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.

I know of two people who lost items on the train and both got them back. It is very upsetting to lose things and a good thing that most people are honest. Would you be happy if you lost your purse with two hundred pounds and the person who found it kept it. Of couse not.

i only found out this week that in Spain, if you return money, you get 5% if you return up to €2000 and 10% if more.

You did the right thing op! Your husband was right to make you do this. Many wouldn’t, but it doesn’t make it right.

If it has been handed in inside a wallet with cards etc inside there is a very high chance it will get back to the owner. Be the better person. Think about how you would feel if you lost £200 and someone pinched the money. £200 is a lot of money and you have no idea of how much this money means to the person who has lost it.

Over the years I have found several wallets ,handbags, cash and phones(also dogs!). I usually look inside and see if there is a name address phone number. With a bit of detective work I have mostly been able to return said item directly. Once a tourist in our area who had moved on but the bag contained vital medication and they came to collect.
Cash I usually hand to the person I think it belongs to eg standing behind a man in pub and saw he dropped it. Once £200 dropped at an atm and only other person around a man with 3 young kids in tow.
I do believe that most ppl are good ppl, look at the result on this post!

If you’ve handed it in, it probably will make it back to its owner.

YABU

It wasn’t your money to take, and taking it would be theft.

You can’t just decide “I need it more “ and keep it - you don’t know what the owner’s needs are, over and above it just not being you’re to take.

So if you’d found a handbag would you have counted any cash? What about a backpack? A suitcase? You really didn’t find a sum of money, you found someone’s possession.

Only thing is husbands should be “making” you do anything, but your own conscience should have made you.

Wise up. Seriously. You have no idea of how important that money might have been to the person who lost it, no matter how financially strapped you are. As someone who has had her purse stolen three times, I can tell you I genuinely could not afford to lose the money.

Yes, but OP said her DH "made me" hand it in and she was therefore regretting telling him. If she hadn’t told him or anyone else about her find, I therefore assume she would have kept it.

Many years ago I had a primary school headteacher who made a big impression on me. She told us that we shouldn’t be "round the corner" sort of people, that we should always behave well even if we knew no-one could see us or would ever know about it, because we ourselves would know. Thank you for instilling good principles, Mrs Eldridge!

Contact the station where you handed it in and ask about their Lost Property policy. What do they do with unclaimed items? It used to be the Police would keep things for 6 months and then the finder could claim it if the owner hadn't turned up - I know this because I once found a ten shilling note!

Hopefully karma will come good for you. Surely you couldn't have spent someone else's money with a clear conscience?

Thank you. DH and I both teach our DC that actions mean more than words and being a good person isn’t about what you say, but it’s about actually doing the right thing, especially when it’s hard to do it. DC doesn’t know about this but I would have no shame in her knowing that mummy handed in a large sum of money that we desperately need even though she didn’t want to because it was the right thing to do.

DH wasn’t with me on the train, I asked him what to do with the wallet when I got home. Knowing full well what my ex-copper morally black and white DH would say. Because he’s human, even he brainstormed with me for 5 mins if there were ways we could keep the cash. I joke that I’m the devil to his angel, but I think my actions (rather than my thoughts and feelings) suggest that I’m not.

Of course I counted the cash - I wanted to keep it and haven’t seen that much cash in ages!

I get that you were tempted and I get that now you’re thinking how the money could’ve been useful. But you did the right thing. I honestly think if you hadn’t, a line would’ve been crossed and you would lose a little bit of who you are and who you want to be. That might sound a little OTT but I think it’s these micro decisions we make that make us who we are.

Really? Who pays you the money?

Why don't you do some extra hours at work or get another part-time job instead of fantasising about easy money?

Most people are honest - like your husband - and want to do the right thing.

Years ago, I left my purse, containing a large sum of holiday money on a wall I had been sitting on.

I was was worried someone like you might have found it, but fortunately, an honest person had picked it up and handed it in to the shop nearby. Fortunately, the shopkeeper wasn't like you either and I got my purse, money and cards back.

You’ve always fantasised about finding a large sum of money? Not earning it, not winning it, not inheriting it but finding it. 🤦‍♀️ Oh boy OP, I think a little self-reflection is in order. It’s never a bad thing to know what one’s flaws are and try to improve on them.

If you hand into the police and it’s unclaimed they let you have it after a certain period of time. I acquired a gold ring that way when I was a kid. It was one of those coffee bean ones from Argos. I was very happy. I’ve also got wallets back that people have handed into the police. They encourage you to leave 10% of the cash contents as a reward.

I once left my bag on a train and I go it back with everything inside including my purse and all money. The staff would risk losing their job if they took the money out so I doubt most people would steal it.

You did the right thing. £200 is a huge amount of money. I’m sure most people would miss it. That person could have taken that money out to pay someone they owed the money to or for their kids birthday etc. You don’t know if they are also struggling financially. Your husband absolutely made you do the right thing. So think nothing more of it and be guilt free.

Seriously - you’ve never fantasised about finding a bag full of cash? I thought everyone fantasised about this.

I don’t think they do let you keep it.

I wouldn’t have handed it in but I would of wrote on local Facebook pages asking if anyone had lost any money if they could say how much or colour of purse etc and then your sure it gets back to owner

I do feel that if I had to hand something in I would ask for a receipt for it ( which may be easier said than done ) but I’d hate anyone to think I had stolen something when your only trying to help. Depends on where it’s found of course if you can get someone to do a receipt for it. I often see posts on Facebook about missing items and they are reunited with their owners most of the time. I find it heartwarming and hope that someone would do it for me one day if I lost something valuable.

I think being tempted is normal and I wouldn’t berate a person for having a wistful few seconds but the measure of character would be to just do the right thing and move on.

Even if no one is there to observe good character I think it’s important for a person to know that they do have it. The world is full of people with bad character and it just causes misery for everyone else.

Why’d you take it home with you before asking DH? You’ve no idea that the money won’t make it back
to its owner

My DD once left her backpack in a restaurant on the last day of a school trip to France. By the time she realised, they didn't have time to go back for it as they had a plane to catch. The backpack was returned to us via the restaurant, the French tour organiser, and anyone else who came into contact with it. All cash and electronics fully intact when it arrived back to us. So, OP, you can't assume someone else will take the cash, people do still have integrity.