# Charging money to get things out of lost and found? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752 "2011-01-15T21:34:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/1 "2011-01-15T21:34:42Z")
My 8 year old daughter goes to a local ballet school and has classes there twice a week. Today there was a table set up just outside that had a lot of miscellaneous items on it with a big Lost and Found sign. In smaller print it said that there was a $5 fee to retrieve one’s lost items. Note, this is not a cost for buying something that someone left and you want, it was a $5 charge per item for getting your own stuff back. Now I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand they don’t need to gather up the lost items at all. Maybe you are paying them for the service of collecting your things and setting them out on a table. They could just throw them away I guess. But it just seems a tad presumptuous to ask people to pay for their own things. Is this even legal? My daughter left a t-shirt there, so did we forfit all legal right to that shirt by leaving it at the ballet school? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/2 "2011-01-15T21:45:37Z")
I don’t know about the legal aspect, but I’d be calling the owner of the school and asking them to defend that practice. Just toss the stuff in a box and let the parents rifle through it next week (or whenever the next class is). There is the chance the the person that owns/runs the place has no idea this is going on and that the teachers just took it upon themselves to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/3 "2011-01-16T00:20:44Z")
I just popped in from the “Wedding Kidnapping Prank for Cash” thread, and all I can say is it must be “Tacky Money Grabbing Ideas Week”. I’d drop by the local police station and inquire about the legality of this little scheme. Be sure to mention the ballet school by name. Word of mouth advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/4 "2011-01-16T01:29:04Z")
Perhaps the school is trying to encourage personal responsibilty in the children, to teach them to keep up with their possessions by creating a consequence for tossing them around. $5 seems a bit steep for this. A Scoutmaster I am acquainted with sets a time limit and any loose clothing or personal items (Ipods, for example) in the bath house or around camp gets confiscated and donated to charity. The boys called his bluff the first time, and found out he wasn’t bluffing.The parents backed him completely and he has the neatest campsites you’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/5 "2011-01-16T15:58:19Z")
I think it’s mainly done as a fund raiser, but it just seems so cheap to me. On the one hand that t-shirt she’d lost has very little monetary value, but it does have sentimental value to us. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/6 "2011-01-16T16:06:54Z")
Perhaps it’s a method for preventing people from claiming things that aren’t theirs? Of course, if they wanted to do that, they wouldn’t display the items like it was a flea market… ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/7 "2011-01-16T16:24:57Z")
Simple solution: remove the _Lost & Found_ sign and replace it with **Any Item $5!** ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/8 "2011-01-16T16:35:26Z")
Years ago, when I worked at a summer camp we did this all the time. Come to think of it $5.00 was the amount we charged to get things out of Lost and Found). It wasn’t about money. It was to motivate people to keep track of their things and it proved to be highly effective. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/9 "2011-01-16T19:47:45Z")
Yes, but what gives you the right to charge money for one to retrieve one’s own things? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/10 "2011-01-16T19:50:39Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > I think it’s mainly done as a fund raiser, but it just seems so cheap to me. On the one hand that t-shirt she’d lost has very little monetary value, but it does have sentimental value to us. Pick up your daughters shirt off of the table and walk out the door with it, take it home, wash it and then let her continue to wear it when she feels like it. Afterall, it’s HER shirt, NOT the property of her ballet school. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/11 "2011-01-16T20:09:47Z")
Well it sounds unfriendly, but maybe it does raise a little money and encourage responsibility. I wonder what the legal aspects of this are. Could the lost items be considered abandoned? I assume the legal system wouldn’t even care about items of minimal value. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/12 "2011-01-17T03:26:33Z")
I don’t like big displays of lost and found items. If you lose something, you tell whoever is in charge of L&F, and you describe the item. In my middle school, I know that a lot of kids went looking in the L&F room, and just picked up and kept whatever caught their eye. Hell, when I worked in a movie theater, one of the workers would regularly check the L&F box, to see if there was anything that she liked the looks of, she seemed to regard this as a job perk. Having said that, I’m willing to bet that the ballet school has had a lot of problems with students forgetting stuff, and this is their way of trying to get the kids to remember things. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/13 "2011-01-17T03:36:12Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > Yes, but what gives you the right to charge money for one to retrieve one’s own things? And what responsibility does the school have to take care of stuff the students lose? Most kids are very careless about their things and it’s a pain to take care of everything and find the owners. The monetary charge is usually a way to encourage kids not to lose their things in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/14 "2011-01-17T03:37:10Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > Yes, but what gives you the right to charge money for one to retrieve one’s own things? Lost items had to be picked up and locked up by staff members and later retrieved for return which required time and effort, not earth-shattering amounts, but it wasn’t part of our contracted job duties. We were hired to teach various summer courses, not clean up after the campers. The $5.00 fines (and the money went into the community recreational herb fund) were compensation for us doing the work required to maintain a Lost and Found. Otherewise the cleaning staff would have just picked the stuff up and either tossed it in the garbarge or kept it according to their whims. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/15 "2011-01-17T03:38:27Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Having said that, I’m willing to bet that the ballet school has had a lot of problems with students forgetting stuff, and this is their way of trying to get the kids to remember things. My solution to that would be that anything left behind get’s tossed in a box. Two weeks later it get’s tossed in the garbage. Assuming not _that_ much stuff gets left behind this could easily be done with two boxes. Fill one box for two weeks, then put it aside. At the end of two weeks, switch over to the second box. At the end of two more weeks, put the second box aside, dump the first box and put it back out. Lather, rinse, repeat. I’m also assuming this is things like hats and gloves and not iPods and laptops. Also, not knowing how many classes are taught at this school , how often the classes are or how much stuff is left behind I’d wonder if it’s possible for the individual teachers to keep track of things. If it’s just an item here and there, it seems like the easiest way would be for the teacher to toss it on a shelf somewhere and the next time that class is in session he/she pulls it down and asks who it belongs to. Also, I’d still talk to whomever is running the school, make sure this is an official policy and not a little side business the teachers are running. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/16 "2011-01-19T11:17:27Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Lost items had to be picked up and locked up by staff members and later retrieved for return which required time and effort, not earth-shattering amounts, but it wasn’t part of our contracted job duties. We were hired to teach various summer courses, not clean up after the campers. The $5.00 fines (and the money went into the community recreational herb fund) were compensation for us doing the work required to maintain a Lost and Found. Otherewise the cleaning staff would have just picked the stuff up and either tossed it in the garbarge or kept it according to their whims. OK, if your place of employment charged you $20 dollars to retrieve something that you forgot, would you look at it as casually? Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/17 "2011-01-19T12:08:00Z")
So all this stuff that is being returned at $5 per item, did the rightful owner make some attempt to get it back? Did your daughter ask about the t-shirt as soon as she knew she lost it? Did the school lie to her and say they didn’t have it, or did they tell her you can get it back for $5 when we do our lost and found? Or did you all forget that it was even lost and, had it not been for the school’s efforts, would simply have never seen it again? ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/18 "2011-01-19T15:41:20Z")
I guess my question is how can they sell something that they don’t actually own? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charging-money-to-get-things-out-of-lost-and-found/567752/19 "2011-01-19T16:55:31Z")
It’s called extortion and it’s illegal.