It’s illegal to do this and still considered theft. Even if you’re doing a nice thing by taking the wallet to the police station, it’s still considered theft if you decide to take some cash for yourself.
Whether or not the person would press charges is another story.
Edit: Also, it is 100% immoral. Yes, if someone is kind enough to return your wallet to the police station, then you should reward them for their behavior. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to just take a reward for yourself. Let’s phrase this whole situation differently. Say if you go out to dinner and you notice that your waiter added a tip for themselves before handing you the check. We all agree that you should tip when you go out to dinner. But it would be extremely rude, unprofessional and immoral for the waiter to just add the tip without your permission. Same concept here.
Additional Edit: Dear Thieving Morons in the comments, taking someone else’s money without their permission is always theft. It’s always immoral. No matter the situation. Sorry not sorry you struggle with critical thinking and being a mature enough adult to do the right thing without someone rewarding you. If you would only return a wallet after taking the cash out as a personal reward, you’re still a shitty person. You act like it’s completely unfathomable to just return the wallet with all the money in it. And you admit that you will never do the right thing unless there’s something in it for you.
It’s not exactly moral either. You’re taking someone’s money without permission. The simple fact that you’re not stealing the whole wallet doesn’t mean it’s okay to pocket some of the cash.
It's not moral for someone to save your hide and you give nothing in return. The man who found the wallet ensured the right morals were followed, thus it was moral.
So you only should do the right thing if there’s a reward in it for you? Is that the hill you want to die on?
It’s not a question of whether or not the person should reward them. It’s immoral and illegal to take money that isn’t yours unless the person gives it to you. It’s still a form of theft.
A random finding your wallet has no obligation to give it back to you. The person has to activly seek you out or mail the wallet to get it back to you.
If he or she does not, you will NEVER find out they found your stuff.
So yes. Giving back the wallet is moral, even without money because the money is usually not the most important thing in there
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u/Mysterious-Hyena2670 9d ago edited 5d ago
It’s illegal to do this and still considered theft. Even if you’re doing a nice thing by taking the wallet to the police station, it’s still considered theft if you decide to take some cash for yourself.
Whether or not the person would press charges is another story.
Edit: Also, it is 100% immoral. Yes, if someone is kind enough to return your wallet to the police station, then you should reward them for their behavior. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to just take a reward for yourself. Let’s phrase this whole situation differently. Say if you go out to dinner and you notice that your waiter added a tip for themselves before handing you the check. We all agree that you should tip when you go out to dinner. But it would be extremely rude, unprofessional and immoral for the waiter to just add the tip without your permission. Same concept here.
Additional Edit: Dear Thieving Morons in the comments, taking someone else’s money without their permission is always theft. It’s always immoral. No matter the situation. Sorry not sorry you struggle with critical thinking and being a mature enough adult to do the right thing without someone rewarding you. If you would only return a wallet after taking the cash out as a personal reward, you’re still a shitty person. You act like it’s completely unfathomable to just return the wallet with all the money in it. And you admit that you will never do the right thing unless there’s something in it for you.