Anyone else pick up 'street money?'

T

The Big D

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I take a vigorous long walk most days...4-5 miles usually. I vary my route but it typically takes me on city streets and through downtown.

I have always picked up any money and items of 'value' I find so have decided to keep a tally of what I find in 2016. Ten (10) days into the new year I have 'earned' a grand total of $1.73...American. Have picked up money every day thus far...the most being $.83 last Tuesday. Also found various screws, nuts, and bolts and a brand new package of two (2) toothbrushes.

Best year ever was 2005 when I collected $362.46. Was living in a much more affluent area at the time and my collection included two (2) $20.00 bills. :cool:

Will update this post periodically and will definitely note the final total for 2016.

Be safe.

PS:

Have never understood why some people are too lazy to pick up money that's just laying there in plain sight.
 
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The only money I remember finding was a $10 bill when I was about 8 ('62) thought I was rich until mom insisted I ask the neighbors if they had lost it,"but don't tell them how much."The first one I asked was a wily old coot and he wanted to know how much I found.I asked him how much he lost.He laughed and I didn't ask anyone else.I was rich!
 
While standing in front of a vacant house waiting to be let in by a realtor (I'm a home inspector) I found a $50 dollar bill in the street gutter. Looked like it had been washed and dried. Spent the next 30 minutes walking around the block looking for more, but found none.
That $50 came at a good time and was put to good use.
 
I've picked up a lot of coins over the years. And one $20 bill. Can't say it was ever much more than that.

But you can't do that in certain Middle Eastern countries, as I was quickly warned while there. Picking up something "lost" under the strict laws constitutes theft, and off you go in chains with people pointing at you.
 
I do pick up money.
As a teenager, I did find that Twenty.
Used it to buy my first gun. A Sears single barrel 20 gauge, it's in my closet.
But my real special talent is picking up tools on the road.
Over the years, I have picked up a bunch.
Lately, I don't see as many.
Maybe that because the front wheel drive cars are more sealed at the bottom.
Or, I could be slowing down a little.
It's probably because less folks even try to work in their cars.
 
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Long ago, on a bicycle trip from Greece to Spain, during a long slow uphill climb in a remote area of the Pyrenees mountains, my husband dismounts and picks up a snap-top change purse from the road. It had a wad of French Francs in it that converted to almost USD $500. We splurged on lunch that afternoon.
 
When tokens were used on NYC subways and buses, I don't think I even found 5 on the street over a period of decades. When the NYC Transit Authority changed over to MetroCards, I found many laying on the ground. Some folks would toss a daily card on the ground after using it for the ride home. I could then use it for MY ride home on that day.

My best "haul" was a monthly MetroCard I found on the 3rd of the month: 4 full weeks of rides! Paris, Amsterdam, Vegas, Beijing... I hit them all that month! ;)

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
mrs. bagga found a $20 a couple of days ago. i found a $20 on the floor of a porta potty a few years ago. there was some festivities going on there so i headed over to the food and refreshment stand and spent some of it right away. the guy took the $20 and gave me change back. i figured the faster i got rid of the $20 the better off i would be.
 
I pick up money when I see it but I keep an eye out for wheel weights too. Usually my floor board has a pretty good collection of weights.

Lots of tools but mostly junk. I did find a Snap-on adjustable wrench. That wrench is tight and smooth, real nice. I would have never bought one. It sits on the shelf where I can get to it easily.
 
Yep, that, too

Found a hammer in December and an industrial size crowbar last summer.:)

Be safe.

THE PILGRIM said:
...
But my real special talent is picking up tools on the road.
Over the years, I have picked up a bunch.
Lately, I don't see as many.
Maybe that because the front wheel drive cars are more sealed at the bottom.
Or, I could be slowing down a little.
It's probably because less folks even try to work in their cars.
Click to expand...
 
arjay said:
The only money I remember finding was a $10 bill when I was about 8 ('62) thought I was rich until mom insisted I ask the neighbors if they had lost it,"but don't tell them how much."The first one I asked was a wily old coot and he wanted to know how much I found.I asked him how much he lost.He laughed and I didn't ask anyone else.I was rich!
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me a couple years ago when I was walking to dairy queen to have lunch. I was in between two two story apt buildings. I happened to be looking down, frowned because it looked like a litterbug had littered. As I neared the litter, it looked more like cash. I picked it up and was $17.00. A ten, five and two ones.

I went to have lunch, told the manager what I found but didn't say in what denominations. Well, next day or so, I was back for another lunch. The manager told me she told two sets of two people who came in, what I found. Both couples claimed it was theirs. One said it had been two fives and seven ones, the other said three fives and two ones. Wrong, so I kept the money.

In my neighborhood, everyone you tell about missing money, will claim it.:mad:
 
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A few years ago I found a wad of 6 - $20s a bit later a 5 + 2 ones. Also have found a Swiss army knife, a buck pocket knife and LOTS of loose change, usually pennies but larger coins from time to time. Once on the shoulder of the road three metal boxes of welding rods that must have fallen out of a truck, I gave them to a welder friend of mine.
I have lost many more knives than I have found though.
Thereis usually loose change under drive up windows of fast food places never picked any of that up I figure the employees there deserve it
Steve W
 
tompehret said:
While standing in front of a vacant house waiting to be let in by a realtor (I'm a home inspector) I found a $50 dollar bill in the street gutter. Looked like it had been washed and dried. Spent the next 30 minutes walking around the block looking for more, but found none.
That $50 came at a good time and was put to good use.
Click to expand...

If washed and dried? they were probably trying to wash the cocaine residue off it that they just snorted. Happens a lot.
 
Stevens said:
A few years ago I found a wad of 6 - $20s a bit later a 5 + 2 ones. Also have found a Swiss army knife, a buck pocket knife and LOTS of loose change, usually pennies but larger coins from time to time. Once on the shoulder of the road three metal boxes of welding rods that must have fallen out of a truck, I gave them to a welder friend of mine.
I have lost many more knives than I have found though.
Thereis usually loose change under drive up windows of fast food places never picked any of that up I figure the employees there deserve it
Steve W
Click to expand...

About two weeks ago, I was on my way to the gym, looked down and found a folding knife with blade extended and stuck hilt deep into the mud. It was a cheap knife, so after making sure no blood staines were on the blade, I gave it to one of the workers at the gym.
 
A guy I work with will go out and spend up to $60 a day on scratch offs.
I have gone back and looked at the ones he played and in the last 10 years, I have cashed in on just under $300 he has missed, that he won and didn't realize. Some of these were a third game that wasn't even scratched off. :)
 
Growing up in the projects, I found alot of glassine envelopes on the streets, little money though. :rolleyes:

My father, however, found this Rolex on the streets of Manhattan some 30 or so years ago, he was the postman on E 84th and 85th.
I'm in the process of looking to restore it.

IMG_0343_zpsrfczzmnz.jpg
 
Once I found a $20 bill. Another time I found a 10. I thought that was good but most of you have me beat.

When I was in college, I found a bundle of stamps. They were a fairly high denomination, like a buck or so each. (This was back when a regular stamp cost about a quarter.) I took them to the P.O. to exchange them for cash but was told the P.O. sells stamps, they don't buy them, i.e., no refunds.

So I mailed some pretty high priced letters till they ran out. I felt like the guy who lights a cigar with a $10 bill. :D
 
Collects said:
My brother once found a couple hundred bucks hidden inside the toilet paper tube at a motel, apparently hidden and forgotten by a prior occupant of the room. No, he did not inquire at the desk as to who last occupied the room before him.
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I found a $2 bill inside a motel bible as a kid, back in the early 70's, in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The reverse of the bill depicted the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and I thought it was the neatest thing ever; it probably kicked off a lifelong interest in numismatics, now that I think about it.
 
cougar14 said:
I'll pick up any coin except a "tails up" penny. I WILL turn it over, and come by later and pick it up, if it's still there.
Click to expand...

Never heard this one before, bad luck?

Finding money, strictly nickle and dime for me. Living in Amish country, you read in the local weekly paper, notices for finds (buggy whips, lead ropes, hammers, halters, box of nails, shovel, occasional umbrella, hat, kids toy, etc. ) and what farm to pick it up at. 😇
In town had a elementary age boy ask what he had found, was a new striker for a cutting torch. Bet it was wore out that afternoon!
 
PatriotX said:
I found a $2 bill inside a motel bible as a kid, back in the early 70's, in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The reverse of the bill depicted the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and I thought it was the neatest thing ever; it probably kicked off a lifelong interest in numismatics, now that I think about it.
Click to expand...

Back before the Euro, when I worked over there, a friend at a local bank called me, asking if I had a small assortment of specific small USD bills she could buy. Asked why. She said a teller had taken some fake bills, and they didn't want to fire him, if they could switch them out with real before the end of the day.
The bills were actually real, from the 1890-1920 period. I just traded them for the current bills of the same denomination. I suggested they might want to sell them to a collector for a healthy premium, but the tellers got checked each night, and if found with them, instant discipline actions, so no.
So I kept them. Made the downpayment on a car with the premium value.
 
I found a dollar by the creek not too long ago. There were empty whiskey bottle around. It appeared someone was drinking, then fell in the creek and lost the dollar from their pocket. Their trail ran back up the other bank, so they survived.

I find coins periodically. I never thought to keep a tally.

I also found my coffee cup. It is a stainless GI canteen cup. It, along with a canteen and cover, were laying off a trail. It had been there a while based on how rusty the ALICE clips were, but the cup cleaned up fine and I have been using it for years now. Probably the most useful thing I have found.
 
I always keep my eyes peeled.

Almost always will stop to investigate whatever is in the road & at least toss it to the shoulder or bring home to throw it out. On the motorcycle was easiest to investigate & have found close to 50$ once, asst bills, knives, tools, coolers etc. I'll even follow trucks with tool boxes left open & try to warn them first. This just happened yesterday. My highest percentage is following blood trails when in the woods, I've found several knives, clothes, etc, near the gut pile. The custom knife, I unfortunately ran into the hunter dragging the deer and asked if he lost something, being honest aint easy. No guns yet.
 
Found a $100 chip in the Venitian casino a few years ago. I found a roulette table and stuck it on my lucky number. Pushed my luck a little too far. Easy come easy go I guess.
 
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