Just found £90 on the pavement

[berri]

Do I keep it???

DH reckons if I hand it in to the police it'll just make it into one of their pockets, but I can't help thinking it might be some little old lady's gas money...or not!

WWYD?

of course you can 'own' cash and of course it is theft if you take it without any attempt to return to the owner and you assume ownership.
Very odd attitudes on here

I don't have to think that everyone is the same as me. I know that some stupid very honest people would hand it in. There are also a lot of people who would say that they would do that but when the situation arose they would keep it.
As I said before it may be someone really struggling who lost it or it may be someone violent who would buy a machete with it - would you still have a warm, fuzzy feeling for handing it in then?
I think it is less likely (though not impossible) that someone poor would drop £90 in the street as they would probably look after their money better.
Strictly speaking it may be against the law but I don't think it makes me a criminal. I'm sure even the most virtuous MNers step on the wrong side of the law occasionally - driving 1mph over the speed limit is, strictly speaking, breaking the law. I'm not comparing the two - just saying that just because something is illegal it can still be accepted by most of society.

Wow - you really have convinced yourself, haven't you Millie? Your parents must be very proud.

Taking something that doesn't belong to you is stealing, which in turn is wrong, and it makes you a criminal, as you well know. Shame on you. I just hope you're doing a better job of instilling a moral code in your own children.

So somebody being honest is stupid? So in order to make yourself feel better about your dishonesty you can comfort yourself with the idea that you are smart?

Right I'm off to the local police station to make a claim for my lost £50!!!

Seriously cash is untraceable - if it's in a wallet, an envelope, a bag, a money clip even I'd hand it in. Someone will be able to id it & claim it back.

Cash alone (in smallish amounts) I'd keep. Even if you had lost it, how would you prove that the cash handed in was the cash you lost? The police would need to be sure beyond doubt that this cash was YOUR cash - would they take fingerprints to correctly prove that you had actually handled the notes? What if you hadn't left a print? What if it was winter and you were wearing gloves? You wouldn't necessarily even know where you lost it, or if you did the wind could have blown it so it was found somewhere else?. How on earth could you prove that that cash was actually your property? It's all a fruitless waste of police resources in the name of so called 'ethics' - over a situation that is unresolvable. It will end up in the police Xmas fund, or returned to the finder (at considerable administrative cost and burden). So get off those high horses please!

But it's swings and roundabouts - I've lost plenty of cash out of my pocket over the years - I hope it finds it's way back to me someday.

Finding money on the floor isn't stealing, it's finders keepers and I feel no guilt at all for finding cash on the floor, in fact I feel pretty damn happy when I find free money.

When I loose money, well I feel a bit pissed off with myself for being stupid and losing it but loosing money, finding money it all sorts itself out in the end.

If you feel guilty about finding cash on the floor, give it to charity to feed starving orphans or something.

It's won't find it's way back to you - karma has a way of punishing the right people. If that means you continue to think of honest people as being on their high horse whilst excusing your lack of moral code, then you're not the kind of person to ever accept that what you're doing is simply theft. Even if you truly believe it's untraceable you owe it to the person who lost it to do your utmost to return it to them. Or rather, if you had been brought up properly you, or had a sense of morality then you would know that without it being spelled out to you.

Finders keepers - just how old are you Ryoko?? That's the kind of utter nonsense my 3 year old would come out with (before he was put right on the matter).

Milliemoosmum wins the award for most stupid post I have ever read on MN -

In her view, its ok to keep other people's money because it might belong to someone violent and they might be going to spend it on a machete to kill someone with.

That post is a wind up? surely?

If its not then clearly Ryoko isn't the only person on this thread with an IQ commensurate with her shoe size.

I find it incredibly depressing that so many of you have no difficulty with keeping money that isn't yours, and you haven't earned, in the knowledge that it belongs to someone else who did earn it. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. If these are the types of values you are teaching your children then you are appalling parents. I am bowing out now before I become even more depressed by the moronic flaming which I will no doubt receive for this post from people who are so morally adrift as to have no insight into what is wrong with stealing.

No thanks, I'd prefer to give it to charity to be used on those who really need it, then give it back to some OAP who owns a house and has massive savings, some lucky sod who has actually managed to get a council place, while I'm stuck here, some student living off mum etc.

We have no savings, we have no car, I walk everywhere to save money I spend on my boy and TFL is trying to price my fiance out of being able to travel to work, thus I feel sorry enough to hand money to no one in this country except those living on the street.

If I find £20 on the street it's mine for a nice day out at the zoo or something :p

errr MAISIE fuck you!

I don't think of honest people being on a high horse - just you lording it over everyone who is giving their honest opinion on here.
Who are you to tell people on here they have no morals???? You may THINK I lack a moral code - but you are wrong. I will keep what I THINK about you, to myself!

How charming - swearing like a fish wife as well as a lack of moral code. It figures.

And quite what someone like you thinks of me doesn't even register on my radar.

there is nothing "honest" about you or your opinions findingmymojo.

Life hard at the moment, Ryoko? Ain't karma wonderful...

Still waiting for my good karma from all the good deeds that I do... :(

I would've handed it in too.

A couple of years ago I found a purse in a cubicle at one of those unmanned tanning salons. I was due to leave to go on hols a few hours later, so after driving around all the police stations I knew and them all being closed I called the police and left my contact details saying I would leave the purse with my mum. My mum drove miles to meet the owner and hand it over and all she got was it snatched out her hand and a dirty look. No thank you or anything despite it being full of credit cards and cash. I took it because I didn't want to leave it and someone else find it and rip the poor girl off, though her ungratefulness made me consider for a second she would deserve it, especially as she was annoyed that I'd picked it up instead of leaving it there.

But I would still hand stuff in.

And a few years ago in a club I went to the loo and as I was washing my hands I realised I'd left my purse in the cubicle. Out comes the girl who had gone in behind me all smiles and helpful helping me look swearing I hadn't left it in there. She helped me report it to security and everything. On a hunch I went back to the same cubicle and there it was... minus the cash. It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd not spent the last hour of my evening stressing because my key was in my purse and I had friends staying cos my parents were away so there was nobody else who would be able to let us in! So I wished bad things on her not for taking the cash but for letting me stress about it.

Actually yes Karma is wonderful seeing as last year I found 2x £20, 3x £10, 2x £5 and a few £1 and 50p pieces around.

plus me and my lucky bump meant I was the only one at work who didn't get sacked, I got maternity leave instead and will be returning to work in time for the Christmas release schedule.

regardless of what you think of me, I am a very kind, good manned person, I offer my seat on the bus, hold doors open and help charities. so you guys can go riding off into the sunset on your high horses for all I care.

Insulting peoples IQs and proclaiming your better then others, can't get anymore childish then that.

agree AuntyMaggie what about the good deeds that people do and they are not rewarded what happens with the karma then eh???

some people on this thread really need to hope that they halo's do not slip and fall round thier necks.

Not everyone needs to hold the same oppinions of handing it in, cricky you would think the people who have said keep it should get thier hands cut off!!!

For the record i would like to think i would hand it in. Well done op

for those saying cash is untraceable you are wrong. i am an ex bank employee and it would amze you how many people, especially pensioners asked for new notes when collecting their pension. new notes have never been issued and the serial numbers are in order. lots of these people memorise the digits or that last few digits in the serial number. if their money was stolen they would be able to identify and laim it using the numbers. it is not untraceable.

It's not stolen it's lost and you only have yourself to blame if you loose your cash.

lose your cash ryoko, it's lose.

I found a £20 once-but it was a fake

Thank you boohoo.

My fiance gets fakes all the time, at work from the security company that delivers money to the shop in those safe boxes.

Sorry booyhoo

maybe that's why it was dropped, because it was fake spacehoppa?

Ryoko- You also might want to work on your apostrophes and the difference between "your" and you're", not to mention general spelling. Its even harder to take your ludicrous views seriously when they read like they have been typed by a 10 year old.