Found cash: what would you do?

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

I was driving along a busy road & approached an intersection when I saw several Twenties blowing in the wind.  I pulled over & parked on a smaller side street: to grab what I could.  I had to wait for traffic to pass on as it was a busy 4 lane major roadway (& no matter how much I love cash- my life is worth a little more than a quick buck!). Finally, a long session of traffic passed by & I started grabbing the green plastic notes.  While I was stuck on the median a car pulled slowly by & a kind lady told me that, "your wallet's back there." I walked back to where she pointed & saw the wallet in the middle of the busy road. I had to wait for another onslaught of traffic to cruise by before I could retrieve it.  I saw many Twenties blow away & only got a fraction of the cash from this wallet.

I tried to use "411" to link the person's name/address to a phone # but no luck. I drove to the store we were going to and when we drove back I saw another Twenty blowing on the median.

I will let you know what happened after I ask my question (& get a few replies).  So what would you do if you dodged traffic to find 10 Twenties (& a wallet) in the middle of a busy road?

If you have the address can't you just bring it back to them?  I know you can just drop it in a mailbox and the postal service is supposed to deliver it free of of charge.  However I'm not sure if I would do that if it's full of cash.  Perhaps deliver it in person if it's not too much of an inconvenience or package it in a small box and mail it.  You can write them a short note explaining that you tried to recover as many of the 20s as possible that were blowing in the wind (although perhaps didn't get all of them).

The bill hunter in me would peek at the serials of all the cash before giving it back. If one of the recovered 20s was a BSW I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't be replaced with a different one when returned

If you have the address can't you just bring it back to them?  I know you can just drop it in a mailbox and the postal service is supposed to deliver it free of of charge.  However I'm not sure if I would do that if it's full of cash.  Perhaps deliver it in person if it's not too much of an inconvenience or package it in a small box and mail it.  ...

Quite honestly, the wallet was in terrible condition (old & was run over by some vehicles). I suppose I could have wrapped it in cellophane...   & yes I would have delivered it to the address had we not found a contact phone #. Was told I didn't get them all (he said he took out $500 but I only found $200 plus his ATM card)

The bill hunter in me would peek at the serials of all the cash before giving it back. If one of the recovered 20s was a BSW I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't be replaced with a different one when returned

-Do we know each other? Okay- YES- -the bill hunter (in me) was very much alive that morning. I had to check every prefix & serial # BUT nothing unusual nor collectable (unfortunately). And that's the kind of answers I was expecting from some of you collectors here on CPMF (check the back of the banknotes- at least!) 

-On the upside- yes, my wife found his business card finally after my failed 411 attempt (& that really made me feel like I was blind after I searched the wallet myself & came up empty handed). So she called him & I returned it.  He was happy that he found his license after we told him where we had located it. Overall, he seemed a bit of an oddball, but a happy oddball at least.

The real question is, what would you have done if you did find something collectible?  That would have been an awkward conversation.  "Here is your money but... I decided to keep this one."  Or just not tell him and replace it with one of your own?  What if he's a collector as well and he had just found his first solid minutes before dropping his wallet?  And there you are snatching it from him!  J/k.

The real question is, what would you have done if you did find something collectible?  That would have been an awkward conversation.  "Here is your money but... I decided to keep this one."  Or just not tell him and replace it with one of your own?  What if he's a collector as well and he had just found his first solid minutes before dropping his wallet?  And there you are snatching it from him!  J/k.

That's a good question (which I never really pondered). I figured that if there was something collectible - he'd be like 99.99% of the population (who don't collect) & I would just replace it (undetected).  As it turned out he just grabbed the wallet & didn't even look inside it (nor counted the money). His offer of a reward was quite insincere (which was fine- I wasn't looking for anything).

What I thought was really bizarre is that there were other pedestrians present (at the time) who crossed the street (& seemed to ignore the entire affair- me running about trying to stomp on the offending/escaped banknotes).  Ever try to chase down a pithy plastic banknote blowing in a breeze?  Not easy- let me tell you. It was almost like being in an episode from the "Twilight Zone." No other cars stopped either while I ran about trying to snag a note here or there.  I was winded when I returned to my car.

And when we finished our errands & approached the same intersection hours later in the car- still saw 2 bills floating in the breeze/traffic gusts. Managed to track down only the 1 and his ATM card (both flat on the pavement). The chap who lost his wallet was most keen to disappear & behaved oddly too (as I mentioned before).

They were probably all terrified of germs on the money!  Or they were just stuck in their bubbles staring at their phones too oblivious to notice anything.  Or scared that it was some kind of set up.  Sad world that we live in.

Also sorry to hear that the owner of the wallet wasn't more enthusiastic about getting his wallet back.  If you brought me back my wallet full of cards and ids I'd more than happily give you all of the cash that you found and be overjoyed that I didn't have to go through the process of replacing everything else.

They were probably all terrified of germs on the money!  Or they were just stuck in their bubbles staring at their phones too oblivious to notice anything.  Or scared that it was some kind of set up. ..

I'm not so sure it was that complicated. I believe it's more about perception (& our expectations). My wife once asked me if I found any banknotes in public places. I thought she was a bit daft when she asked. She then told me that she had found several ($5, $10 & even 1 $20) over a few years. I was skeptical at first until she showed me how to look & I started finding money myself (at bus-stops, a $10 in downtown Ottawa, 3 Fives in a parking lot, etc.)  If you don't know where to look (nor expect to find cash - you will be blind to it). The people crossing that intersection had no idea & just weren't curious enough to speculate on what I was doing (whereas that one lady in the car who slowed down/spotted the wallet was).

Magicians use this assumption & I'm sure we as collectors develop an eye for what to collect (prefixes, special #, errors, etc).  Each collector (whether it be paintings, jewelry, stamps, etc) develops a skeptical/analytical eye (some more shrewd than others).  My wife thinks I'm nuts when she sees me examine a banknote (as I'm sure most non-collectors would).