I’d return it all without expecting or suggesting a reward. But I’d accept a reward if I thought the giver could afford it.
I found a cell phone on the subway a couple of weeks ago. I called ‘house,’ mailed it, don’t expect a reward.
When we went to Hartford, I found a driver’s liscence. I drove to the address on it and left it in the mailbox.
I wouldn’t expect or ask for a reward either. That is not why I’d give the lost item back to the owner. I’d do it because it’s the right thing to do.
It does happen here - Dominican Republic - but it usually depends on a set of factors. If the loser is relatively wealthy and the finder is poor - a fairly generous tip is definitely in order. If you are of roughly equal socio-economic status you might invite them for a beer, to your country seat for the weekend, or some other treat. 
ETA - due to the inequality here a tip of some sort is expected for any small service or favour by a stranger - e.g. the other day I was lost and a man offered to show me the way, and accepted the equivalent of US$1 for his efforts. He seemed like the sort of person who wouldn’t have objected if I hadn’t - but I’m sure he would have thought I was stingy.
However, there are cases like this. A friend had her bag snatched in the street by two women, and soon after she got a phone call from a man who said he’d found it. She paid him a generous reward in return for him bringing it to her. The problem was he kept phoning and asking for more money, to the point where it became harassment.
Years later, her husband was driving and a motorbike bumped his car, and the motorcyclist feigned serious injury and demanded money to pay for medical treatment (a common scam here). The husband recognised the ‘victim’ and later realised he was ‘handbag man’ from all those years ago. They had suspected that he was in cahoots with the women who stole the purse, and the fact that he was also one of those professional motorbike accident victims confirmed that he was a career scammer.
When I had my wallet stolen, including my passport, just days before I had to travel, I would have gladly paid to get it back, even if the person who ‘found’ it was working with the person who stole it. It would have prevented that rush I had to make from police to embassy to cancel cards to get new ID card and new drivers licence. :mad:
Am I the only one who thinks the creep who wants the $450 didn’t find the phone, but stole it? And if he isn’t returning it, isn’t he stealing it anyways?
I think I would have told him it was really important to get the phone back, set up a meeting, and brought some guys I know with me.
I would never ask for a reward, nor expect one for something of low value. But, like missbunny, if I found something fairly valuable (especially, say, a thousand dollars or more in cash), I would be disappointed if I weren’t offered one.
I would probably gripe here and get thrashed for it. 
I walked up to an ATM the other day and it asked me if I wanted another transaction–on somebody else’s card. I hit “No,” took the card and walked it in to a teller.
We’re pretty skint right now, too, so I feel doubly virtuous.
I found a wallet full of cash just outside a CD store. I went in to hand it to the cashier. The entire place was staffed with scruffy 16-year-olds and their freinds who were just haning out there like it was their own, private club. I pondered it a minute and then left my business card instead. I knew with absolute certainty that if I handed the wallet over to the owner it would still have all the cash in it. I knew none of those kids. They were carefree goofballs, making minimum wage. They seemed nice enough, I would hope they’d do the right thing, but ultimately, I could not vouch for their honesty at all.
I’d feel better handing it over to someone at a post office, or a cop. But bottom line: I know I’d do the right thing. I can’t guarantee that of anyone else. So I’d rather hand to to the owner myself.
And no, a reward isn’t necessary, unless there were extraordinary circumstances. (Eg/ I had to send the item out of state by FedEx.)
I’d be tempted to agree to meet him, then tell the cops about the extortion to see if they’d be interested in bust him when I we rendez-voused.
“Rendezvoued”?.. “Rendez-vous-ed”?.. Um, “when we met up”.
If I was really pissed I’d would tell them I was very concerned that I “lost” it due to having my pocket picked and – oh, my – you don’t suppose that was the thief trying to extrot me, do you?
(So I never said I was totally a stand-up guy.)
Lost cell phone. Dishonest finder. I can’t find the original page’s archive right now, but this is famous for a finder that was a crook. The police weren’t going to do anything about the crime, but thousands of people forced them to do their job. The dishonest finally got what they deserved. The archive of the original response id much better.
I found a camera in a rental car one time. Before I turned it into the office, I took a picture of myself waving at the camera. This was years ago so it was a standard film camera. They didn’t see me until the got the roll of film developed.
Absolutely I would not ask for a reward; equally absolutely, I would offer one for a significant returned item.
To hell with the human code - there’s good case law out there (which I’m too lazy to cite, sorry) which basically says your obligation to return found items depends on whether you reasonably know the person misplaced it (as opposed to abandoning it), how valuable it is (related to the misplaced/abandoned thing), and any “lost property” statutes in your jurisdiction.
If you find something that’s clearly valuable, and not abandoned, and you’re able to contact the owner and arrange a meeting, then demanding a reward in exchange for returning the property is probably extortion, not just rudeness.
Only if there’s a sign around saying:
LOST item
$$$ reward if found
But just for generally lost items? No. I’ve given rewards for things people have returned to me (they didn’t ask for the reward). And would think it was a really nice thing to do if someone gave me a reward for returning something. But I don’t think I’m entitled to one. And yes, the wallet goes back with all of the money and credit cards, and the phone gets returned.
I’ve returned money to the bank after being given too much money when I cashed a check, and I returned a woman’s wallet once after finding it in a shopping cart at WalMart. In the case of the bank, both the teller who made the mistake and the manager acted peeved, as though they thought I originally intended to keep the money but was eventually overcome with guilt. In actual point of fact I simply didn’t bother to count it when I received it and only discovered the error later that day while shopping at the mall. I didn’t ask for or expect a reward, but after the way they acted at the bank, I regretted taking the time and effort to drive back and return it. The wallet was turned in to the service desk and I can only hope the owner got it back as there was eighty-three dollars in it along with food stamps and a medicare card, suggesting that this person probably really needed the money. In neither of these cases would I have thought a reward was appropriate. However, if I found a wallet lying on the street and it contained a sizable amount of cash and I looked up the owner to return it, I would think the owner a jerk of the first degree if he didn’t give me a reward of 10% or so…after all, if it weren’t for my efforts, he’d have had nothing. So no, I wouldn’t feel entitled to a reward, but I’d certainly think it would be appropriate under this type of circumstance.
As a janitor, I found a couple dozen wallets, a checkbook, and some fairly valuable jewelry. I found all the owners. Some of them wanted to give me a reward, and I told them to send a check to their favorite charity. “If you give it to me,” I said, “that’s where I’ll send it.”
Does that make me morally superior? Nah. I merely did the right thing. As Calvin Trillin’s dad said, “You might as well be a mensch.”
I found a wallet on a train once too, complete with credit cards, checks, and about $40 cash.
I returned it to the address on the woman’s driver’s license personally, as it was not too far from where I lived. Unfortunately, she was at work but her roommate was home. Not even totally trusting the roommate, I had her call the lady at work and told her I was handing it over to the roommate with $40 in it. She of course was delighted and asked me to leave my address there so she could “thank me”, which I did. At that point, I have to admit that I was expecting a reward. Never got it. Oh well.
I will return something I find and depending on what it is I may expect being offered a reward but if I am offered one I turn it down for example
I had lost my LG 9800 two months after getting it. The person who found it never tried to return it to me and if they had I would have offered a reward.
The week after losing my phone I found someone else’s cell phone. It was on that also played MP3’s and I knew it was n expensive phone. I thought about turning it in at the movie theater but was afraid the person I gave it to would keep it. I was going to go the the nearest Sprint store and return it there so they could pull up the owner.
Before we left for the store I called the number in the phone marked home. It went to voice mail and I left a message saying who I was and where I was taking the phone. Less than a minute later the phone rang and I answered it. I was going to tell whoever was calling that I found this phone. It was the person who lost it. He was still in the theater. He came out I gave him back his phone. He was grateful but did not offer a reward. if he had I would have refused it.