Community | December 08, 2009 | 46 comments

Kmart workers find $10,000 in tin can

source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/07/us/AP-US-ODD-Cash-Filled-Can.html

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jmsrmy
When employees of a Des Moines Kmart store finally opened a red tin can that had been sitting on the customer service counter for four days, they got a $10,000 surprise. The can contained $10,380 in assorted bills. Employees called police after opening the can Friday.

Police said the money was counted by a store manager, placed in envelopes according to denomination and then turned over to officers. No note was found.

The store manager declined to identify himself and referred all questions to police. Telephone and e-mail messages left Monday for a Kmart spokeswoman were not immediately returned.

The investigation into where the money came from is continuing.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/07/us/AP-US-ODD-Cash-Filled-Can.html
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46 comments // Kmart workers find $10,000 in tin can

  • maisry
    • 0
      maisry  

    • I once found a 100 dollar bill folded into a tiny square on the floor at a check-out counter in Mervyn's. I stood still observing the people nearby to see if anybody was looking frantically for their money. I took it to lost and found, but I did NOT turn it in. Rather, I left my name and phone number saying that I found "some cash" and I would hold it for 30 days for someone to claim it. That sure was a long month having that $100 staring at me from my bulletin board!

    • 2 years ago
  • limcslaton26
  • rosesaylavee
    • 0
      rosesaylavee  

    • I don't understand why they felt the need to call the police? Maybe I am just not seeing it but it appears to me that some kind hearted person thought they would help the workers out a little bit more than they would expect given the holiday season. Too bad whoever it was didn't leave a note saying so.

    • 2 years ago
  • blue_blooded
    • 0
      blue_blooded  

    • So, what happens to money that is found in a situation like this? They should be able to keep it if no one comes up in the investigation. Finders keepers right?

    • 2 years ago
  • ryan8566
  • realitychick
  • EdJoyProductions
  • bailey78
  • Logos51891
  • TrevTar
  • teto007
  • CalgarC
    • 0
      CalgarC  

    • the economy is fucked and some people are still good enough to turn in money they found... personally i think they should have just threw away the can and donated the money, kept things quiet...

    • 2 years ago
  • Jake_Allen
  • CreditFigaro
  • wayseeker
    • 0
      wayseeker  

    • This posting brings up another question. If you are given too much change at the register do you inform the person and give it back? If you found a $1000 laying on the street in the middle of nowhere would you turn it in?

    • 2 years ago
  • MilchMann
    • 0
      MilchMann  
    • wayseeker:

      I do, the teller has to pay for that out of there check, they usually make minimum wage. When I was young and struggling I waited tables for a while and had a few people manage to walk out with to-go orders... once with a whole lot of steaks worth a few hundred bucks... how it happened is complicated, and not worth explaining, but when ever you got stuck on to-go orders and it got busy people would get out without paying, and the restaurant did not care because they got their money, hence they did not take measures to stop it from happening.
      So yeah, there is no reason to steal, even if it is by omission, unless you or your family are starving to death and there is no other way... Otherwise, I really hope Karma catches up to your ass!

    • 2 years ago
  • wayseeker
    • 0
      wayseeker  
    • wayseeker:

      I also tell them and give it back for the same reason you mentioned. But I would probably keep money found in the middle of nowhere thinking the owner would not be found.

    • 2 years ago
  • EdJoyProductions
    • 0
      EdJoyProductions  
    • wayseeker:

      I alway give back money if a cashier gives me too much change. I was a cashier once too and people were usually decent about that. I was in a bar once and a very drunk patron dropped a $100 bill on the floor. I picked it up and put it back in his pocket and told him to be careful. My friends said I was an idiot, but I would never take money that I could give back to the rightful owner.

      $1000 in the middle of nowhere, with no clue as to where it came from, that I am keeping. I might do something nice for someone else with it because I try to share my good fortune, but turning it in? Who would you turn it in to?

    • 2 years ago
  • lvp
    • 0
      lvp  

    • I found a dollar on the parking lot floor at the supermarket yesterday. I gave it to the Red Cross bell ringer.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • ahappymintleaf
    • 0
      ahappymintleaf  

    • If this is an example of people 'doing to the right thing', I wonder how often this could happen and never be known. The fact that the can was full of assorted bills shows that it probably was someone's life savings and they probably have no trust of banks or the like. Hopefully it gets back to the right person.

    • 2 years ago
  • kevinthedude
    • 0
      kevinthedude  

    • It could've been a christmas gift. Maybe someone won the lottery and was giving money to people in need. I doubt Kmart workers make much. Some people aren't too bright.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • I have had hard times in my life and yet I would return it. I could not live with myself knowing that I may have taken somebodies life savings. I am an honest man and I sleep good at night.

    • 2 years ago
  • wayseeker
  • EdJoyProductions
    • 0
      EdJoyProductions  
    • bailey78:

      It isn't that we are dishonest people. Actually, we are honest about keeping it. :)
      I would never keep it if I knew I could return it to its rightful owner. But since no one came in to claim it, I don't think giving it to the police was a smart thing to do. It will probably get "lost".

      Ideally, I would have put it in the store safe. Gave it a couple of months and if no one inquired about it, Post Holiday bonus for all the minimum wage staffers.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • bailey78:

      I have lost everything a couple of times do to poor judgement and drug abuse. I now live a clean life and try to help others when I can. Life is to short to go through it in a drug induced fog.

    • 2 years ago
  • wayseeker
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  
    • bailey78:

      that's cool! - just realized it myself and it is nice not to dependent on anything, and actually have some clarity about abuse, recreation and the in-between.
      just told myself to go back to the basics, thought about what I would likely do and not do as a child, and as a child the last thing on the mind is a love for drugs or alcohol...most people need cataclysmic events to change - fine - stuff can happen every day , it is keeping up the good work that the toughy...annoying how good deeds are not as easily addictive as bad deeds though.

    • 2 years ago
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  
    • bailey78:

      Good for you Bailey, my respects. The right thing to do is turn the money into the authorities and if not claimed in the proscribed time period the money is returned to the finder. It is so difficult in these days to do the right thing?

    • 2 years ago
  • LowShred
  • willys50
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  

    • Not that two people are alike, but I have to wonder - why would you even be carrying around a can of 10 grand and if you had that kind of cash, why would you be shopping at K-Mart.
      I think it was left there intentionally NOT for the police to get but for the workers...the workers who obviously turned that offer down.

      True that if someone came looking for the cash and the workers 'threw it away' they could get into trouble (and I am not talking about trouble with the law either)

    • 2 years ago
  • jmsrmy
    • 0
      jmsrmy  
    • bethopea:

      I kinda think so too... The holidays make people act weird and I would not be surprised if someone was leaving the cash for the people... Kmart- $10k- in a can- makes sense....

    • 2 years ago
  • MoonLoon
  • sugarlilly
  • blazedNconfused
  • MilchMann
    • 0
      MilchMann  

    • Smart actually, if someone shows up looking for it and you are found in possession of it, you go to prison to cuddle with buba. If you find 10k on the street and there is no way to trace you being there... well, I would agree... stupid, these people were smart though

    • 2 years ago
  • pyrexscholar
  • TrevTar
  • Logos51891
  • WindyTimmy
  • Republicrat86
  • EdJoyProductions
  • Jusoon
  • EdJoyProductions
    • 0
      EdJoyProductions  
    • WindyTimmy:

      No one said that. It is an anonymous can that someone left there. Actually, it could have been filled with anthrax.

      The police are probably going to keep it now. That is why it is stupid. It is not the same as robbing an individual.

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
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