Found $ What would you have done?

[EarlyandLate]

I found a folded $100 bill in the middle of the cereal aisle in Walmart. I picked it up and checked adjacent aisles for anyone who looked likely to have lost it. The store was not very busy. Then I went up front and asked the register manager if anyone had reported lost money. She seemed completely unconcerned and told me to ask at the service desk. I waited in the line and got nothing from the service desk lady. I waited around up front for about 20 minutes to see if anyone looked panicked at the checkouts, but saw nothing. I waited as long as I could. I felt so bad that someone lost their grocery money. Would you have done anything different?
I'm thinking I'll donate it to a food bank.

 

[Gumby]

.... I'm thinking I'll donate it to a food bank.

That would be a very nice thing to do.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I think you did all that you should have been expected and probably more. Keep it or donate it as you are considering.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I found $60 on the ground about 2 months ago while walking my dog.

I found a $100 dollar bill in a restaurant about a month ago.

I still pick up any coins I see.

I keep all of it.

 

[Sojourner]

Would you have done anything different?

Nope, you did exactly what I would've done. Although I probably wouldn't have waited 20 minutes at the front of the store before giving up and heading home.

I'm thinking I'll donate it to a food bank.

Excellent idea.

 

[CRLLS]

You did what I would do. You tried as best you could, short of leaving your name, which I would not have done either.

 

[RunningBum]

When he was about 10 or 12 my son found a $100 bill in a gas station lot while we were traveling. It was right where he got out of the car door so the previous person probably dropped it getting in or out. We did something similar, looked around to see if anyone was frantically looking around for money. I don't recall if we asked the counter clerk. We didn't hang around nearly as long since whoever dropped it almost certainly was gone, unlike a Walmart shopper who might not realize it until checkout time later. I think you did your best to find the owner without inviting false claims for it.

 

[COcheesehead]

I was with my brother walking and we found $20 laying on the curb. Two woman were chatting nearby. My brother walked up to them and said, here, one of you dropped this. Made their day. Made mine too.

 

[W2R]

I found a folded $100 bill in the middle of the cereal aisle in Walmart. I picked it up and checked adjacent aisles for anyone who looked likely to have lost it. The store was not very busy. Then I went up front and asked the register manager if anyone had reported lost money. She seemed completely unconcerned and told me to ask at the service desk. I waited in the line and got nothing from the service desk lady. I waited around up front for about 20 minutes to see if anyone looked panicked at the checkouts, but saw nothing. I waited as long as I could. I felt so bad that someone lost their grocery money. Would you have done anything different?
I'm thinking I'll donate it to a food bank.

I'd probably have left it where it was, pretending I didn't see it. The moral/ethical problem would then go to the next person to see it.

 

[athena53]

You tried enough. I would have donated it also.

 

[brucethebroker]

Curious if the amount of the find enters into what we do. Would OP have spent all that time looking for the owner if it was $1? $5? $10? Most likely not. I have never found $100, but have found $5, $10 and $20 plus numerous change and $1 bills. I have kept all of it.

I am too skeptical to ask clerks, etc, (anticipating padding a liar's pocket0. I would approach someone who was obviously looking for lost money on the floor, but that is it. I sure would not have spent time in line at the service counter (all good deeds are punished?).

Not a criticism, OP. I applaud your taking the time to find the owner. But My Mileage does Vary.

 

[Car-Guy]

With all the cameras in stores these days, I'm surprised they couldn't "try" to see who lost it.

 

[Ronstar]

I think OP did the right thing. Similar thing happened to us (our work survey crew in the early 1980's). One of us found a $100 bill in the parking lot of a grocery store after work. We went into the store and asked the manager if anyone had reported losing money. We didn't tell him the amount.

Nobody had reported missing money, so we gave the manager our phone number and told him to call us if someone showed up looking for lost money. Got a phone call a little later from a frantic lady saying that she had lost a lot of money. We asked her the amount and demonization. She said a single $100 bill. We drove back to the grocery store and gave her the money.

 

[CRLLS]

I have found a sizable Menards rebate ticket in their parking lot. I turned it in to the front counter.

On a different note, a few weeks Later I saw on my "USPS" informed delivery email that I had was getting my Menards rebate that day. When I checked the mailbox, it was not with my other mail. Somebody must have either pilfered it or it got delivered elsewhere. I called the Menards Rebate center to see what could be done. They saw it had not been used yet. They cancelled the one rebate and sent me a new one. That guy is going to be surprised to find out the card he stole was worthless.

 

[Sunset]

I have found a sizable Menards rebate ticket in their parking lot. I turned it in to the front counter.

On a different note, a few weeks Later I saw on my "USPS" informed delivery email that I had was getting my Menards rebate that day. When I checked the mailbox, it was not with my other mail. Somebody must have either pilfered it or it got delivered elsewhere. I called the Menards Rebate center to see what could be done. They saw it had not been used yet. They cancelled the one rebate and sent me a new one. That guy is going to be surprised to find out the card he stole was worthless.

For me, the "USPS" informed delivery email is only roughly accurate, sometimes the mail arrives a day early (before I'm told it will) or a day late. So I never worry until after the next day if the mail is important.

 

[Sunset]

OP - You did the right thing, more than many would do.

I found a single $50 bill in a parking lot once, of a mall, nobody around, no idea where the person went, so I kept it.

Once I found a purse in a shopping cart, in the literal middle of the parking lot and zero cars around it. I looked inside expecting to find an empty purse, but it was full of cash and stuff. I took it home, looked up the person, phoned them and eventually got the person who came right away.
I really didn't trust the store clerk to not skim a few $100 if it went to lost and found.

 

[MC Rider]

.... We asked her the amount and demonization. She said a single $100 bill. We drove back to the grocery store and gave her the money.

They do say money is the root of all evil.


I say finders keepers losers weepers.
I have been on both ends of it so...

 

[NW-Bound]

Found money ? I found several $K recently...




... but it was mine.

I forgot to update the balance of an MF account which does not have Quicken download access. And the dividend year-end payout had to be entered by hand, which I failed to do.

 

[marko]

BTD!!!

 

[rk911]

That would be a very nice thing to do.

+1^^^^^

other than turn it in to the local law you. did pretty much what i would've done.

 

[Teacher Terry]

You tried very hard to find the owner. There’s nothing else you could have done.

 

[Ian S]

Back in the 90's when I worked at a University, I returned to my car in the parking garage early one evening and noticed a briefcase on the ground next to my car. There was no parked car in that spot and no one else around. I opened it and there were a lot of papers as well as a laptop - which was a very expensive item in those days. I also saw a business card but since this was before cell phones I decided to take the briefcase home with me and call the person from there. Wow, there was a very happy person when I called! They didn't wait but came out that evening to get it. The laptop had a lot of critical business info on it apparently. They offered a reward but I declined.

Fast forward about 20 years and I had just returned from the local grocery store only to find that my wallet was not in my pocket. The sweat pants I wore had rather shallow pockets and I was sure it had fallen onto the pavement when I got into my car. Rushed back to the store but no trace of the wallet where I'd parked. Feeling a bit desperate, I went into the store to their service desk and asked if someone had turned it in. I described the wallet and the lady went into the back room and came out with my wallet. Even had the money still in it! Karma? I like to think so.

As far as the OP's story, I think they did the right thing and donating the cash to a foodbank is a great idea.

 

[Gumby]

They do say money is the root of all evil.
...

It is the love of money that is the root of all evil, not money itself, which has no agency.

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV)

 

[jollystomper]

TO the OP, you made an effort, that is all you can do. Donating what you found is a very kind gesture.

When I DJed at parties and clubs, several times after the event I saw rolled up currency lying around in the venue. However, I had no interest in touching anything that was likely in at least one persons nose and likely still have traces of cocaine or other drugs on it .

The most I ever "found" was by in my radio and party DJ days. I was unofficially guest DJing at a club (the club DJs would sometimes stop by the radio station I was on at the time and gave me an open invitation to come by). While in the booth the club owner stopped in to see how things were going, with 2 women with figures that would make a grown man cry. He hung out for about 20 minute, on a couch in the booth with the women, watching me mix records, before moving on to another one of his businesses (this one happened to be a "gentlemans club"). about 30 seconds after they left I took a break, and noticed a roll of bills next to the couch. The club DJs said oh crap, that's probably his. I volunteered (as the guest) to try to track him down, so I ran out thru the club outside.

He was still in his car with the women, so I knocked on the window. I showed him the roll, he reached into a pocket and got a look that I knew he had dropped it. He wanted to "reward" me by inviting me to hang out a the "gentleman's club", and one of the women made the comment along the lines of "I could have a lot of fun with an honest man". But... that just was not me, I graciously declined. He left it as "come by anytime, its on the house", but I never followed up.

Yeas ago of my brothers and a couple of friends were once cutting through a lot in a sketchy neighborhood at dusk when they noticed a backpack in the brush, they looked and saw it had money in it... but they figured this might be part of some illicit transaction, so they just ran off as quickly as they could.

 

[flyingaway]

I never pick up money from the ground as long as it is not mine. Watched a lot of videos about people intentionally putting money there and making some videos of it.