Found Money - Am I a thief?

[Slug]

NOTE: I didn't see an money ethic/moral reasoning section so I'm posting this here. If it should be moved, feel free to do so. Thanks.

I'm a big believer in giving lost money a home (in my own pocket). I remember vividly as a ~9 year old going to the dime store down the street from my grandmother's house. One day I noticed that there was a large cache of pennies in a storm drain. I looked around, found a stick and an old piece of chewing gum, and spend the next 20 minutes unabashedly pulling out change (yes, I guess I've always been this way). I of course spent none of it and took it back to grandma's richer than when I left. I almost always pick up change these days though sometimes I'm reluctant to do it around clients (esp. new clients). I have been known to go back for it later though :-)

A friend once made the argument to me that the money was not mine so I should just leave it there. He and I both are very strong adovcates for private property rights. He intimated that the owner may come back for it. Now with the random penny in the grocery store parking lot this may seem a little far-fetched, but it is possible I suppose. I noted that I had a greater reluctance to pick up change on private property than on public property because even though a grocery store parking lot is a fairly public place it is owned or leased by the grocery store and thus the money technically belongs to them I would think (if the true coin-dropper is unable to be located). Should I be turning this money in? I think that would be weird. "Um hi, yeah, I was um in the parking lot and I found this penny that's been run over like 50 times and um it must be yours, right?" I can see them pressing the secret button to alert security now.

Perhaps I should impose a waiting period based on valuation such as 1 second per cent so that I would just wait a second if I found a penny but would wait 8 minutes and 20 seconds if I found a $5 bill? If noone showed to claim it then I could keep it. What if it's an office setting meaning the likelihood of finding the rightful owner could be much higher? What's the ratio of # of employees to value of found money that needs to be in place before I should start asking around?

For now I've settled on giving the money a home in my son's 529 plan. I just consider it random donations from the public at large to someone whose work may benefit said public sometime in the future (but I still write it off the contribution on my state taxes :-)

Any thoughts (besides me spending way too much time thinking about this)?

NOTE: Reposted from my blog that I can't link to yet b/c my account's too new

[Broken Arrow]

I don't remember too clearly about this, but there may be local laws in place which states that you should turn any money (at least wallets and large rolls of cash, not a bag of pennies down the drain) into the proper authorities. There, if it remains unclaimed for X amount of days, that money becomes yours.

Legal and guilty free.

Otherwise, I admit this can be a moral gray area. Personally, if I ever had the fortune of having this dilemma, I'd just call up my local police department to be sure....

[disneysteve]

I think if you find a nominal amount that could rightfully be thought to have dropped out of someone's pocket - coins or a small amount of cash - they aren't likely to return so go ahead and keep it.

If, however, you find a wad of bills, an envelope or bag of cash or some significant amount that someone would clearly miss, that's a different story. Nobody is going to go searching high and low if they realize a dollar fell out of their pocket, but if they lost the envelope from their just-cashed paycheck, they sure will.

[simpleyme]

I went to a play at my child's school and witnessed something funny there was a quarter on the floor it was in plain sight and most people seemed to notice it , everyone looked at it and walked on

after the play we were asked to help put away the chairs ,the quarter was still there, finally I saw a woman pick it up and set it on a nearby riser near her coat and purse but surprising when I came back about 10 minutes later the quarter was still there but the lady and her stuff was gone

so I pointed it out to my son and he went and picked it up ;-) i had to laugh as my DH says to me I had seen that quarter and it was killing him that no one picked it up LOL

It is so easy to find change everywhere as no one wants to be caught picking it up ;-)

[PrincessPerky]

No matter the amount, look around for someone in the process of moving change collecting stuff, or a kid pulling pockets inside out..but after finding nothing but folk passing by, IMO

Less than a buck take it,

1-5..eh iffy look around a couple times...

5 or more, turn it in (or if you are on private property knock and hand over).

Having never found more than a quarter I feel no guilt about keeping it, well usually the kids get it.

[Slug]

Originally Posted by simpleyme

SNIP

so I pointed it out to my son and he went and picked it up ;-) i had to laugh as my DH says to me I had seen that quarter and it was killing him that no one picked it up LOL

It is so easy to find change everywhere as no one wants to be caught picking it up ;-)

I guess a further question is why is it that noone wants to be caught picking it up? What are they afraid people are thinking? Some options might be:

1- Oh look Slug is so poor he has to pick up change off the ground.
2- Oh look Slug is taking that quarter - I know it's not his.
3- Hey! That's my quarter!

I guess probably all of these would fall under 'fear of embarassment if confronted'

I would've probably pulled the ol' step on the quarter and then bend over to tie my shoe trick...

[simpleyme]

I know that shoe tying trick too slug LOL

a good way to save face is to reach over and hand it to your child after picking it up ;-) then if the owner happens to be near by they likely will not care that a child has gotten away with their nickle ;-)

if you have no child, well you are already saving a lot of money leave that nickle for me LOL (just kidding)

[Slug]

Ha! Note the 529 reference in the original post...

[maat55]

Yes your wierd, just keep the money unless you know who lost it. I own a furniture business in which we do reupholstery. We find change in pieces here and there and we keep it, it's a self declared tip. Of course we return anything of real value.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by maat55

I own a furniture business in which we do reupholstery. We find change in pieces here and there and we keep it, it's a self declared tip.

I think that is a bit different than finding a dollar in a parking lot. You DO know who that money belongs to. It belongs to the owner of the furniture. Imagine what great publicity you would get through word of mouth advertising if you returned that sofa with an envelope and a little note saying, "Here's the $.53 in change we found while working on your sofa."

At what point is the amount enough to return to it's rightful owner? $1? $5? $10? I think if you know who it belongs to, the right thing to do is return it.

[InDebtInDC]

What about large amount of money together with a large bag of drugs on public property? You know if you turned it in the authority will never give it back to you. If you kept it you better hope nobody ever finds out. What do you do?

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by InDebtInDC

What about large amount of money together with a large bag of drugs on public property? You know if you turned it in the authority will never give it back to you. If you kept it you better hope nobody ever finds out. What do you do?

I make very, very sure that nobody is watching before grabbing that money and getting out of there.

[simpleyme]

disneysteve that's what I was thinking toas I have no interest in drugs so I would just take the money ;-)

leaving the drugs for the next guy ;-)
I would not want to be greedy

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by simpleyme

disneysteve that's what I was thinking toas I have no interest in drugs so I would just take the money ;-)

leaving the drugs for the next guy ;-)
I would not want to be greedy

Of course, for all you know, the bag of drugs might actually be more valuable than the bag of money. I'd still go for the money, though.

[maat55]

steve

What about the great publicity. Doctor finds drugs and money, turns it into police. Film at eleven. LOL

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by maat55

Doctor finds drugs, turns it into police. Film at eleven. LOL

There, fixed that for ya.

[atomicrc11]

I had an odd occurance once at a local restaurant. I was sitting at the bar and a guy came up to buy drinks. I saw him pay and walk away and noticed he dropped $20 on the ground. I picked it up and walked over to him and told him he dropped it. He said it wasn't his and insisted that I must have dropped it. At this point I backed off and let things be. I assume the situation would have gone differently if he wasn't going back to his table after his 4th beer....lol

[maat55]

Good one BA. Them money hungry Doc's.

[maat55]

I don't usually loose 20 bucks until the sixth beer, that's when my golf swing gets a little sloppy.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I try to return money in an envelope/wallet. But not if it's lose. I've found 20 - $1 near a strip club. NO idea. But I've returned wallets. I've lost mine 3 times, so I need the karma.