Contacting owner of lost wallet. What is best way.

[path1]

(edit part)...What is the best thing to put in your wallet so someone that finds your wallet can contact you? Your phone number OK? Your e-mail address OK? I don't think your personal address is OK anymore?

Thanks


I don’t have in my wallet anyway for somebody to contact me if I loose my wallet. In today’s society is it a good idea to have a slip of paper having your address or phone number, so the finder of your wallet could contact you. Can your name and address do any harm?



(more info) Found a purse (wallet) today, full of credit cards, tons of gift cards, driver license etc. Not a scrap of paperwork inside. I have no way of getting in touch with the owner. To me looks like somebody stole it and took all the paper money and throw wallet in a parking lot of an auto part store. I don’t want to assume, but being wallet belongs to a women, I just don’t see very many women in auto part stores.
I called number on the back of one credit card and told them. Suggested and left my phone number with them. So they could contact their card holder, and she could call me. They said they would just cancel the card. I waited on hold for about 5 or so min. to get a live operator. I’m not going to call 14 other credit card type places. I’ll mail wallet to the address on her drivers license Monday.

I know we travel with 2 credit cards and only one is in my wallet, just in case.

[hotpepperkid]

Blutoyz wrote:
I haven't tested this but I was told years ago if you just drop it in a mailbox the postal service will forward to the owner

That works or it did several years ago. Someone lifted my wife's wallet at work. We got it in the mail a few days later missing the cash that was in it

[Rice]

Edd505 wrote:
If found turn in to local police, they have far more resources to locate people. That's what they do for a living, locate missing people, wanted people, witnesses, etc.

No need for the police if I'm around. I found a camera on the beach on the Texas coast several years ago. My first thought was, "Yay! I get a digital camera!"

But I couldn't help myself, and transferred the photos to my computer in case the battery was going to die soon, and got to work analyzing them. Waaaay too many cat photos, but by using the others, I eventually concluded that it belonged to a teacher in Austin.

I found an email address for her on the school's website, and sent an email saying I thought I found her camera. She was amazed. She'd been in Corpus visiting her father and didn't know where she'd lost it. So I dropped it off at his door the next time I went to town.

[Harvey51]

I appreciate this thread very much. I'll be making sure my cell number is easy to find in my wallet.

I've had several experiences on both the losing and finding sides. One time I dropped a credit card in a fast food place about a thousand miles from home. I discovered it missing just an hour down the road, went back and was told my card had been turned over to police - and was locked up overnight. Luckily we were camping so it wasn't very inconvenient to stay over and pick up the card in the morning.

On a recent flying trip I was very aware that my wallet was critical - had I lost it, getting home would be very awkward as ID is required to fly.

The golden rule seems a good guide in this.

[wbwood]

Turn it over to the police department

[IAMICHABOD]

Interesting,I would take it to the police department.
A short story :B
Many years ago while delivering air freight to LAX I lost my wallet,I returned to about 20 airlines and air freight forwarders that I had been to with no luck.
While returning to my home base I got a call to return to Japan Airlines it was near midnight,about 10 hours from when I lost my wallet.

When I arrived there I was met by the station manager and he briefed me on what had happened,a young intern from Japan had found my wallet while cleaning the restroom at the end of his shift.It had my company ID in it and it took them a long time to get to someone that knew how to contact me.
He also told me not to offer a reward to him as it would offend him. We went to the small lobby and asleep in a chair was a young man,the manager woke him and he had a envelope with my wallet,he spoke no english but he handed it to me bowed and said something Japanese,The manager told me that he said that it was an honor to return it to me.
I thanked him and bowed,as I left the manager told me that it was their custom and duty to return a lost item that they found to who had lost it,He even was going to get on a bus and return it.

Fast forward 40 years,While on my daily walk I found womans wallet on the sidewalk,The ID showed that it was only 2 blocks away so I decided to pay it forward from my experience years ago. I found the house and knocked on the door but it seemed no one was home so I put it in the mail box and left.

As I was near the end of the block a LA County Sheriff car roared up and the deputy stopped me and asked what I was doing,soon there were 2 more and I was detained while they checked my story and returned with the wallet that I had left at the house,an unpleasant encounter but they explained that a elderly woman had called and said that someone had banged on her door,hey they were doing their job and I now know that they police my neighborhood very well,that is why we have a very low crime rate here:C

Moral of this long story,give it to the police,let them handle it.

[Bumpyroad]

free radical wrote:


Interesting bit of info from the east,,friend of mine lives in Japan,lost an envelope with lots cash,no name on it,,yet someone returned it to the police,,amazing how honest people are out there

https://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/02/18/tokyo-a-class-above-the-rest-with-3-3-billion-yen-of-lost-cas...

folks in Japan seem to have a better set of ethics than elsewhere. At the Osaka airport I saw a nice Nikon SLR lying on the table beside my chair, no body around, notified flight attendant, and they made a page on the loading outgoing flight. shortly thereafter a man came dashing off the plane to claim it.
think that would have happened in a large US city?
bumpy

[free_radical]

path1 wrote:
(edit part)...What is the best thing to put in your wallet so someone that finds your wallet can contact you? Your phone number OK? Your e-mail address OK? I don't think your personal address is OK anymore?

Thanks


I don’t have in my wallet anyway for somebody to contact me if I loose my wallet. In today’s society is it a good idea to have a slip of paper having your address or phone number, so the finder of your wallet could contact you. Can your name and address do any harm?



(more info) Found a purse (wallet) today, full of credit cards, tons of gift cards, driver license etc. Not a scrap of paperwork inside. I have no way of getting in touch with the owner. To me looks like somebody stole it and took all the paper money and throw wallet in a parking lot of an auto part store. I don’t want to assume, but being wallet belongs to a women, I just don’t see very many women in auto part stores.
I called number on the back of one credit card and told them. Suggested and left my phone number with them. So they could contact their card holder, and she could call me. They said they would just cancel the card. I waited on hold for about 5 or so min. to get a live operator. I’m not going to call 14 other credit card type places. I’ll mail wallet to the address on her drivers license Monday.

I know we travel with 2 credit cards and only one is in my wallet, just in case.

Id take it to the police station and have them find the owner..

found iphone in Mall washroom once,took it to the security ofice,hope they returned it ..

Interesting bit of info from the east,,friend of mine lives in Japan,lost an envelope with lots cash,no name on it,,yet someone returned it to the police,,amazing how honest people are out there

https://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/02/18/tokyo-a-class-above-the-rest-with-3-3-billion-yen-of-lost-cas...

[joelm]

I was getting on I5 and there was a wallet laying in the onramp. Googled the owners name With a little searching I found an email address and emailed them. Got a response about 30 min later and it turned out that they were about 15 minutes in front of me. They took the next exit and waited for me. He had left it on top of car while getting gas and didn't realize it was missing until his wife got the email.

[Bumpyroad]

Little Kopit wrote:
. As soon as you use an item in your wallet, put it back in your pocket.

:C

that is one advantage of the new cards with a chip. tells you to remove and once it is back in your hand, automatically goes back in wallet.
bumpy

[Little_Kopit]

Alternate business, bank if credit cards are included. Most major credit card will indicate which bank. This is very true for Canada and I think more true in the USA than it used to be, when most banks were strictly local.

Now, I walked some place about 20 years ago with a purse, not snapped firmly to lock it. I carried 3 containers with cards: 1) little card case with car insurance, drivers license to carry when hiking, 2) credit card case with social insurance card and all major cards (Mastercharge, Airmiles was not yet started), 3) wallet carry cash, yes that era, photos of special people, name and address, receipts for special things ie, today would be computer.

The credit card case came out. My employment was head of a site serving the public. My financial signature always has been different from my work signature. The person who found the credit card wallet called my bank and checked with them, then he called my place of work. He made sure he had the right person before he told me he had my credit card wallet.

I'm now retired and have had a hip replacement operation. I have one card case which acts as an everything wallet and which I carry in my pocket. As said before. As soon as you use an item in your wallet, put it back in your pocket.

:C

[Edd505]

If found turn in to local police, they have far more resources to locate people. That's what they do for a living, locate missing people, wanted people, witnesses, etc.

[4x4van]

Many, many years ago, when you bought a new car in CA, the DMV issued front and rear plates, as well as a miniature license plate key fob with matching numbers. If the keys were lost, anyone finding them could drop them in a mailbox, and they would be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle.

[Bumpyroad]

ScottG wrote:
It's good to have something on your key's that identifies who they belong to as well.
Something as simple as a Grocery store discount tag will do the trick.
Mine has an ACE Rewards tag on it that says ACE will pay for shipping to return keys to owner if they're dropped off at any ACEH/W store.

years back some outfit (charity?) send out tiny license plate tags that you could carry on your key ring. might be a good idea to cross/carry them if you have two vehicles, to make it a little more difficult to swipe a car if you drop the keys close to vehicle.
bumpy

[Mr_Mark1]

I have two stories and one is amazing.....

1) My Dad who is now not with us, stopped to get fuel when he was 89 yrs. old in his Mercury. For some reason he put his wallet on the top of the pump after using the credit card. After filling, he drove off. Somebody gave the wallet to the clerk and nothing was taken, he was lucky and appreciative.

This is the wild story... (TRUE)....

2) Back in the mid 80's when my youngest sister was in her late teens she drove over to my Dad's business and parked in the back of his shop. Our family/relatives had been in that neighborhood since 1919 so they were well known. Like most old neighborhoods in a downtown area, blight had taken over so it turned into a poor community but my Dad's business had a very good following.

Someone had smashed the window of my sister's Nissan Stanza stealing her purse (you know young kids don't think).... Well, my Dad put word on the street that the purse was his daughters and he wanted that purse back. Do you know it came back in tact...nothing taken. They really respected my Dad and family.

Safe travels,
MM.