Finding money in the street..

DD & I are always picking up 5 and 10 cent pieces we find on the footpath, more I think because it's so funny watching her face light up when I point it out to her and she goes "I found some money!!!"
Today we got a bonus, and I came across a rather large sum of money (large for me anyway) in notes lying outside a local shop. It hadn't been there long as we'd just gone into the store to buy something and it wasn't there before we went in. I waited around in the street for about 10 mins to see if anyone came back to look for it, but it was pretty quiet. Thought about handing it in to the shop, if it was outside a
bank I would have handed it in, but I felt that if no one came to collect it they'd just pocket it themselves, and the chances of someone either knowing where they dropped it, or visiting every shop down the main street to ask them is fairly slim. There's not really much more I can do..if it was $20 I wouldn't really care, and if it had been more then I would hand it in to the police station, but they probably wouldn't give a toss anyway..
I don't want karma to come back and bite me but there's no way I can find out whose it is!
So just curious what you think the etiquette is for those situations?! Not that it will be happening again, I feel lucky to find a gold coin! Lol

I might be lame, but I have put up signs in the past, on more than one occasion :redface: For a watch, for a doll and for an amount of money (was $80). I just said, small sum of money found outside X at Y time, if it's yours please call me on **** with a description and how much money was lost. I lost $110 once :( It was in a wallet, I retraced my footsteps, found the wallet, and the money was gone :( The only time I never got a response was the watch.

I agree with not handing it in at the shops - they in all likelihood would pocket it. Can you donate half or all to charity? Then the karma police will be happy with you...

Unless it's a really large sum I think it's just a gift from the universe to you.

It's less than $100, feels big to me, but in the whole scheme of things not a huge amount..I don't think we're allowed to put up signs in our town, they keep things pretty clean. I'll hold onto it for now and if I don't hear anything further about it then I might give some to a charity and save the rest for my upcoming trip to the Sunshine Coast. Thankyou universe! It was a nice little surprise anyway..even if I did have to fight DD to give it to me!

I've found money on the ground many times. Every time i look around to see if anyone looks like they have dropped it. One time i saw a lady drop $40, i tried to give it back but she didn't speak english and didn't understand what i was trying to say to her so i kept it. Another time an elderly man dropped $10 he was trying to put in his wallet, i picked it up and went to walk to give it back as i did he realised he had lost it and looked quite upset.

I always try find who dropped it because id like to think if i did the same someone would return it to me.

Well I no signs is the case, then definitely take it as a gift from the universe :)

I'd hand it in -to the shop nearest where I found it - yes the person make keep it, but that is their responsibilty and not on my conscience. I've had money handed into me as a shop assistant before, held onto the money for a time at the store and then I think we put it in the charity tin when no one claimed it, so I'd like to think there are other shop people who'd do the same.
I found a largish sum in a public hall once and handed it into the police. when no one claimed it, they gave it back to me.

I think you should take it as a sign it's yours. You hung around to see if anyone came looking, which i think is the most you can do if you didn't see who dropped it. I found $400 once :o in a shopping centre care park. I advised centre management I found some money and gave them my details so if anyone came looking for it they could contact me, but no one ever did!

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I think you should take it as a sign it's yours. You hung around to see if anyone came looking, which i think is the most you can do if you didn't see who dropped it. I found $400 once :o in a shopping centre care park. I advised centre management I found some money and gave them my details so if anyone came looking for it they could contact me, but no one ever did!

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Actually that's a good point. You could always just notify the shop (rather than handing it to them) so they can put you in touch if someone asks. Then they can't pocket it if noone does.

It would depend on the amount for me, if it was a smallish amount, say $10 or $20, I would probably leave it with the closest shop, or give them my number and say if anyone comes back lokking for it to call me. I would not tell them how much though. If nobody calls within a week I would drop it in a charity bin. If it was a larger amount I would take it to the police. I don't even keep money that has been given to me in incorrect change. I even went back to my grocery store to pay for a block of cheese that had fallen in my bag that was in the trolley.

This might sound weird but I have a personal rule on this. Anything under $50 I keep, anything over that I hand in. I haven't found anything over $50 yet though LOL. If I see someone drop money I will always tell the person they dropped it. I think that you did what you could at the time and maybe it is just a gift from the universe? Or if it is really bugging you, hand it in at the police station?

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Unless it's a really large sum I think it's just a gift from the universe to you.

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I think this too...

Keep it. If there was no one around who it could have belonged to, it's yours.

when I was a kid I found a wallet in a carpark. It had a substantial amount of money in it. I brought it home to mum and lucky for them there was a contact phone number in the wallet. So she rang the guy he came over proved his ID via birth certificate, then he gave me $80 out of his wallet for finding it !!

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This might sound weird but I have a personal rule on this. Anything under $50 I keep, anything over that I hand in. I haven't found anything over $50 yet though LOL. If I see someone drop money I will always tell the person they dropped it. I think that you did what you could at the time and maybe it is just a gift from the universe? Or if it is really bugging you, hand it in at the police station?

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Yep. my personal rule is anything over $50 gets handed into the police station (if it goes unclaimed I will get it back anyway). I would never hand it into a shop, their ethics are probably different to mine.

Man, where am I when people are dropping free money around the place?!

You need to look at the ground as you walk not hold your head high to find money regularly. DH hardly ever finds money, I often do and I think it's because I put my head down and walk fast where as he sticks his head up in the air and strolls.

My Mum found an engagement ring in her shop once. She advertised it in the window for 6 months and told the police but no-one ever claimed it. Weird. You would think it would be the kind of thing people would retrace their steps for. I have the diamond now but it's set in a brooch instead.

I think I would probably go back to the shop that you found it in front of today (or call them) and ask if anyone has been in this morning, who asked about missing money. If not then I'd leave my contact details with the shop and if no-one calls in a week then I'd say you tried and the money is yours.

I agree with the rule of turning in anything over $50 to the police. You can tell the shop too but make sure you hand it in to the police as the person wont know where they dropped.

I lost $400 once and no-one turned it in :(
(it wasn't anywhere near a shopping centre carpark so fortunately that wasn't mine)

How completely random would that have been if it was yours! Before I read that it wasn't anywhere near a shopping centre carpark, I was going to ask where abouts you lost it in case it was yours!

I've never found over $5 but have found keys and phones numerous times.

Keys I hand in to the police station.

Phones, I look in the contact list, for "home" or "mum" or something else that sticks out in their recently dialed list, and call that, get them to describe the phone etc, and then organise a pick up at a cafe or the shops.