Commuting - Why is it so hard to return people's property?

Commuting in New York City 4 times a week, I see a lot of stuff
on the paths/ street. Coins, perfectly good umbrella, Snap-on
ratchet that's been run over a few times, water bottles, etc. I'll
probably never find the owners of these stuff. But some items I
come across with, you'd think I should have no problems contacting
the owners.

A few years back, I saw an expensive Blackberry Pearl on the path.
Checked the contact list, no ICE(In case of emergency). So I dialed
a few numbers, some I got voicemail. Some numbers that did answer
and I explained that I'm trying to find the owner of this Blackberry,
replied that they don't know anybody with a Blackberry. Eventually
someone was able to forward my number to the owner, so phone and
owner are reunited. She gave me a box of chocolate as a reward;
how did she know I love chocolate? :D

Today I picked up a wallet lying on the path on my way to work. Got to
my job and started snooping. Usual stuff you'll find in most wallets; cash,
dirver's lic.(California), organ donor card, credit cards. But I don't know
how to contact him, I call the contact number on his donor card(signed
2005, California DMV), left a message on the voicemail. I called his
Citbank card and explained the situation, left my contact number for
them to forward to their customer. But this was a few hours ago, and I
still haven't heard from this guy. By tomorrow if I still haven't heard from
him, I'll go to the post office and take some money from his cash, then
mail his wallet to the adress listed on the driver's license.

What would you do or could do in this situation? By the way if anybody knows
Richard L. living on Folsom st in San Francisco, tell him i have his wallet:D

Commuting in New York City 4 times a week, I see a lot of stuff
on the paths/ street. Coins, perfectly good umbrella, Snap-on
ratchet that's been run over a few times, water bottles, etc. I'll
probably never find the owners of these stuff. But some items I
come across with, you'd think I should have no problems contacting
the owners.

A few years back, I saw an expensive Blackberry Pearl on the path.
Checked the contact list, no ICE(In case of emergency). So I dialed
a few numbers, some I got voicemail. Some numbers that did answer
and I explained that I'm trying to find the owner of this Blackberry,
replied that they don't know anybody with a Blackberry. Eventually
someone was able to forward my number to the owner, so phone and
owner are reunited. She gave me a box of chocolate as a reward;
how did she know I love chocolate? :D

Today I picked up a wallet lying on the path on my way to work. Got to
my job and started snooping. Usual stuff you'll find in most wallets; cash,
dirver's lic.(California), organ donor card, credit cards. But I don't know
how to contact him, I call the contact number on his donor card(signed
2005, California DMV), left a message on the voicemail. I called his
Citbank card and explained the situation, left my contact number for
them to forward to their customer. But this was a few hours ago, and I
still haven't heard from this guy. By tomorrow if I still haven't heard from
him, I'll go to the post office and take some money from his cash, then
mail his wallet to the adress listed on the driver's license.

What would you do or could do in this situation? By the way if anybody knows
Richard L. living on Folsom st in San Francisco, tell him i have his wallet:D

Take one of his credit cards, and order me one of these. PM me and I'll send you the shipping address. Thanks

http://www.wrenchscience.com/road/frames/Pinarello/Dogma+Carbon+60.1+Di2/2011/

White 59.5cm frame with Di 2 group please.

You will have done your good deed for the day.


http://www.wrenchscience.com/DBImages/800H/pinarello_dogma_536_2011.jpg

Number 1, "It'll never happen to me!" So we rarely prepare for losing our valuables.

I found a wallet in front of work the other day. Muttered something about spending time finding the owner. It was my boss!

I was cruising Foothill one afternoon last summer when I ran over a pile of cards including someone's drivers' licence and a little cash. I checked the address and the fam and I drove it out there the next day on our way around town and handed them to a very appreciative mother. The cards told a little story: the girl was back from Swarthmore College for the summer, a registered triathlete, and I bet her cards fell out of her jersey pocket or something.

Never had a problem returning phones, never found a wallet, always keep the tools, blinkys, or loose folding money. I don't even stop for change, but always stop for tools.

They call me the trashman at work because I find so much stuff.

Have usually just found assorted hand tools, but on one touring ride to southern Calif. there were three $20s lying in the middle of the street. On another tour there was a series of dollar bills and some fives along a section of the road through Big Sur. They were scattered along miles of road so we speculated that someone's car window was open and the money was blowing out. Also found a purse and contents in a ditch south of Occidental. It had been rifled for cash but still had a cellphone, a couple checkbooks, some credit cards, etc. Left it at the hotel in Occidental and called the number on one of the checkbooks. Turned out to belong to the local DA and had been stolen from her locked car earlier in the day. Gave her the exact GPS coordinates where we found it since she wanted to look around for anything else that might still be in the vicinity.

Maybe send him a letter with your contact numbers/address before sending out credit cards etc. by mail.

Back in 1975, I fell asleep on the MUNI #5 bus, here in San Francisco. I woke up, just in time to realize that my stop was quickly approaching. I jumped up and rang the bell for the driver to stop. As I made my exit, I felt my back pocket. My wallet was missing! I instantly turned to knock on the side of the bus! It was already too late. The bus was just inches out of my reach. I therefore, began to run, in effort to catch the bus. The bus sped through the intersection and had no stops nearby. The bus was headed east downhill towards Market street. I just stood there, with tears rolling down my eyes. I had just come from the bank after cashing my payroll check. My wallet had over five hundred dollars in it. I then went to friends to borrow money. I asked the neighborhood grocer to loan me food for the following week.

Three days later, a hispanic woman called me speaking very broken english. All I could make out was "I hold for you money"...Suddenly, it dawned on me! This lady must have my wallet! I then asked her, "Do you have my wallet?"...She then responded, "Si! Yes! I have!"...I then told her that I would come to her and pick it up. She insisted that she had to bring it to me. I then gave her my address. She arrived a few hours later in an old beat up Volkswagen Bug, full of kids! I saw her looking for my address, as I lurked out the window. I began waving my hand at her and calling out my name, confirming my identity. I went down to the entrance gate to meet her. She handed me the wallet and turned quickly as if to walk away. I checked the amount of money, found it was correct, and called out to her as I pulled out a Benjamin to pay her for her troubles. She then looked insulted and shook her head in the negative and said, "No! I will pray for you Senoir!"

I will forever feel touched by the warmth and generosity of that woman...

There's just nothing like being a real human being!

- Slim :)

PS.

You're a great guy, Interceptor! :thumb:

Take one of his credit cards, and order me one of these. PM me and I'll send you the shipping address. Thanks

http://www.wrenchscience.com/road/frames/Pinarello/Dogma+Carbon+60.1+Di2/2011/

White 59.5cm frame with Di 2 group please.

You will have done your good deed for the day.


http://www.wrenchscience.com/DBImages/800H/pinarello_dogma_536_2011.jpg

Me too, me too! Only make mine a 56cm w/a 120mm stem and a double instead of a triple. 53/40 preferably. And while you're at it order me one of these for commuting: http://www.quitmann-ms.de/eng/big_apple.html w/a Rohloff. I'll get my own accessories. Don't want to be a hog about it after all. Thanks alot. :thumb:

Hope this guy has a Platinum card in his wallet.... gonna get 'spensive. (oh, and 175 cranks please)

And I always thought Kojak was an honest Cop!!!:rolleyes:...Sheessh!

- Slim :)

PS.

Who loves you, baby? :lol:

And I always thought Kojak was an honest Cop!!!:rolleyes:...Sheessh!

- Slim :)

PS.

Who loves you, baby? :lol:

This is honest, just thought that for karmic reasons the gentleman with the lost wallet would want to "reward" the cycling community for being the honest, wallet returning bunch that we are, and who am I to step in front of the Karma bus and ruin the balance in the universe.

I found an Ipod on the street a few years ago. Put it on craigslist lost and found and heard from a guy whose buddy saw the CL post. He was able to tell me specific information about what media was on it so I told him to come over and get it. Turns out his car was broken into and they took the Ipod. His car was in St. Paul when this happened and I found it in Minneapolis on a dark street perfect for breaking into cars. I bet the thief was still at it and dropped it or got spooked and ditched it when he saw a cop. I even got $20 for my trouble.

I help when I can, Slim :)
Maybe you can help out too?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/779517-Maybe-you-can-help-reunite-a-wallet-and-it-s-owner?p=13450445#post13450445

Maybe you can help reunite a wallet and it's owner?


Hello Cali people, I'm trying to contact the owner of a wallet that I found:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ple-s-property (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/779487-Why-is-it-so-hard-to-return-people-s-property)

Is anybody near Folsom st. in San Francisco? I'm hoping somebody can go to the
owner's address ring the bell or leave a note under the door w/ my contact info.
If somebody has some time to do this, please PM me for the owner's name and
address and my contact info. Thanks BF community :)








Back in 1975, I fell asleep on the MUNI #5 bus, here in San Francisco. I woke up, just in time to realize that my stop was quickly approaching. I jumped up and rang the bell for the driver to stop. As I made my exit, I felt my back pocket. My wallet was missing! I instantly turned to knock on the side of the bus! It was already too late. The bus was just inches out of my reach. I therefore, began to run, in effort to catch the bus. The bus sped through the intersection and had no stops nearby. The bus was headed east downhill towards Market street. I just stood there, with tears rolling down my eyes. I had just come from the bank after cashing my payroll check. My wallet had over five hundred dollars in it. I then went to friends to borrow money. I asked the neighborhood grocer to loan me food for the following week.

Three days later, a hispanic woman called me speaking very broken english. All I could make out was "I hold for you money"...Suddenly, it dawned on me! This lady must have my wallet! I then asked her, "Do you have my wallet?"...She then responded, "Si! Yes! I have!"...I then told her that I would come to her and pick it up. She insisted that she had to bring it to me. I then gave her my address. She arrived a few hours later in an old beat up Volkswagen Bug, full of kids! I saw her looking for my address, as I lurked out the window. I began waving my hand at her and calling out my name, confirming my identity. I went down to the entrance gate to meet her. She handed me the wallet and turned quickly as if to walk away. I checked the amount of money, found it was correct, and called out to her as I pulled out a Benjamin to pay her for her troubles. She then looked insulted and shook her head in the negative and said, "No! I will pray for you Senoir!"

I will forever feel touched by the warmth and generosity of that woman...

There's just nothing like being a real human being!

- Slim :)

PS.

You're a great guy, Interceptor! :thumb:

And to all the folks who want to max out his credit cards,
when I called his Citibank Mastercard to give them my contact
info - they told me the card was already cancelled. Why they
told me that w/out me asking I have no idea :D
I didn't check his Amex card though, hmmmmmmmmmm...........

Years ago while mountain biking my wallet fell out of my seat pack, my fault for forgetting to
zip it after fixing a flat. Anyway a week or so later my wallet shows up in an envelope in my mailbox, anonymously. I was pumped, I stuck the wallet in my pocket walked out the door to go on on a first date with a woman who I've now been married to for over 20 years.

That was a good day. Just send the wallet back. Pay it forward.

If you picked up the wallet today, he might still be in New York. If there's anything in there that identifies his company, they might be able to tell you if he's at a hotel there.

Me too, me too! Only make mine a 56cm w/a 120mm stem and a double instead of a triple. 53/40 preferably. And while you're at it order me one of these for commuting: http://www.quitmann-ms.de/eng/big_apple.html w/a Rohloff. I'll get my own accessories. Don't want to be a hog about it after all. Thanks alot. :thumb:

While your making this list, I'll take a Scott Spark 29 RC (http://www.scott-sports.com/us_en/product/11256/61168/221697) and a Trek Transport (http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/town/urban_utility/transport/transport/#)!!! :lol: Good luck getting his wallet back to him.


Edit: Just read this post

And to all the folks who want to max out his credit cards,
when I called his Citibank Mastercard to give them my contact
info - they told me the card was already cancelled. Why they
told me that w/out me asking I have no idea :D
I didn't check his Amex card though, hmmmmmmmmmm...........

Makes sense if he knew he lost it. I would cancel all my cards and just get new ones if I lost my wallet and didn't find it within a couple of days (I would put a hold on the cards before canceling just incase I were to find it somewhere).

Back in 1975, I fell asleep on the MUNI #5 bus, here in San Francisco. I woke up, just in time to realize that my stop was quickly approaching. I jumped up and rang the bell for the driver to stop. As I made my exit, I felt my back pocket. My wallet was missing! I instantly turned to knock on the side of the bus! It was already too late. The bus was just inches out of my reach. I therefore, began to run, in effort to catch the bus. The bus sped through the intersection and had no stops nearby. The bus was headed east downhill towards Market street. I just stood there, with tears rolling down my eyes. I had just come from the bank after cashing my payroll check. My wallet had over five hundred dollars in it. I then went to friends to borrow money. I asked the neighborhood grocer to loan me food for the following week.

Three days later, a hispanic woman called me speaking very broken english. All I could make out was "I hold for you money"...Suddenly, it dawned on me! This lady must have my wallet! I then asked her, "Do you have my wallet?"...She then responded, "Si! Yes! I have!"...I then told her that I would come to her and pick it up. She insisted that she had to bring it to me. I then gave her my address. She arrived a few hours later in an old beat up Volkswagen Bug, full of kids! I saw her looking for my address, as I lurked out the window. I began waving my hand at her and calling out my name, confirming my identity. I went down to the entrance gate to meet her. She handed me the wallet and turned quickly as if to walk away. I checked the amount of money, found it was correct, and called out to her as I pulled out a Benjamin to pay her for her troubles. She then looked insulted and shook her head in the negative and said, "No! I will pray for you Senoir!"

I will forever feel touched by the warmth and generosity of that woman...

There's just nothing like being a real human being!

- Slim :)

PS.

You're a great guy, Interceptor! :thumb:

Don't Panic with Hispanics.:D

I found a ladies purse once with a few scraps of paper and a little money. No ID but her name was on a receipt and there was a business card for her dentist. I managed to make connections, but it took a couple of months of back and forth, because she wanted to come pick it up rather than me mail it, but she'd never arrange a time, or she'd not arrive. Eventually I ended up mailing it to her. Apparently she had left the wallet on the roof of her car when she went for ice cream.

I fould a wallet one time, no id, just credit cards. I called the local PD to report it. They sent out an officer who really grilled me. I felt like a suspect, even though I was turning in a wallet. Not that I expected a Thank you from the police, but it also seems counter-productive to make it hard for people to turn in something like a wallet.

If there's any way that I can identify the owner of a found object, I'll to great lengths to return it to them, otherwise, if it's a small low dollar item, I'll generally claim salvage rights.

I have had mixed results returning found objects. A cell phone with numbers written on tape plastered all over it, I called all those numbers and no one was any help. I told them, if anyone mentions losing his cell phone, tell him to call it and I'll answer it. No one ever did (before the battery ran out). Another cell phone I found on the street, I put it in my pocket to deal with later, and it started ringing within minutes; the owner himself. He got it back in record time. The Texas drivers licence I found on Madison Ave NYC, I googled the guy and he got it back within days. The two $100 bills on 47th street, well, I never even tried :innocent:.

The day I bought my Felt I was riding home from the LBS and found a woman's pocketbook laying in the street. I called the woman when I got home and she came to my house a picked it up. As it turned out, she had set her wallet on the roof of her car while loading it and then forgot about it and drove off. I declined any compensation but a week later in the mail I received a thank you card and a $20 gift certificate to a book store.

This thread reminds me that on my way home from work I'm going to stop and pick up the bungee cord lying in the gutter that I've been passing all week. Probably not worth trying to hunt down the owner of that.

I forgot to close my seatbag once when leaving the office and didn't realize it was open until halfway home. My wallet, eyeglasses and other items were missing. So I turned around and rode all the way to my office looking for my stuff. On the way back, I found several items from my wallet on the side of the street but no wallet, money or credit cards. Called the credit card companies and bank as soon as I got home, and the jerk who found my wallet had already charged $500+ worth of electronic equipment at Best Buy.

Apparently karma doesn't always work because I have found and returned several lost wallets over the years.

I was on my honeymoon with my new wife. Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Absolutely idyllic. We had hopped the SunBus to head north to Palm Cove. We get there and jump out. 30 seconds later, we're heading into a restaurant for lunch and I realize my wallet had fallen out of my swim trunks. (see also Slim's description above) The bus was already a couple of blocks away, so I couldn't even make a run for it. After a few minutes of abject panic, I realize the next bus will be here in an hour, so we ate lunch on my wife's card and waited for the next bus to show up. When it did and it wasn't the same one we were on, we flagged it and told him that my wallet was on the last bus that came through. He radioed the driver and told us that bus/driver would be back later in the afternoon. We waited patiently on the beach (oh, so difficult that was ;) ) and sure enough the bus and driver came back, we flagged him, and he had my wallet, absolutely unmolested. I'll bet he had more A$ in the till on the bus than I did in my wallet.

Yay for Australians. :)

Don't Panic with Hispanics.:D

Yes, I've learned not to panic, no matter what...

However, I've also learned that there's good and bad in every ethnic group.

It's most probably best to expect nothing and be surprised by the good things that people do. Otherwise, you'd spend much of your life disappointed.

- Slim :)

A year or so ago I found a cell phone in the middle of the MUP while biking to work. I put it in a jersey pocket to deal with when I got to work. I rolled up to a red light, and there was a young woman on a bike looking through her basket, then digging through her backpack, then the basket again, then back to the backpack, getting more and more frantic. She was dressed all in pink; the bike was pink; the cell phone was pink; hmmmm.... so I pulled out the phone and held it out. I haven't seen anyone's face light up like that in a while! I suspect that's the easiest return I'll ever have, and she probably had the phone back within two or three minutes of losing it.

I currently have a driver's license in my drawer that I found last Friday. Googled to no avail. Just need to drop it off at the DMV. Also found a motorcycle license plate a few months ago with the registration taped to it. Found the owner pretty quick. It rattled off a Harely. I hate those noisy things. He offered me $20 and I declined. Should have asked him to be courteous to cyclists in return.

I like phones, it's usually as simple as calling the person labeled 'mom' in the address book. I found an iPhone once, sadly without any parental figures so I posted to the persons facebook. Their status became 'This person seems to have lost their phone, if anyone of their friends wants to do them a favor and pick it up, please stop by my office'

Saga ends..........

So the wallet's owner called me today saying mail his stuff
to the address on the driver's license. He said to take the
postage from his cash and for me to take a bit more so that
lunch was on him. He should have told me this before I
mailed his wallet Monday:rolleyes:


Ernest,

I received the package today. I apologize for not being able to return your call until this morning but I was on the move from Friday until then.

I am amazed and extremely grateful to you for your integrity and extraordinary efforts to return my wallet to me. I never expected to see it again.

I was visiting a friend and we chose to ride the Westside Greenway (1st time). It probably fell out of my pocket when I was fixing the jammed chain on his bike.

Thank you.

Take care,

Richard