Would you keep the money?

[theonetowalkinthesun]

I genuinely just am interested in MN responses as to what you should or would do in this kind of situation!

If you found a £20 note on the floor in a supermarket, with no one nearby who it was obviously from, would you pick it up and keep it?

What about if you found it on the ground in the middle of a park, with again no one nearby who it was obviously from?

Just the note alone - it's not part of a wallet or purse!

(It's not really an AIBU is it- AIBU to wonder what you would do?)

Nope never. I have handed in a £20 to customer services before in a supermarket. £20 is a lot for me to have and a lot for me to lose, so I would hope that if it were me I would have a reasonable probability of getting it back.

I was once at a cashpoint with DS and ex - it was years ago, coming up to Christmas, we were all stressed in town Christmas shopping - before Amazon. Queued at a cashpoint for a good 20 minutes. The guy in front was with his daughter, seemed to be there ages, said fuck it, it's not working and walked off.
Before I could put my card in a good £300 came out.
Ex said put it in your pocket and walk. So I did.
My legs were shaking I said I can't do this. We found the bloke and his daughter at a cashpoint further up the high street and gave the money back. He was so grateful.

I'd still be looking over my shoulder if I had kept that money . I might not have much and I do struggle financially, but I believe what goes around, comes around and I've always been alright when I've needed to be.

I've always handed in any notes I've found. And I've asked them to make a note that if unclaimed the money goes to charity.
You think of the people for whom £10 would make a difference and suddenly keeping it seems rather mean.

Think about what you would have done and hoped others would do in same situation. If I realized I'd lost £20 in a supermarket I'd go to customer services and have expected someone to hand it in. Same in carpark. In a park or high street I would put it down to a loss, I wouldn't contact police about £20. Therefore, if I found £20 that's what I'd be doing.

Has happened to me, in both cases I handed it in. ( Took the money I found in the street straight to the police station- small town, police station was a short walk away, and this was 30 years ago so it was manned full time then).

In the supermarket I'd hand it in, mostly because of the fear of being caught on CCTV. Didn't someone get in trouble for doing that?

My mother tried to hand £5 she'd found on the street in to the police station recently. Unsurprisingly they wouldn't take it so she put it in a charity pot.

Yes I would. Perfectly happy to take the risk of being prosecuted for theft by finding never going to happen

Supermarket I'd hand it in. Park I'd keep.

I would hand it in at supermarket - would probably have kept in the park - but the idea of leaving it because it's not yours and in case the owner comes back is a good one.

I’d hand it in at a supermarket.

If it was in a park, I’d post that I’d found some cash on our local (busy) FB group and give it to whoever had a convincing answer as to amount and probable location.

I would keep £20. If I lost £20 I wouldn't ask at customer services and I wouldn't assume anyone would hand it in!

I found £400 once though and gave it in, along with numerous purses.

cheese your ex is an idiot, the man would notice the £300 missing from his account, report it, tell them about trying to withdraw it and it not working, they’d check the cctv for that cash point and see you taking it. Good for you for doing the right thing!

I once took £5 from the change dispenser of a self serve checkout. It was there with the machine loudly saying ‘please take your change’ repeatedly the whole time I was scanning and paying for my own shopping and no one came back for it, plus it was right by the customer service desk and they were ignoring it, so I took it (in my defence I was a very poor student at the time)

I would hand money in at the supermarket. Someone will realise at the till that it was lost.

If there was nobody around at the park id keep it.

It's theft by finding if you keep it.

In the street or park I'd keep it. If I lost £20 I wouldn't expect to get it back, I wouldn't even know where to look. I'd hand it in at a supermarket. I did it before when somebody got cash back from the self service and walked off without it.

I'd keep it. Ideally I'd give to charity but if I needed cash quickly for something - it would probably end up going there instead.

Years ago in Morrisons I was at the self check out and someone had left £5 in the returned notes part. I handed it in thinking if it was someone's last £5 they would appreciate it had been found.

Fast forward to a similar situation where I left £10 cash back in the self service till at ASDA and no such luck for me. I got as far as the car park before turning back and saw the woman who had been behind me look funny at me. Went in to ask if anyone had handed it in - no such luck. Cheeky bint had pocketed it and was no where to be seen.

So now.... I'd keep money I found in the street, and reluctantly hand in money found in the supermarket.

I believe in Karma! When I was really really poor in the 80's if I had lost any money it would have had dire consequences. So if I find notes now I return to customer services if possible. We dont have a police station so wouldnt be driving 7
miles to hand it in.
In my weird way of thinking if I found a note in a park or on the road I would give it to a member of my family who hasnt got much money at the moment. Knowing full well she will pay it on in the future when she is in a better financial position.
I looked at a handbag in a charity shop recently and found £40 inside, no way I would have kept it as a) I dont desperately need it and b) it was gift aided so retraceable.
I would like to add though, that I would never judge someone keeping small amounts of money they find if they are struggling themselves. I found a ten pound note in the gutter when my children were tiny and I used to pay the milkman as I was in arrears!
What goes round comes round.

Here you have a duty to take reasonable efforts to find the owner and if you can’t then you have the best claim to it.

Because I distrust many people, I would probably pop it in a charity tin. Not sure I'd trust a shop etc to not pocket it. I worked in retail and did see people pocket things including money.

I'd pick it up and hang around for a bit in case anyone came looking for it, if I saw someone searching around I'd ask if they dropped something and hand it back. If no one came looking I'd keep it

When I worked in a lap dancing club (not as a dancer), I watched a young lad go into the room for a private dance and he dropped a fiver on the way. The bouncer saw it too and he told me to pocket it so I did :)

Hand it in, maybe a customer dropped it and for all you know that may be all they have

If I lost twenty quid it wouldn’t occur to me to go to the nearest police station to see if it had been handed in

If no one around I've always kept it. Found a number of £10s and £20s before