Found lost wallet: what to do?

[Allison]

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.

Well, that worked out nicely.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Oops, sorry, I didn't see your updated response. That was nice of your neighbor to do that, as well as very nice of you to try to get that wallet back to I'm sure a very frantic person.

 

[dahirsh]

I found a purse with pretty much everything except cash on New Years day this year. I called one of the credit cards, they got in touch with the owner and put her in touch with me.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I'd try to see if I could get a phone number to see if it was a recent address. If no number, I'd just mail it to the address. Chances are that by now they've stopped all their credit cards and such, but it would still be nice to get their belongings back.

I'm so thankful for theives who just take the cash. I mean, it isn't great to have anything stolen...but the wallet itself might be sentimental. It would be so nice if all thieves would just take what they were stealing and return or publicly discard the rest. That's the Thoughtful Thief way to do it.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I didn't know about the mailbox thing - how interesting!

 

[merekc]

My concern with mailing it back to the address on the DL is what if that person is no longer living there. It usually is the last thing I do when we move to get the DL changed, it is such a hassle.

Turning it into the police seems the best option. I would also think it limits your liability. Dropping it into a mailbox or sending it back is not the same as putting the wallet in the hands of the owner or a responsible party (i.e. police).