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.

Everyone, put your phone number in your wallet/purse now!

DS found a purse left on a park bench last summer when he was 6. Not much value to it, maybe £20 cash, but would have been a pain to replace her union card, library card, Tesco club card etc. we left a note there and then rummaged through trying to find a way to contact her. Trade union worked in the end. I didn’t think the loser was particularly grateful given the effort expended.

I also found an iPhone and was able to get it back to the loser. That just required 5 mins of hanging around.

You did the right thing. If you’d handed it into the police station you would get it back if no one claimed it.

If you has lost your wallet with a large amount of money in it, wouldn’t you hope someone would hand it in?

Maybe use a different word, rather than loser, when you tell those stories! Loser is very different in meaning from owner or person who lost.

But if you found an actual wallet with cash in would you remove the cash? Finding some loose notes in a random place is somewhat different as pretty difficult to trace back to rightful owner.

Imagine you had taken the money. Would you not now be sat at home, worrying that the owner realised they had left it on the train, the CCTV got checked, and you were seen taking it? At least you have a clear conscience, and don't need to worry about the police turning up at your door.

This. I left my handbag with a months wages in cash (and heaps of other stuff besides) in a trolley in a supermarket in Neath. I had a call from the help desk to say it had been handed in and all was intact. I sent a bunch of flowers to the hander innerer.

That was 35 years ago and I am still grateful. Still have the handbag. Still think about how kind that person was.

If Id found the wallet I would also have counted the money because Id want the amount in it exactly recorded when I handed it in.

Imagine you had lost the money and went back to find out someone had handed it in?
I lost my purse once in a cafe out shopping for the sales back in the day when I carried more cash.
A teenage boy found it, handed it in and the owner took his parents’ details.
I went in the next day and it was returned to me. Sent the very honest lad a note (via his parents) with a reward in.
Keeping and spending some else’s money is really, really shit.

So you’re regretting not being a thief? If you have children, I hope they will be brought up to follow and respect your husband's principles.

Losing the purse is bad enough but to have an emptied purse returned to you is just awful.

Honestly OP I can’t believe you still regret handing it in. Yes maybe it will never get collected and you won’t get the money, but that’s a small price to pay compared to being a thief. Wouldn’t you feel ashamed in front of your more honest dh when you spent the money?

you will get good karma op
Not so sure since OP did it under duress and regrets it!

It is alien to me to think how you are OP. Such selfish attitude to misfortune.

The owner can describe the wallet to the lost property department and claim ownership. He will also know how much money was in it.

I lost a make up bag on a bus 30 years ago and it was at the depot the next day for me to collect. I described the bag and its contents to claim it. Not having ID in a lost item won't prevent the owner claiming it.

I left an iPhone on a train recentlly. Some kind dole handed it in and I got it back.

why would you steal from someone?

The owner of that cash may be worse off than you. Stealing is never good, yuck yuck. Be pleased you husband is a decent bloke.

Or their mother's - to do the right thing even when it's hard. A lot of us frail mortals have to grit our teeth to do the right thing sometimes.

Shhh you did the right thing - try to forget it now.

Zov, you weaken your argument by making shit up 😂. Who said he “frogmarched” me? And who says he was there?

I wouldn't hand it in at a station; sadly I don't think some employees can be trusted. The police would be the safest bet. Didn't the wallet have anything identifying in it?

A useful heads up to anyone who sometimes loses property on trains. There’s an online platform called Missing X which many rail operators use to list all lost property collected on their services or handed in by the public every day. You can view the list and then contact to arrange collection from an office.

ETA: I’ve successfully been reunited with my wandering item this way on all three occasions, so it does work!

This is very timely
A few weeks ago my ds and I were in Costa .
DS found a wallet with over £400 in it and wanted to hand it in to the staff
I decided against this because I was concerned that the owner of the wallet would not get it back if a staff member decided to steal the money . So, I decided that we would remain in Costa until the person turned up. I trust myself , but I can’t trust others
An hour or so later an elderly man turned up looking for his wallet. He was relieved and extremely grateful that we had returned his wallet and said that he had actually prayed that an honest person would find his wallet .
I also believe in ‘karma ‘ or whatever one would like to call it . You get back what you put out

That could that person’s last £200! You did absolutely the right thing because money does get back to people. DH left a larger amount than that on the bus once and someone handed it in. He chased the bus down the street and caught up with it at the next stop. The person had given it to the driver..all £3k of it!!

He doesn’t normally carry £3k but he’d just sold something very expensive.

I think most people who lose things on the train would contact lost property though. How would you even know which police force to contact? Trains travel for hundreds of miles and you've no idea at which particular location your item would be found.

You're not making yourself sound any better from your last 2 sentences

I dropped £20 out of my pocket once and 2 older teen girls behind me must have picked it straight up (was in a shop) that £20 was my electric money and me and my 2 year old had no electric for 6 days. This was about 14 years ago.

How much I spent that week just wishing they had tapped me on the shoulder, or I'd noticed sooner. I still think about how hard that week was for me. I was even using silver coins to pay for a loaf of bread and a milky way that day.

And no I didn't know back then you could ring electric companies or anything.