# Why is the convention to put your wallet in the back pocket **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649 "2011-03-22T21:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/41 "2011-03-26T13:48:27Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > If you like overly-huge baggy pants, you’d be sitting on your wallet. In my pants that fit properly, and probably yours too, my wallet is higher up than the part of my butt that I sit on. That just sounds weird. My pants are not baggy at all–baggy makes you look fatter. My pants would have to be an inch or two over my belly button for the bottom of my pockets not to touch my butt, and tha’ts only in shallow pockets. Plus, it’s not like I want to always have to sit perfectly upright, even if it did work. I think you just have a small butt. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/42 "2011-03-26T14:59:59Z")
I always where Jeans. Levis Relaxed fit at the moment. Keys, left front pocket. Knife and change right front. Wallet right rear. I don’t live in an area where I am worried about pick pockets. Rear patch pockets are perfect for a wallet. I can’t imagine putting it in a front pocket. Just tried it, it’s not easy to get out. And impossible to get out if you are sitting down. And, it would interfere with the other things that I keep in my front pockets that simply can’t go in a rear pocket. Gotta dig around the wallet to find the car keys? No thanks. To each his own of course, I also don’t understand folks that keep cell phones in front pockets, or any pockets at all. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/43 "2011-03-26T18:59:49Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > isn’t it easier to have it stolen than in the front? But still everyone says real men put it in the back Do they? Heh, never heard that before. Mine goes in my inside jacket pocket when I carry one. Which I rarely do these days because all I need is a single card. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/44 "2011-03-26T19:55:14Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > If you like overly-huge baggy pants, you’d be sitting on your wallet. In my pants that fit properly, and probably yours too, my wallet is higher up than the part of my butt that I sit on. > [@BigT](#): > > That just sounds weird. Concur. Doesn’t sound right at all. In fact, I can’t even imagine how that would work unless you’re wearing your pants up to your belly button. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/45 "2011-03-27T02:47:00Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > I **never** put my wallet in my back pocket, that’s just asking to lose it. Also, I _sit_ on my buttocks - how do you back-pocket-walleters avoid crushing your cards if you’re sitting on them all day long? I stopped using credit cards made of handblown glass. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/46 "2011-03-27T04:00:06Z")
Relevant IMHO poll: [Guys: What pocket do you put your wallet in?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=600364) 47% put their wallets in a back pocket. 40% put it in a front pocket, the rest put it somewhere besides a pants pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/47 "2011-03-27T04:33:57Z")
With me, it depends on the trousers. If they’re jeans I put my wallet in my back pocket, and otherwise in my front left pocket. But in the back pocket of dockers or dress pants, a wallet can lead to a tiny hole at the top of the pocket. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/48 "2011-03-27T06:36:57Z")
As a CCW holder, I learned to carry my always empty wallet in my vest or jacket pocket. Empty because of no money. Wallet for weight when I’m slinging jacket back to draw gun. Of course this is just traing exercises…I wont’ ever have to draw a gun and shoot. _sends prayers that I didn’t just make bad things happen with this post_ ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/49 "2011-03-27T06:43:03Z")
This convention stands because my friend’s mother’s saying of “It’s not what’s in a man’s front pocket that counts, it’s what in the back pocket” would become far too confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/50 "2011-03-27T07:37:13Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Concur. Doesn’t sound right at all. In fact, I can’t even imagine how that would work unless you’re wearing your pants up to your belly button. Unless you’re wearing hiphuggers, your pants should be at your natural waist which is higher than you are wearing them. Your navel is not your natural waist but it’s a lot closer than where you’re currently wearing them, I guarantee you. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/51 "2011-03-27T19:55:09Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Unless you’re wearing hiphuggers, your pants should be at your natural waist which is higher than you are wearing them. Your navel is not your natural waist but it’s a lot closer than where you’re currently wearing them, I guarantee you. And like I said, unless you _are_ wearing them up to your belly button I can’t imagine how your wallet doesn’t go underneath your ass when you sit down. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649/52 "2011-03-27T22:23:59Z")
Because we’re wearing our pants properly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-convention-to-put-your-wallet-in-the-back-pocket/575649.md?page=2)