AIBU to regret handing in cash found in a wallet?

[Finderskeeepers]

Found a wallet with £200 cash in it on a train. DH made me hand the wallet and cash in at the train station. I’m so annoyed - yes it was the right thing to do but we’re struggling financially and there’s no way that cash is making its way back to the owner. I shouldn’t have told him and should have just kept it.

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?')

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

*Found the owner by using the phone book

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.

This exactly.

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.

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

Hmmmm good point 🤔

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

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).

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.

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

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!

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,

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.

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

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 don’t understand why you don’t think the person who lost the money won’t contact the train company?

Or are you accusing the train staff of dishonesty?

I lost my wallet once. It contained a substantial amount of cash. The wallet and my cards were handed in. Some cunt had stolen the cash. Cash I needed to pay a bill. I was a struggling single parent at the time. It still makes me sick thinking about it all these years later. Don’t be that cunt!

Only because your husband made you!
You'd have stolen it if he hadn't have been there!

Stick the old knife in? How is that going to work for your karma? @Zov

@Finderskeeepers well done for doing the right thing.

Mumsnet does seem to love a pile on....

You know theft is wrong
You handed it in because theft is wrong
Don't think about it anymore.

Because she’s judging by her own low standards.

If I lost a wallet with that amount of money in I would be devastated to be handed back an empty wallet, and my opinion of the lowlife who took it would be in the gutter. You say you need it so what makes you think the owner doesn’t?

Np matter how broke I am I have a roof over my head and food in my belly. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I took someone else's money. What if they have a child and have to feed their child with that money? My friend once lost a wallet with all the money for first months of rent and the deposit. She never got it back. She was an immigrant, worked hard to save those money (months) in a factory and she had to stay in one nasty room infested with bugs for another few months. She also lost her id's and bank cards. Nobody gave it back.
My heart broke for her but I couldn't help her as I was a poor immigrant myself. People are nasty.

I once left my handbag on the night bus in Stoke Newington with my watch, my phone, my purse with all my cards, and my wages (the days when you had wages in a physical packet) which were £250, roughly.
Called my phone when I got up in the morning and it was answered by someone at the police station because everything had been handed in, money, watch, everything.