's 8 hours worth of time for them. If the remote hiking spot is ~2 hours away, and it takes roughly an hour to deal with the park authorities, that's already 5 hours, plus transport.
Add in the inconvenience of not having them for somewhere between a few days and forever, and I'd also say they aren't really cheap but still it probably isn't worth the effort in that situation.
On the other hand, if someone makes 15 $/hr, but 50% of that goes to rent and other essentials, and they save a little, say 20%, for retirement, that leaves 30% or about 5 $/hr for discressionary spending, so the airpods come closer to 32 hr or 4 days of pay.
If I was certain that I would find them when I went back to look for them I would do it. It’s worth the time, but if the chance of finding them is only like 50% not worth the time, new one’s are probably better and have better battery life anyway. sour grapes perhaps yes
Yeah but he said "cheap enough" and I agree. If the owner didn't bother to mark it as lost in the Find My app, there's nothing you or Apple can do about it.
