WWYD if you find a banknote on the supermarket floor?

[Flingmoo]

Saw a £5 note on the floor near the tills while shopping today. Would you pocket it or hand it in? Check if anyone looks like they're searching for it? Put it in a charity box?

I used to hand it in but am so broke now I look for money lying around. So far found 30 pounds so far

This is a terrible thing to say but it depends how much it was and whether I could see anyone around who might have lost it. If it was a large amount and I thought someone would come back for it, I'd hand it in. £5 or £10 and nobody about, is keep it.

In a supermarket, I'd probably hand it in, but only because I'd be sure CCTV was watching (seriously unlikely, I know)

Anywhere else, I'd keep it.

I would hand it in, I'm too honest with this kind of thing. In my retail career I've had people hand in notes, and others come back to claim them (cameras verify this).

I wouldn't hand it in. Sadly have too many first hand experiences where I know the person it was handed to pocketed it. Civilian and police

I'd like to say I'd pass it on to charity, but suspect the reality is that I wouldn't get round to it.

I once left £40 at a cash machine in a supermarket. Realised within ten mins but it couldn't be found. I really regret not calling the police and insisting that the supermarket share their CCTV footage. In retrospect, I find the supermarket staff attitude of being helpful about looking but not suggesting reporting a crime, really shoddy. It was theft.

Hand it in, you don't know how much the person who dropped it might need it. If staff steal it they are the ones who have to feel guilty about stealing.

i would keep if there was nobody around looking for it

I have found £5 note in the change part and handed it in. No idea if it got back to the person.

And £30 on street and gave to the lollipop lady near the school. Amazingly the latter made it back to the child who lost it. Made my day.

Hand it it. Especially if near self serve tills.

Our police posted CCTV on FB of a woman taking some money that had been left by the previous person by accident.

However, I've been on the bare bones of my arse so don't judge anyone who keeps it if they need it.

This happened to me! It was £40 in total. I looked around to see who dropped it then gave it to the checkout operator when I went through the till (as first supermarket employee I came across). Hope it got back to the owner - I couldn't bear the though of someone getting to the till and finding they couldn't pay.

Lottie - There is a very, very small window to take money from a cash machine. After a few seconds, it's called back into the machine. It is not automatically refunded to the last account that took out money, unfortunately, but the machine does hold it seperately, so that the machine operators know that it belongs to someone when they next balance the machine. They will then speak to the supermarket and bank and try to identify who the money belonged too. If you've reported that your money got swallowed, they refund it to you at that point. It can take a week or so for the machine to be balanced.

Did the supermarket record it? If it wasn't that long ago, it might be worth letting them know just in case, as well as your own bank.

i found about £50 in notes - I handed it in as I thought it might be all the money that person had for food that week. Whether it made it back to the person I do not know.

I found £50 in notes in a deserted aisle in Tesco a couple of months ago. No-one around. I kept it. I imagine the chances of handing it in and it finding its way back to the rightful owner are slim.

£50 could be someone's shopping money for the week!

If you want to keep the money but feel quilty. Hand it in and swipe all the bin bags in the entrance bins. The amount of people who chuck money wrapped in receipts away is common.

Personally I keep. I did hand a diamond ring in once though I found on the shop floor. I've paid my dues.

Both times I handed it in to Customer Services - not a till. Luckily a quiet time so no queue!

Each time the assistant put in an envelope, wrote on it what it was, and made a note of it in the day book. Both times they asked for my name and said to come back in thirty days, when I could have it if it hadn't been claimed. Each time I did so, and it hadn't been claimed, and I got given it.

Infinity, years ago and I don't know that I didn't begin to pick it up, or even put it down again.

Fact is, taking something that doesn't belong to you (with the intention to keep it) is theft.

Of course circumstances, there being anyone to hand it in to, chances of finding the owner, vary and sometimes holding onto money is ok. But, if there's the slightest possibility of getting money back to its owner, it should be handed in. Morally but also, somewhere with cameras, you could find yourself hearing from the police.