help with range.find method not finding search term

I am trying to speed up the following function using the .find method rather than the original DO loop.
I can't figure out why the str is not found by the .find method
FYI, I have it set up to run both methods of finding the row number to determine if the new method always returns the same as the original method before I delete the original DO loop.

Public Function GetRowByID(str As String) As Long
    Dim row As Integer
    Dim newrow As Integer
    Dim r As Range
    Dim r2 As Range
    Dim rng As Range
    row = 1
    
    ' original code
    ' returns the row number for found string or
    ' row number of first row where string =""
    With Sheets(snOBJECTDATA)
        Set r = .Range(OBJECTSTORE_RANGENAME)
        Do Until r(row, COLID) = str Or r(row, COLID) = ""
            If str = r(row, COLID) Then Exit Do
            row = row + 1
        Loop
    End With
    
    ' new code to find the row number faster
    newrow = 0
    Set rng = Worksheets(snOBJECTDATA).Range(OBJECTSTORE_RANGENAME).Columns(COLID)
    Set r2 = rng.Find(What:=str, Lookin:=xlValues, LookAt:=xlWhole)
    If Not r2 Is Nothing Then newrow = r2.row

    'check if new method result matches original method
    If newrow <> row Then
        MsgBox ("newrow:" & newrow & "  row:" & row)
    End If

GetRowByID = row
end function

Thanks in advance.