Phone Chargers and Cables for Free

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.



All of us lose or damage our phone chargers and cables sometimes because, well, they're flimsy and break easily and also because it's easy to lose them. It's also a real pain to have to fork over $30 or more to buy a new cable or charger.

Well, don't.

Go to any of the larger hotels in your city and simply walk up to the concierge or front desk and say, "I have lost my phone charger, do you guys have any spare ones?" In over 99% of cases, the clerk will return with a box full of chargers for every type of phone imaginable. Just pick the one that's for your phone and walk away. Every day, thousands of people check out of hotel rooms and forget to unplug their phone chargers and take them. As a result, hotels have a large number on hand to give to others who may need them. Yes, I said give, not lend. Most hotels don't know what to do with the number of charger accessories they have and often end up trashing them.

So, technically, you're not staying at the hotel so this is a bit of an iffy premise, but then again, you never told them you were staying at the hotel, so it's not like you're lying or anything.

Trust me, you are not taking anything away from anyone else.