Found Money

Cindysphinx · Feb 15, 2011

I was in the parking lot of a large supermarket yesterday. As I returned my cart to the corral, I saw a folded $20 on the ground. I picked it up and looked around. No one in sight. I looked around the corral. No driver's license or wallet or anything. So I just kept the money.

If you found $20 on the ground, would you feel an obligation to try to find the rightful owner? What if it was $100? Surely you don't have to trouble yourself to figure out who dropped $1, so what is the amount at which you should make a significant effort (like go to the police) to find the rightful owner? If you realized that you had dropped $20 at a supermarket, would you go to the front desk to see if anyone had turned it in?

The funny thing is that I've seen people drop money before, and I've always pointed it out to them. I don't think I've ever found a sum of money larger than a couple of dollars.

jmverdugo · Feb 15, 2011

If I see who dropped the money i will let them know for sure, but if I find money on a parking lot where people comes and goes and there is very little chance to find the owner of that money then I just keep it, in any case if you find more than $300 on cash on a parking lot is probably from a drug dealer or somebody that just rob a licor store! how much cash do people usually carry with them, usually I just have $20 or something like that...

mozzer · Feb 15, 2011

I woudl keep £20, nothing more than around £50 though without feeling incredibly guilty!

El Diablo · Feb 15, 2011

Found money is an easy one. A guy I know worked in the kitchen of a nursing home and found someone's dentures on a returned dinner tray. He kept them.

sapient007 · Feb 15, 2011

i'm just here to make sure that this is a thread about a found $20 bill

okay..

pabletion · Feb 15, 2011

One bill ($1, 5, 20 - $100) in a parking lot? If its 50 or 100 I would maybe look around to see anyone whose lost it... How is the owner gonna prove they lost a $100 bill?? Flippin the situation, if it was I who lost a $100 bill..., I dont know if I would even bother going back to the supermarket (if it were the case) and ask if anyone has seen it; Id prob go back to the parking lot and look around the area in case I see it, but with little hope and most likely consider it lost...

True story: when I was a kid we went to BUsch Gardens, and my dad had $1000 in cash inside a plastic blue check envelope, he had it inside his back pocket and it fell out somewhere.... He doesnt speak english so my big brother went with him to the lost and found and explained the situation. The person in charge just told them "hey.... just come back at the end of the day before you leave, just in case it turns up". Of course my dad was sure it was gone. At the end of the day, as we were leaving, we went to the lost and found and asked. The man in charge asked my dad what did the envelope looked like, and my dad said it was blue, and had the letters BI engraved on a corner (banks initials), with $1000 cash inside. The man goes, while pulling an envelope from a drawer: "is this it?".
He said a little girl had found it on the floor and had taken it to the lost and found.

How many more people wouldve done that? It wouldnt have killed us to not get it back, but that gesture sure saved our family vacation, and most importantly, stories like that are encouraging.

r2473 · Feb 15, 2011

I found some guys wallet on the copy machine at the University library. Looked inside and it had ~$1,000 cash as I recall (I didn't actually count it).

I tossed it in my bag, went about my normal day, and when I got back to my place, I just chucked it on my dresser and sort of forgot about it. I think it was a day or two later that I remembered it, pulled out the guys drivers license, found his number, called and left a message.

Guy called back sometime later that day and met me at a gas station. He had that much cash because he and his buddies were heading somewhere on spring break. He offered me $20. I told him to buy me a beer next time he sees me downtown.

sureshs · Feb 15, 2011

Strange thing happened to our relatives when they were traveling to visit us before Thanksgiving this year. They were in a not-so-great part of LA, it was dark, and raining. They stopped at a convenience store, and the wife who was feeding her baby forgot to close the back hatch of the SUV. As they drove away, they saw two guys waving their hands and shouting. Afraid of crime, they drove away. Then a minute later realized the trunk was open. Two bags had fallen away. They drove back and could find neither the bags nor the guys.

We had a lot of debate about what the guys were up to. Were they genuinely trying to communicate to the driver about the fallen bags? When the van drove away, were they right in assuming the stuff was theirs to keep (as it would simply have been lying there in the rain for somebody else to pick up)? Were they obliged to give the bags to the convenience store (knowing that the clerk may be suspicious about them about drugs/guns being in the bags)? Should they have called the police for whom this might be a low priority?

albino smurf · Feb 15, 2011

totally situational. random bills blowing around, no one present, I consider that luck. wallet or purse lying there, return it, then the person considers it lucky.

Rippy · Feb 15, 2011

If I knew who's it was, I'd give it back. But a note just lying on the ground, I'd keep it.

If it was a wallet, I'd either hand it in somewhere, or just leave it on the ground.

retlod · Feb 15, 2011

I've found fives, tens, and a twenty once and kept them. How can you expect to reasonably verify the honest owner of a lost bill? You can't. I also came across a fifty in a Best Buy several years back. Again, no one nearby, no one scouring the floors. I had my little cousin with me so I turned it in to customer service to set a good example. I'm sure the clerk just kept it.

Bhagi Katbamna · Feb 15, 2011

This is what I do: return it if I find the owner, donate it if I don't.

r2473 · Feb 15, 2011

retlod said:
I'm sure the clerk just kept it.

I tried to give the wallet to a guy working at the library (it was a student). I could tell by how he reacted that he was just going to keep it (and by the way, it was at the University of Iowa main library.....about 20 years ago).

But sure, if you find loose money on the floor, you might as well just keep it, unless someone is obviously looking for it. Then just ask a few questions (like how much and what kind of bills were lost). It should be pretty obvious if it is theirs or not.

JustBob · Feb 15, 2011

I once lost my virginity and it was never returned.

Thank you Miss V!

Cindysphinx · Feb 15, 2011

What I've told my kids with lost property is that the best thing to do is leave the item where it is (or put it nearby in a more visible location) on the theory that the person will be back for it. Funny, it's very hard for little kids to understand this lesson.

With lost cash, what I would do if it were a lot of money is leave a note saying I found valuables in the parking lot, with my phone number. If someone calls me and can say what the valuables are, they can have them.

I think I will donate the $20 to an animal shelter at which I volunteer. They have a donation box up front.

El Diablo · Feb 15, 2011

People yearn to be virtuous. One of the more famous psychology experiments involved asking passers-by to help load a couch into a truck. When asked, a certain percentage agreed to help. When asked with the promise of $10 for helping, FEWER people agreed to help. Interviews of the subjects found they didn't feel as good about themselves when money entered the offer so fewer accepted.

Cindysphinx · Feb 15, 2011

It's important to be virtuous. It's so easy to behave like pond scum, no?

sureshs · Feb 15, 2011

Cindysphinx said:
It's important to be virtuous. It's so easy to behave like pond scum, no?

It is important to be an activist for the greater good and keep evil from triumphing. Small things like returning a dropped $10 to someone is really not cutting it. So I suppose you can put me down as someone who does not believe in being virtuous.

GetBetterer · Feb 15, 2011

It takes 3 cents to make a penny, and money is burned every day because it is not as durable as coin money.

Keeping it is only good for the benefits of America, and therefore the People.

Cindysphinx · Feb 15, 2011

sureshs said:
It is important to be an activist for the greater good and keep evil from triumphing. Small things like returning a dropped $10 to someone is really not cutting it. So I suppose you can put me down as someone who does not believe in being virtuous.

Well, you can be an activist for the greater good and keep evil from triumphing.

And you can also return a dropped $10 bill.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive. Unless the person who dropped the $10 is Osama Bin Laden.

In which case the implications of the moral dilemma would make your head explode on the spot.

sureshs · Feb 15, 2011

Yeah I was just kidding.

Was just making the point that there are way too many people doing small nice things while ignoring what is going on in the world.

But then they would say small acts of kindness make a better world. I really don't know.

Cindysphinx · Feb 15, 2011

Do people do small nice things anymore? Some days I wonder . . .

SoBad · Feb 15, 2011

You probably dropped the bill yourself just before you found it, so keep it. Unless you just made this little story up inspired by the "Got Extra Item By Mistake, Would You Return?" thread from yesterday, which actually sounds even more likely.

rommil · Feb 15, 2011

Cindy, you sure you didnt drop it yourself so that you could just write about it?

JohnnyCracker · Feb 15, 2011

once, I found 20 bucks in my friend's car. I kept it. Told him 'finder keeper.' A week later he told me the same thing when he found 20 bucks in my unguarded wallet. What a punk! true story

spacediver · Feb 15, 2011

About three years ago, I was biking up to school and saw a wallet on the side of the road in the middle of a snowdrift. I stopped, picked it up, and found about $80 inside. At school, I printed out a dozen posters or so with a gmail email I created specifically for the occasion, and on my way home, I taped them up to all the lamposts on the block where I found it.

I got 2 or 3 emails but none of the senders were able to match the description of the wallet, so after a week, I decided to keep the money.

I made this decision after consulting with a few friends at school who told me that giving it to the police would probably not be the best idea, since if the police don't find the owner, they'd keep the money. Not sure if this is true though.

Cindysphinx · Feb 16, 2011

rommil said:
Cindy, you sure you didnt drop it yourself so that you could just write about it?

Ha!

Nope. The bill was in the cart coral, partially under a cart. I hadn't been to the cart coral and was entering it when I saw the money.

Besides, all of my money is in my wallet. It's kinda hard for $20 to fly out of my wallet and fly out of my purse and then fly to a place on the ground I hadn't been to yet.

A dude dropped the money, clearly.

You know, I did lose my wallet. Just once in my life. I was driving my daughter somewhere, and she was about 13 years old. She is a sloppy, careless person. Well, she asked me for some money, and I told her to go into my purse and get some. She took my wallet out of my purse, got the money and then -- didn't put the wallet back. She got out of the car and I drove back home and saw my wallet was gone. Clearly, she had knocked it out onto the ground when she got out of the car. Lost a bunch of gift cards, small amount of cash, credit cards and worst of all -- my driver's license.

I'm still surprised no one contacted me to turn it in . . .

Sentinel · Feb 16, 2011

Cindysphinx said:
I think I will donate the $20 to an animal shelter at which I volunteer. They have a donation box up front.

I was going to tell you to put it in the donation box for cancer victims in convenience stores in US, but your idea is wonderful. I am overjoyed to hear you volunteer at an animal shelter.

ProgressoR · Feb 16, 2011

I would keep the money and get my two eldest kids to stake out the car park for the next 72 hours in case more cash turns up. if that fails I tell the kids that cash in someones wallet is just the same cash that falls out, but in a different time dimension (ie before it falls out) so if they can get their hands on it, its theirs. i get 50%.

stanton warrior · Feb 16, 2011

If it's about small sums and no one's in sight, there's not much you can do.

Over 10 years ago a friend and me found a wallet with about 2000$ and a handful of creditcards in it. We returned it to the police, got a rant from our teacher because we were late, and never saw a $ of reward. Damn, were we pissed at the time...!

origmarm · Feb 16, 2011

Whenever I had found money I have always put it in a charity box. Just feels right. Someone else needs the luck more than I do.

Cindysphinx · Feb 16, 2011

Sentinel said:
I was going to tell you to put it in the donation box for cancer victims in convenience stores in US, but your idea is wonderful. I am overjoyed to hear you volunteer at an animal shelter.

Yeah, I kind of fell backward into it.

My kid needed community service hours, and he wanted to try this. Every kid volunteer needs an adult to volunteer also. That would be me.

The program is pretty intense. We have already attended a 2.5 hour general orientation. Then we attended 1 hour of training on how to work in the cat room. This weekend we attend a 2.5 hour session on how to work with the dogs. And today we go to do 2 hours of "cat socialization."

Did I mention I am allergic to cats? Pass the Claritin . . .

maleyoyo · Feb 16, 2011

My son once lost $300 cash at a local YMCA, the money from selling chocolate for his school. Some lady brought it to the front desk and left without leaving her name.
Sometime after that he found and returned an expensive watch to the front desk.
I'm a very happy man.

Sentinel · Feb 16, 2011

Cindysphinx said:
Yeah, I kind of fell backward into it.

My kid needed community service hours, and he wanted to try this. Every kid volunteer needs an adult to volunteer also. That would be me.

The program is pretty intense. We have already attended a 2.5 hour general orientation. Then we attended 1 hour of training on how to work in the cat room. This weekend we attend a 2.5 hour session on how to work with the dogs. And today we go to do 2 hours of "cat socialization."

Did I mention I am allergic to cats? Pass the Claritin . . .

Doesn't matter how you fell into it (haha). It's a good thing to take care of these neglected /forgotten ones. Thanks for replying.

SuperDuy · Feb 16, 2011

stanton warrior said:
If it's about small sums and no one's in sight, there's not much you can do.

Over 10 years ago a friend and me found a wallet with about 2000$ and a handful of creditcards in it. We returned it to the police, got a rant from our teacher because we were late, and never saw a $ of reward. Damn, were we pissed at the time...!

Oh man you shoulda kept it and left the wallet where you found it; thats the smart thing to do.

equinox · Feb 18, 2011

<$50 in street = keep, we've all dropped small change, just bad luck / carelessness.

>$100 with wallet or id = hand into police.

i used to consider handing in $ or item to owner of the venue. not anymore, goes to the police or a direct ph# contact.

once returned a phone to young girl. good deed for the day.

will say if i found huge amount of probable drug money, i'd be tempted to donate it to a charity.

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