Found Wallet- what to do next?

[COcheesehead]

With a bit of web research, I found that UPS and USPS require a return address and name on the package.

My PO has a package drop box. I can drop a prepaid package in there with no return address.

 

[RetiredHappy]

My PO has a package drop box. I can drop a prepaid package in there with no return address.

+1

 

[jazz4cash]

This thread reminds me of the movie “Finder’s Fee” with James Earl Jones.

 

[Koolau]

Interesting how many people say to take it or mail it to the police, like they think the police would actually be honest and return it to the person who lost it. Not likely these days. If OP is so concerned about anonymity, what's wrong with mailing it back to them with no return address? Too simple?

On what do you base your distrust of the police in returning property? Most people pride themselves on doing their j*bs as best they can. I don't think police are any different in that regard. My dad lost his wallet at McDonalds and some 19 year old clerk there called him to come get it. Money/cards all in tact. I'd like to think police would be similarly honest.

I prefer to avoid police interaction due to privacy concerns but I don't distrust their basic honesty (Obviously, there are exceptions).

 

[rk911]

Interesting how many people say to take it or mail it to the police, like they think the police would actually be honest and return it to the person who lost it. Not likely these days...

I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of police officers over a 35-year career that includes a short stint as an auxilliary officer. I've dealt with gung-ho officers, lazy officers and even one or two not-terribly-bright but dedicated officers trying to do their best. But, in all those years, never, ever have I encountered a crooked officer or even heard about a crooked officer in any of the agencies and departments in which I worked or was associated with. Does it happen? Sure, but the number of crooked cops as compared to the total number is so, so small as to be statistically insignificant which is why, when it does happen, it makes headlines.

Those who step up and put on the uniform and go into harms way every day, day after day, are among the country's finest. Those men and women deserve support and respect from us all.

 

[badatmath]

With a bit of web research, I found that UPS and USPS require a return address and name on the package. That would not meet my anonymity requirements. This morning, I packed up the wallet and went to Pirateship.com to find the best / quickest way to ship it. UPS was 2 days quicker for only 5 cents more than USPS. When filling out the form for UPS, it would accept my street name with no house number. It would also accept "anonymous" as a name. All left to do now is to drop it off at the UPS Store about 1/4 mile away. If they notice the missing info, it is then up to them as to what they will do with it. It is out of my hands. Pirateship has my info if it gets that far. I am OK with that.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. What a great resource this website is!

Can't you just use a return address of the local CVS or some other public place? Perhaps one of the mailbox stores? I saw that you solved the issue but I just wondered.

 

[CRLLS]

Can't you just use a return address of the local CVS or some other public place? Perhaps one of the mailbox stores? I saw that you solved the issue but I just wondered.

Probably. I thought about it, but then I'd be lying. I'd rather leave out information than give false information. It is just me.

 

[latexman]

I think you could have put their address in the return address too.

 

[ransil]

With a bit of web research, I found that UPS and USPS require a return address and name on the package. That would not meet my anonymity requirements. This morning, I packed up the wallet and went to Pirateship.com to find the best / quickest way to ship it. UPS was 2 days quicker for only 5 cents more than USPS. When filling out the form for UPS, it would accept my street name with no house number. It would also accept "anonymous" as a name. All left to do now is to drop it off at the UPS Store about 1/4 mile away. If they notice the missing info, it is then up to them as to what they will do with it. It is out of my hands. Pirateship has my info if it gets that far. I am OK with that.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. What a great resource this website is!

Use the wallets guys address as sender and receiver

 

[Pluperfect]

Great little story and top notch amateur detective work with the camera! (Don't tell me: you were an English teacher. Yes?)

Not a chance. You know those SAT questions where you read a passage and then identify the theme or whatever? I have never, not even once, had even the vaguest idea what they were talking about. First noticed this deficit in junior high, and it's never gotten any better.

In mail-related news, I used to have a friend who lived in the same town I did. He'd send me a birthday card by addressing it to his own address, and putting my address as the return address, and not putting a stamp on it. I'd eventually get it. Never on time, but he knew I'd appreciate the hustle.

 

[StillFiguringItOut]

The last time I found a wallet, I called the credit card company to ask if the owner had cancelled the cards. They hadn’t yet, but the cc company had the owner’s phone number and called them while I was on hold. I returned the wallet within about an hour.

The time before that, around 1980, I found a wallet with what seemed like a cashed paycheck. There was over $350 in the wallet. I took it to the police station, left my info as well. Never heard if the owner got his wallet back. I’ve always been curious if the wallet was returned to the owner with no cash in it.

 

[Pluperfect]

I just remembered that I found a hearing aid at Lake Travis in Austin many years ago. I have hearing aids myself so I knew to look for a serial number on it, and contacted the manufacturer and they contacted the audiologist who'd dispensed the hearing aid. The audiologist called me and had me mail it to her. It turned out it belonged to a guy in south Texas who'd been up in Austin fishing, and was VERY happy I'd found it and tracked him down.

Oh, and more recently I found a hearing aid on the street in Olympia, Washington, in 2018. Found the serial number and contacted the manufacturer and they were more cagey than when I found one before, and had me send the hearing aid to them, and wouldn't tell me anything about whose it was. Mox nix to me--I just like reuniting people with their lost property, especially if it takes some cleverness to do it.

Between the hearing aids and the camera, you can probably see why my first instinct isn't to just hand over found property to the cops or whoever. I trust myself more than anyone else (like those cops who told the OP it wasn't in their jurisdiction--puhleez).

I don't intentionally look at the ground when I'm walking, but that's just how my head likes to be. But you could do a lot worse than have me in the vicinity of your lost property that presents a challenge to be identified as yours.

 

[statsman]

Not sure what I would do if I thought the person who lost the wallet was "sketchy". I probably would place it in a quart-sized freezer Ziploc bag, include a note indicating it was "Found" with an address from an ID, toss it in a mailbox, and cross my fingers that no one decides to dust the bag and contents for my fingerprints.

 

[Jerry1]

Look what popped up on my local new today.

A Farmington Hills couple is calling it their own Christmas miracle after a kind stranger drove from downtown Detroit to return a lost wallet right to their doorstep after the Christmas tree lighting.

They caught the person on their doorbell camera returning it. They weren’t home and the person put it in their mail box. The owners are trying to find out who the person was that returned the wallet and said they want to give her something for her trouble.

'We owe her a lot': Stranger returns lost wallet to Farmington Hills couple's doorstep

A Farmington Hills couple is calling it their own Christmas miracle after a kind stranger drove from downtown Detroit to return a lost wallet right to their doorstep after the Christmas tree lighting.

www.wxyz.com

 

[Pluperfect]

From the article:

The kind stranger had driven from Detroit all the way to Farmington Hills where the couple lives to return the wallet, leaving it full of cards and cash in the couple's mailbox.

How do they know that? Maybe she lives right down the street. And even if not, Farmington Hills is just a suburb of Detroit--it's not in the UP or anything.

Now the couple is putting out a call to find this Good Samaritan, so they can thank her properly and give her a gift for her troubles.

How about thanking her by putting yourself in her shoes? I suspect she doesn't want to be thanked, because she could have left her contact information if she wanted something in return for her trouble. Or if she does want to be thanked, she SHOULD have provided the information, instead of being coy and hoping her identity would be revealed by internet sleuths?

And if it were me, I definitely wouldn't want footage of me on the internet.

I guess it's true that no good deed goes unpunished.

 

[Jerry1]

They know she came from Detroit because that’s where the wallet was lost. And, while Farmington Hill is a suburb of Detroit, it was at least an hour of that persons life taken out to help someone out and do the right thing. I agree though that trying to find her and putting the video on the news was a bit over the line even though their desire to find her and thank her is understandable.

 

[jollystomper]

How about thanking her by putting yourself in her shoes? I suspect she doesn't want to be thanked, because she could have left her contact information if she wanted something in return for her trouble. Or if she does want to be thanked, she SHOULD have provided the information, instead of being coy and hoping her identity would be revealed by internet sleuths?

And if it were me, I definitely wouldn't want footage of me on the internet.

I guess it's true that no good deed goes unpunished.

I tend to disagree with this level of being paranoid , as I have been in a similar situation several times. I did not care about being thanked, I just wanted to do the right thing. But when the folks found out it was me and graciously thanked me, I accepted their thanks because that is what they wanted.

As for footage on the internet - I would not want footage of me if I was doing something evil or nasty. But performing a good work or deed, I would not care. Their is footage of both me and DW on the internet in good situations, and nothing bad has happened. Our good needs have not been punished, but appreciated .

 

[Pluperfect]

They know she came from Detroit because that’s where the wallet was lost. And, while Farmington Hill is a suburb of Detroit, it was at least an hour of that persons life taken out to help someone out and do the right thing

You're assuming she had to drive from Detroit, drop the wallet off, and drive back. We don't know that. For all we know she lives around the corner and, like the wallet loser, went to Detroit for the same light show and drove back home, and it took her an extra 30 seconds to drop it off.

I tend to disagree with this level of being paranoid , as I have been in a similar situation several times. I did not care about being thanked, I just wanted to do the right thing. But when the folks found out it was me and graciously thanked me, I accepted their thanks because that is what they wanted.

As for footage on the internet - I would not want footage of me if I was doing something evil or nasty. But performing a good work or deed, I would not care.

What measures did you take to not be thanked?

And you may not care about footage of you on the internet, but wouldn't it be nice to respect other people's wishes, and especially if they're not the same as yours?

I'm thinking the ultimate irony in all this would be if the woman is identified and ICE goes after her.

 

[COcheesehead]

The lesson here is leave your valuables at home if attending a holiday light show.

 

[jollystomper]

You're assuming she had to drive from Detroit, drop the wallet off, and drive back. We don't know that. For all we know she lives around the corner and, like the wallet loser, went to Detroit for the same light show and drove back home, and it took her an extra 30 seconds to drop it off.



What measures did you take to not be thanked?

And you may not care about footage of you on the internet, but wouldn't it be nice to respect other people's wishes, and especially if they're not the same as yours?

I'm thinking the ultimate irony in all this would be if the woman is identified and ICE goes after her.

Kind of racist for you to assume ICE is going after her, because she appears to be a minority, don't you think ? As well as hasten Porky to to this thread. BTW I am a dark skinned minority, son of immigrants, married to an immigrant, who does not worry about those things. I just worry about doing the right thing.

The measures I took was to simply provide the resources anonymously, also putting things in mailboxes and leaving them on the porch. But when I was found out (in one case the recipients refused to accept the gifts unless they knew who had provided them) there were no issues, other than gratefulness. And ICE did not investigate me .

You cannot assume you know what her wishes were anymore than I can. She did not just sneak up and stuff it in the mailbox. She rang the bell, obviously not minding if the homeowners knew who she was. If she had that level of paranoia she who have had a mask on .

 

[Pluperfect]

Kind of racist for you to assume ICE is going after her, because she appears to be a minority, don't you think ?

I have no idea what she looks like. I don't watch videos on the internet. I know she's a she only because that's how the story referred to her, and that's all I know about her.

The measures I took was to simply provide the resources anonymously, also putting things in mailboxes and leaving them on the porch. But when I was found out (in one case the recipients refused to accept the gifts unless they knew who had provided them) there were no issues, other than gratefulness. And ICE did not investigate me .

What gifts are you talking about? This thread is about returning people's lost property to them. I can't imagine anybody would condition acceptance of its return on identifying the person who found it and brought it to them.

You cannot assume you know what her wishes were anymore than I can. She did not just sneak up and stuff it in the mailbox. She rang the bell, obviously not minding if the homeowners knew who she was. If she had that level of paranoia she who have had a mask on .

Not minding if the homeowners see you is very different from having footage of yourself all over the internet with a plea to help identify you.

 

[jollystomper]

I have no idea what she looks like. I don't watch videos on the internet. I know she's a she only because that's how the story referred to her, and that's all I know about her.




What gifts are you talking about? This thread is about returning people's lost property to them. I can't imagine anybody would condition acceptance of its return on identifying the person who found it and brought it to them.




Not minding if the homeowners see you is very different from having footage of yourself all over the internet with a plea to help identify you.

If you have not idea what she looked like, I miss the point of why you would bring up ICE at all.

There are some people in the world who are so moved when someone does something nice to them, that they really want to thank them, and want to seek out who they are, as with this couple.

You seem to be confusing pleas to identify someone who has done something criminally, with a request to identify someone to thank them. We hear too much of the former and not enough of the latter - if you took the time to look, you would see that the latter situation has had a very limited internet scope and spread compared to the former ones .

 

[CRLLS]

OP here, The original topic was resolved. Thanks to all who contributed. Let's drop the whole issue regarding ICE, accused racism etc. Please take this type of discussion elsewhere. Thank you.

 

[badatmath]

I think you could have put their address in the return address too.

Actually my land line phone bill does that in the envelope they send.

 

[Pluperfect]

If you have not idea what she looked like, I miss the point of why you would bring up ICE at all.

To give an example of the law of unintended consequences. We have no idea why someone who doesn't want to be identified might not want to be identified, and should respect whatever measures they took to not be identified. To take ICE out of it, maybe she doesn't want anybody to know she was in Detroit that night.

There are some people in the world who are so moved when someone does something nice to them, that they really want to thank them, and want to seek out who they are, as with this couple.

We can't always get what we want.