Ok, but why do you feel entitled to steal the cash? What makes the cash special? Why not steal the cards too? Or the whole wallet? Of course, you'd be much more likely to be caught using the cards...
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If you found a wallet...
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Ok, but why do you feel entitled to steal the cash? What makes the cash special? Why not steal the cards too? Or the whole wallet? Of course, you'd be much more likely to be caught using the cards...
Using someone else's credit card would mean that they'd have extra debt. That's just cruel and unfair to the owner. Besides, it's unlikely to work because missing cards get blocked.
As for any ID, I'd have no use for it and I'm not about to go and commit identity theft. It wouldn't be fair for me to mess about with someone's identity either and I'm not some sort of criminal mastermind.
But cash... I just get the cash and spend it, no problems there
Using someone else's credit card would mean that they'd have extra debt. That's just cruel and unfair to the owner. Besides, it's unlikely to work because missing cards get blocked.
As for any ID, I'd have no use for it and I'm not about to go and commit identity theft. It wouldn't be fair for me to mess about with someone's identity either and I'm not some sort of criminal mastermind.
But cash... I just get the cash and spend it, no problems there
But it is cool to just nab the cash? You still haven't told me why you are making the distinction, and why you think it is ok to steal one and not the other. That a card is likely to be blocked has nothing to do with why you wouldn't use it, unless it is exactly the fact that it is likely to be worthless. I fail to see the distinction between stealing someone's cash and illicitly using their credit card. What if it was a VISA gift card worth $25?
Really? Good to know.
I have retuned a wallet before with military stuff in it, and it was while I was in Iraq. I wasn't on fob Stryker much but that made me feel like I saved a fobbit. (person who never went outside the wire). And then I asked him why he carried a wallet in such a place.
Someone above said they found one at the bottom of a river with a birth certificate in it.
wow, I would never keep that kind of info in my wallet. It's bad enough everyone has plastic, licenses for military, a military ID with ones social security number on it, but a birth certificate?
I'm not stealing anything, I'm picking something up which I found on the floor. Stealing implies taking it directly from the original owner.
I'd return it. Wouldn't even think about taking the cash out of it. I can't believe some of you say you would keep the cash. What if it was your wallet that was lost? Would you be OK with whoever found it taking all of the cash before returning it?
The other day at work I found $22 outside in the parking lot. I turned it in to the security guard's desk. I have a feeling I just made the security guard $22 richer, but I would've felt guilty keeping it.
No, it's stealing. Plain and simple. It's a wallet, so it likely has an ID with a name and address - enough information to get it back to it's original owner. By keeping anything in it, you're stealing.
The other day at work I found $22 outside in the parking lot. I turned it in to the security guard's desk. I have a feeling I just made the security guard $22 richer, but I would've felt guilty keeping it.
No, it's stealing. Plain and simple. It's a wallet, so it likely has an ID with a name and address - enough information to get it back to it's original owner. By keeping anything in it, you're stealing.
Ahh ok, you think that once something is lost by its owner it ceases to belong to them! This is where we disagree.
I found a wallet about 10 years ago, I opened it up and there was a few hundred dollars in it, a few CC, a few business cards of a lawyer with the same name, and his drivers license.
I called the number on the business card to tell him I found his wallet and verify his address was correct on his license. I took his own money to pay for the shipping back to him and that was all. He got all of his money back except a few dollars.
I didn't feel entitled to it and I hope if I ever lose mine someone will do the same.
Cards are the least important. One call to my bank and the card is deactivated and a new one is in the mail. Cash can't be replaced. My ID has my name and address on it. And my drivers license number which is probably pretty useless to anyone.
If someone found my wallet, I'd rather they use a card, because I can report it as fraudulent use and not pay for it. If they take the cash and use it, I can't call anyone and report it as fraud. I'm out that money.
Exactly, good point.
I have a safe at home that has all my banking phone numbers and account numbers in it. It's no a bad idea for other to do the same. There are even iOS apps that can store that info if you feel safe putting it there. That why you don't have to dig up the phone numbers and not know your account numbers once you notice your wallet is missing.
Meh, I once dropped some cash on the floor by mistake and found it had been taken afterwards. I treat other people as they would treat me. I know that if I drop cash, it's likely the person who picks it up will simply keep it, so I do the same. And hey, who doesn't need some extra cash?
That sucks and all, but if you drop just cash, how is someone supposed to find out who the rightful owner of it is, especially if it's found long after you've dropped it? With a wallet you probably have information to identify who it belongs to and get it back to them. Huge difference.
Stop trying to justify theft.
It was in college, so they could have taken it to reception or something. But nope.
Besides, here in the UK no one carries drivers licenses around with them anyway. Cards will usually (but not always) have full names on but that's it. It'd be quite hard to return a wallet to the owner based on the information inside it, so I'd have to take it to a police station and see if it's claimed instead. Sans cash
It was in college, so they could have taken it to reception or something. But nope.
Besides, here in the UK no one carries drivers licenses around with them anyway. Cards will usually (but not always) have full names on but that's it. It'd be quite hard to return a wallet to the owner based on the information inside it, so I'd have to take it to a police station and see if it's claimed instead. Sans cash
If you found someone's lost car keys, would you feel justified in taking their car? What if you were absolutely guaranteed to get away with it?
You haven't seen "bait car" have you? People feel it's theirs for the taking if something is unlocked or has keys in it. It's kind of sad that we have to lock our cars and house, and that still doesn't stop people.
LOL it's easy to track down the owner of a car though, not the same... Plus cars are tracked by the police through number plate recognition and there's ownership papers and all sorts. Plus a car is likely to be worth a lot more than the amount of money you can fit into a wallet. Not exactly the same thing
That's pretty much how I feel about it. If I lost my wallet and had it returned, I really would not expect there to still be cash in it. It would be nice, but I honestly would most likely take the cash, unless it was a huge amount that the owner probably really needed.
Now, if someone drops their wallet/cash right in front of me, of course I'm going to return it all right away. It probably sounds like bad logic, but I just feel that really would be stealing.
I found $10 under a bench seat in a fast food restaurant out of town on last Saturday, paid for my gas home.
Now that you mention it, I have heard of such things...
LOL it's easy to track down the owner of a car though, not the same... Plus cars are tracked by the police through number plate recognition and there's ownership papers and all sorts. Plus a car is likely to be worth a lot more than the amount of money you can fit into a wallet. Not exactly the same thing
Well, I agree it isn't the same thing, but I'm attempting to contrive an example for the sake of argument. Let me be more straightforward: at what point would you consider the amount of cash you find to be "too much to take?"
I suppose you are the reason we have locks on doors.....
You're making a lot of rash assumptions here. I would never break into someone's car/house/whatever. I'm simply saying I might keep something I find on the floor.
Now how much is too much? I probably would leave it if it's over £100 because that's probably quite important to the owner. But if it was like £10 I'd take it.
I pretty much agree with Cassie.
Oh, I didn't mean to imply anything about you. I'm just trying to understand the reasoning; I'm not interested in pegging you as some kind of grand larcenist.
I should have said, "this kind of thinking is why we have locks on doors." I'm talking about raw opportunism combined with the justification that the action itself isn't all that harmful. It would be easy to use this kind of thinking to justify strolling into an unlocked house and snatching a couple minor items.
Although it seems you're making a lot of assumptions about the importance to someone else of any particular bit of cash. £100 might not be a lot to some people, where as to another £10 could be the difference between eating or not that day. Besides, if £10 is so trivial, why bother taking it in the first place?
it doesn't
I'm not perfect, but its better then just leaving the wallet wherever i find it...