AIBU to regret handing in cash found in a wallet?

You did the right thing, albeit unwillingly. That person out there might be in a difficult financial situation themselves and be so relieved to have that money back.

I found a handbag at a bus stop a few years back, it had hundreds of euros in and also the ID of the owner. I waited a bit to see if she would come back but it was late at night, so just had to go home with it, and managed to trace her number and leave a message. I also called the police who said just to come by with it the following day if I didn't hear from her.

I got a phone call very late at night and she arranged to collect it first thing in the morning, never seen anyone so relieved.

I've had lost property returned to me a number of times as well and truly appreciate all those honest people out there.

I lost my purse on a bus. I got it back with everything intact.

Was there any form of ID in the wallet, or any way at all of tracing the owner? If there wasn’t, then it will just make the person you gave it to at the station £200 richer. If I found a wallet with money in it, I would try to return it to the owner myself rather than hand it in anywhere, but report to the station that I had found it.

Just because it had £200 in also doesn’t mean the owner was wealthy, my son is always bloody losing stuff and he could easily have that in his wallet as his wages. He’s a 20 year old student and not wealthy. Of course even wealthy people would be entitled to their money back,

I don’t know why you are so sure that the owner will never get it back?

A few years ago my purse fell out the bottom of the pram in the middle of town with all my cards & £150 in cash in and a few days later I got a message from someone who had found it and it still had every penny in.

My gran lost wallet early this year and it had £40 in, was all still there when she got it back.

If you just found £200 on the floor then I can see where it would feel impossible for it to return to the owner but when it’s in a wallet presumably with some ID most people I imagine would return it all.

Lots of people are struggling financially, that £200 could have been the food shop money for the next 3 weeks, I can’t imagine thinking it was fair play to steal it!

My husband found £90 in our lane ,all rolled up so fallen out of a pocket. We put it on local FB page not giving amount or denomination . It was my son’s friends money ,dropped whilst cycling …he was a very relieved 16 year old . It was his odd job going to festival money. That young guy will never pocket any money he ever finds in the future..win win

When my DS was 17 he found a wallet with a lot of money in it, probably £200 on the floor at Asda. He looked around but no one there. He handed it in to customer services. They asked for his name and address. He didn't think anything more about it. About a week later he got a thank you card in the post with £20 note in. It was from a lady with 3 small DC. She had been saving money with her Mum all the year for Xmas. She had just collected the money and gone to buy toys at Asda but when she got to checkout her wallet was missing. She had to put toys back. She retraced her steps. The following day her Mum got a call from Asda as in wallet there was a piece of paper with her Mum's name and number on. The lady thanked my son for not keeping the money. I hope the wallet you found goes back to his rightful owner. You have a good DH there.

You didn’t just find a large sum of money though, you found someone else’s money! Yes you did the right thing handing it in (thanks to your DH).

I would have e felt sick keeping it, worrying about the person who lost it. You did the right thing for sure.

Hmmmm good point 🤔

I really don’t understand what you wanted from this post.

Back in the days before foodbanks etc, and I was a young single mum on income support, I lost my purse. It had every penny I had in it. I had just got my IS. I got my purse back, without the money. It was heartbreaking for me, like a worse kick in the teeth almost as whoever returned it also stole my money. Luckily my small child was breastfed, but I didn’t eat for a week (I knew nobody and had no way of getting money). Stealing other’s money is rarely ok.

This exactly.

When I was a teenager in the 1990s, I left my purse that had £50 on on a train at my home station. Back then it was a fortune for me - that was my entire clothes and going out budget I’d been saving and money my parents couldn’t have replaced. I felt absolutely sick and hated myself for being so careless.

Happily I’d left my phone number inside and the guy who found it called my home landline. My dad and I popped round to the guy’s house to pick up my wallet that evening. He wouldn’t even accept a reward.

I was flooded with relief and gratitude and I have always paid back that kindness if I found something lost I hand it in.

There is a chance that your honesty does mean all or most of that money gets back to its owner.

You might never know how much your honest gesture was appreciated.

*Found the owner by using the phone book

I found a wallet in marks and Spencer when I was 10. There was £110 cash in it and a key fob thing. No name, no other cards. O brought it to my Dad. He passed it to the police station and told marks and Spencer that if anyone has lost a wallet and contacts them, direct them to the police station.

3 months past and the police contacted my Dad and said no one had claimed it and as a thank you for his honestly could he collect the £110.

I was with my friend at the time. We split the money and gave my Dad £5 from each of us

Does it work this way though (karma being good to you, for you doing the 'right thing,' when you were made to do it by someone else, and your actual intention was to do the 'wrong thing?')

YAiBU

how do you know it won’t make its way back to the owner? You have zero way of knowing that’s the case.

the fact that you are struggling financially has nothing to do with it.

Years ago I found a wallet stuffed with cash in the toilets in Asda. It wouldn’t have crossed my mind to keep even a penny of it. A few years after that I left my bag hanging in a trolley in the same Asda with my purse in it. The finder took it to the police and I also got it back fully intact. I’m sure you’d be the first to moan if this happened to you and you never got the money back. You did the right thing

A dd lost her purse - she thought at Waterloo station at the height of the evening rush hour - assumed it had been nicked so cancelled cards, etc.

Next morning asked at lost property on the (very) off chance, and lo, some kind person had actually handed it in.
Such incidents do restore my faith in human nature,

I found a wallet at work in a shopping centre, looked inside and found a landline phone number, called them, they called the person's mobile and they came back to the cafe a couple of hours later and picked it up. I don't think people would necessarily keep phone numbers in wallets these days, that was over 20 years ago!

Who is to say the owner wasn’t struggling financially. You dont know how they earned / acquired their money. You may be struggling financially but it wasn’t yours to keep. Handing it in was the right thing to do.
Thankfully there is CCTV on trains to catch thieves in their tracks. Don’t become that person.

I once found over £1000 in an envelope on a shop floor. We advised the shop manager that we’d found it and gave them our contact details and a few days later an old man came to collect it (and confirmed the exact amount in the envelope, we didn’t share that with the manager). That money would have made a huge difference to us and we could easily have kept it but it wasn’t ours to keep and it felt really good to get it back to the person who had lost it.

I was once given too much change, chznge for a £20 when I handed over £10. I didn't immediately realise.

I felt bad so I bought raffle tickets, and won first prize. 😆

Maybe the person who lost it is also struggling financially so will be really grateful to get it back.

You found a wallet with identifying information in, which will almost certainly find its way back to the owner. You didn't find a pile of cash. I found £70 in the street once, in London, in a surprisingly empty street near all the embassies. Nobody was visible walking ahead of me or I would have asked them, so I kept it, and feel no guilt. But a wallet? Absolutely not. If it can get back to the owner then it should.