I’m curious about this scenario. If it was a child’s wallet (children carry wallets?
) then I would think it wouldn’t have ID, credit cards, or any kind of identifying info. How then would someone be able to return it to the rightful owner?
They could “turn it in” just as the poster stated. I imagine if it were someplace like a mall there is an info desk or security area.
I seem to recall that there was a card or something that had the child’s name in it. But regardless, it was in a place like a train station that had a lost and found. All they had to do was take it to the desk.
In Chicago, the rule of thumb is to always carry enough cash so as not to piss off the mugger.
In a similar but different situation, some TV magician/psychobabbler did a thing where he put a wallet on the sidewalk in a busy metro area, drew an obvious white circle around it, and no one stopped to pick it up. Since it was just a TV show I can’t evaluate the validity of the ‘experiment’, but I think the circle would be a pretty big hint that someone could be watching and I wouldn’t even touch the thing myself. I don’t think I’d even bother pointing it out to a police officer if one was nearby.
I think we’re talking about two different things:
[ul][li]In saying that I don’t think the amount of cash matters, I’m considering the case where you have inadvertently lost your wallet, and someone else has found it. In this situation, the finder who chooses to keep the cash and discard the wallet bears almost zero risk of discovery (and has almost zero interest in being a good Samaritan), so you can kiss your wallet goodbye, regardless of how much cash might have been in it.[/ul][ul][*]In saying that the amount of money in one’s wallet may make a person a target for theft, I think maybe you are referring to a situation in which a potential thief observes how much cash you are carrying, and then makes a decision as to whether the potential prize is worth the risk of picking your pocket. I agree with this in theory, but I think in practice it’s difficult for a potential thief to observe how much cash you have unless you’re carelessly flashing it about during a transaction (e.g. standing out in the open while you sort your bills in order of value).[/ul][/li]
I suppose if you look like a tourist, and you’re paying for something with a very large bill(s) (like a $100 bill for a $10 purchase), a thief might suspect you are carrying a lot of cash and be motivated to take a chance. Consider carrying your wallet in a zip-up pocket on the side or front of your pants (like the one seen, but not used, in this photo).
Learn from this for your future travels. The amount of money in your wallet did not make this happen.
I have a travel routine perfected over many years of travel. I have specific travel trousers - Craghoppers is a good place to start. These have secure, zipped pockets at the front. I have a specific, slimline, travel wallet. A small-medium amount of cash, one card. The rest of cash, cards and passport is in a breathable, flesh-coloured money belt in my underwear.
For any purchase, the wallet comes out the zipped pocket, and I do not leave the counter until it is securely zipped back where it should be.
This might sound excessive, but I travel on my own a lot, and would really, really rather avoid the disruption of theft of cards etc. Learn from the fact that you didn’t know where your wallet was, and the fact that it was in your backpack to begin with.
It is? Well, I’m fucked.
Yes, this is what I was thinking. I’m not that inconsiderate as to fan out my bills in public, or even count the money openly, so the more I think, the more it seems your first assumption makes sense. Most likely, I have been careless enough to lose the wallet, and whoever found it was too tempted to keep the cash and discard the rest.
By the way, losing all the ID’s and papers I had in the wallet “cost” me more time than the cash. I live in an Eastern European country where bureaucracy is still well in place, it took me some 6 weeks to get the documents re-issued (national ID card, driver license, debit cards, etc.) For the life of me, I don’t know what I was thinking when I left the car registration papers and insurance in the wallet. After all, I flew to the US, for God’s sake.:smack:
When I lived in he US, I routinely carried a couple of hundred in cash in my jeans pocket. Don’t recall ever spending more than $100 at once, though.
When I travel overseas, I carry about $3,000 in crisp Benjamins, they’re easy to change at a good rate, even in the boondocks, and I always have a few smaller bills to change if I run low on money just before leaving the country. You can’t always find an ATM, and even those often don’t work.
Personally, I’d much more likely take $2 than $200. $2 is a fine for being stupid enough to lose your wallet; $200, though is a fairly significant sum, and losing it can really hurt someone’s finances. I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.
I agree with this reasoning. The amount of money in the wallet makes some difference, but not that much. There just aren’t that many people who wouldn’t steal $10 but would steal $100.
It would be interesting to see how much this varies. There was a Freakonomics episode a while ago about an experiment where money was “accidentally” delivered by post to people, and they measured how many people returned it. As I recall, the amount was either 5 Euro or 20, and the amount made very little difference in whether it was returned, although the page linked doesn’t seem to have exact numbers.
I routinely carry a few hundred in my wallet. I balance the slightly increased risk of loss against not having to waste as much time going to the ATM regularly.
When traveling overseas, I keep a small amount of money and one credit card in a pocket and everything else in a zipped security pouch worn under my clothes, or in the hotel safe.
Same here. The only time I take less than $200 from an ATM machine (irritant intended) is if the machine has a lower maximum.
But they’d have to steal it first to find out how much money was in it, right?
I hardly ever carry any cash, and I find myself needing the ATM maybe once every couple of months? Last I remember was a stupid pizza place that was cash only for under $20. Otherwise, I find it rare to need cash for anything.
Bumped.
I rarely carry more than $60 in cash, and usually have less.
Most answers seem to assume the question is just how much money is convenient to carry around v the risk of loss. Your theory seems to be more along the lines that less money in a wallet would make it more likely somebody turns it in to a lost and found. I doubt that’s a big factor, especially for that small an amount of money.
And pick pocketing is pretty much a lost art AFAIK in the NY area (where I live). Used to be they warned about pick pockets in crowds in NY, but it doesn’t seem skilled ones really exist much anymore (some places in Europe and elsewhere they still do).
As far as finding a wallet I think people break down into those who’d pocket the cash and throw the rest in the trash (though that’s kind of extra rotten), those who’d pocket the cash and put it back where they found it, same but would turn the cashless wallet in to a lost/found, and those who’d turn it in however they found it, aside from those who’d see it and just ignore it*. I don’t see how any reasonable amount of money less than an already pretty small $150 would change the % in each category much.
*I found a wallet once in the bushes outside my then apt building, id’s etc no cash, called the lady, then when they came her boyfriend pretty much accused me of stealing the cash. I would never do that again. I’d only even pick it up if it seemed obvious the person wasn’t going to find it where I saw it, then turn it in.
When I travel overseas, I carry about $3,000 cash (US 100s) in a secure moneybelt, and enough daily cash in my jeans pocket that I never have to get into the moneybelt in public, unless I need my passport out of it. I wear the moneybelt 24/7, even to bed. Except in the shower, when it is where I can see it. I have a couple of ATM cards and one credit card in there, too. I’ve never lost a cent. I rarely use the cards, never for ATM (I just have them in case I need them), $3K is enough for all my ground expenses for 5-6 weeks.
(This adds a little more detail tol my previous post, which I forgot I made.)
I was walking through a quiet residential area. A man approached me and pointed to a briefcase on the edge of the pavement a few yards away and said: “I wonder what’s in that?”. On reaching it he opened it … it was full of wage packets with money in them.There must have been thousands in it! He slammed it shut, muttered that he would take it to the police, and scuttled off. I often wonder what I would have done if it had been me alone who found it. Aside from the money there was paperwork in it that probably would have identified the owner. I assume someone had driven off in their car and left the briefcase on the kerb.
I generally carry about $100 in cash wherever I go, plus I have a $100 bill hidden in my wallet for emergencies (tow trucks, if my debit card is lost, etc). So no, to me that isn’t excessive.