Found lost wallet: what to do?

[Laugh O. Grams]

I found a lost wallet (woman's) in the street last night. No money, but drivers license and credit cards were all intact. I've heard that if you put it in a USPS mailbox that they will return any ID to the original owner and destroy all the credit cards. Can anyone verify this to be true?

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

I don't know about the UPS thing, but some of the grocery store club cards, have a line on them that says they will return it to the owner. Does it have any ?

 

[Metro West]

I found a lost wallet (woman's) in the street last night. No money, but drivers license and credit cards were all intact. I've heard that if you put it in a USPS mailbox that they will return any ID to the original owner and destroy all the credit cards. Can anyone verify this to be true?

Hmm...not sure about the mailbox thing. If she's a local, I would try to find her in the phone book...and then go from there.

 

[Darcy03231]

I would turn it in to the police department and let them handle it.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

She lives south of where I live, so she's kind of a local I guess. It's about an hour away. No club cards/business cards and I tried finding her phone number last night both by calling information and looking for her online. No such luck. We're going out for breakfast this morning and I'm hoping a can just drop it in the mailbox and be done with it.

 

[Cindy B]

I wouldn't drop it in a mailbox. That's too risky.

I would take it to a local police station and let them sort it out with that other stations office.

 

[wdwmom2]

I would turn it in to the police department and let them handle it.

If I couldn't find her phone number, this is exactly what I would do

 

[Erin1700]

I have heard of the mailbox thing. Someone I know did this but of course he never found out what happened.

 

[java]

Yes just take it into the police station- they'll handle it. Once I found a woman's purse on my front lawn(where we used to live) I looked inside and saw it was from someone around the block so I called- well the police showed up. (I guess to check out that I wasn't the one that broke into her car ) But it was a less than uplifting experience for me as I was questioned by the police with my 3 year old sitting in my lap.

 

[helenabear]

I would take it to the police department since you can't find her number. I have never heard of the mailbox thing, so no way would I do that.

 

[ilisao]

Mail it back to the address on the drivers license.

 

[becjlek]

Take it to the police.

 

[aprilgail2]

where i work we find them a lot and just drop them in any mailbox. My mom lost hers once and it came about 2 days later delivered by the mailman right to our house. I have found one that was local and I just drove past and tossed it into their mailbox on my way home but normally in the mailbox they go. I would never even think to bring it to a police station, we have always used the mailbox.

 

[SusieStone]

Call the police to come and get it.

 

[lynxstch]

My father lost his a few years ago..someone found it, dropped it in a mailbox at the post office, and it was returned to him 2 days later, still had his license and credit cards inside..he said he only had $5 cash in it, hidden in one of the little compartments, and even that was still in there!..or as another poster said, put it in a box/envelope and mail it to the driver's license address yourself!

 

[TinkerbellMama]

I found a lost wallet (woman's) in the street last night. No money, but drivers license and credit cards were all intact. I've heard that if you put it in a USPS mailbox that they will return any ID to the original owner and destroy all the credit cards. Can anyone verify this to be true?

Personally, I'd try to call the person, and if I couldn't find any number, I'd drive by the address and see if anyone was home. If all of that didn't work, I'd turn it in to the police station. Just be glad you didn't find a wallet with TWO IDs (one of them fake, for an underage drinker)! This happened to a friend's dad (while we were present), and he was torn over whether to return the fake ID to the juvenile miscreant or not.

 

[TCPluto]

I found a lost wallet (woman's) in the street last night. No money, but drivers license and credit cards were all intact. I've heard that if you put it in a USPS mailbox that they will return any ID to the original owner and destroy all the credit cards. Can anyone verify this to be true?

Take it to the local police department.

Probably just a lost wallet, but what if it's a missing person or someone who has been otherwise victimized?

If you put it in the mailbox or just mail it yourself, you prevent what might be an important piece of the puzzle, negate any chance of helping to solve what might be a crime.

 

[Allison]

I would also take it to the police department. They could then contact the person right away instead of them having to wait who knows how many days for it to show up. This could prevent a lot of headache on the part of the person who lost it in the next few days cancelling credit cards and such.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Well, I just got back from breakfast. I intended to just drop the wallet in the mailbox, but as we were driving out of our community, I saw a neighbor out in his front yard who also happens to be a sergeant with our local police dept. I asked and he told me to give it to him and he'd take it into the office for me. Problem solved...thanks for the tips everyone.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Mail it back to the address on the drivers license.

This is what I would do. It sounds like the most logical explanation. Who has someone else's driver's license in their wallet. I think the police have enough to do without having to get a wallet back to it's owner in a timely fashion. Maybe you could spring few bucks as a nice gesture and fed ex it to the owner?