Reward for the return of a lost wallet - Germany

I lost my wallet in McDonalds yesterday and somebody handed it in. Not much cash in it but all my cards.

I have the guy's telephone number and was thinking I would send him 20 euro's , or something around that, for his honesty. Does this seem reasonable?

I thought there was a thread on this one but damned if I can find it...

I would go back to McDs and ask if you can buy some McVouchers...

Buy what you feel is a fair price,

20€ seems fair to me... think of all the hassle its saved you!

Was that because some went missing, or the original order of things?

If some went missing - you sure he didn't take it?

Regardless, I don't think a reward culture is prevelent. More the case that returning something to its rightful owner, the thing to do. However, considering the hassle and costs saved in having new cards issued, Euro 20 is a more than acceptable reward.

Being Germany, there is a rule for this one - unfortunately, I don´t know exactly what it is, but I do know that the finder is entitled to a certain percentage of the value of money that was actually in the wallet.

I think €20 is more than fair, considering you hardly had any cash in there.

No , everything was completely in order with the wallet. After a weekend with the kids it tends to be empty though;-)

I was actually thinking of McDonald's vouchers but I wasn't sure if such a thing existed.

Aha! Found it!

http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bgb/__971.html

Who knows who took any of the guys money. It would be nice to give some type of reward such as SpiderPig suggested since the wallet and all the cards are back in the owners hands. Getting ID's, driver's licenses, ec cards, and all those others would be a pain to have to replace.
So, some reward would be nice. It is nice to see people are honest here.

When I lost my wallet in a taxi, the driver called me and said he'd drop it by when he was "in the neighborhood", which he did within 48 hours. He rang the bell and I gave him 20 euros. He seemed fairly happy with that. FWIW.

Indeed there is, and the finder can even demand it. BGB §971 (English here) stipulates a reward of 5% of the loss up to €500, 3% thereafter. Clearly credit cards don't have a directly attributable value, but for the means of the reward you should calculate the likely cost to you in replacing them and/or potential loss due to fraudulent use, which could exceed €1000...

And now hope the finder doesn't read his rights on TT...

I lost my wallet last year. The police said that my chances of getting it back (albeit minus cash) were pretty good - usually, even if stolen, it will be thrown in a corner somewhere, and someone will hand it in.

In my case I sadly never saw it again.

I would also recommend paying a reward - their kindness has saved you hours of work and also quite some money.

not correct. You don't have to base the reward on any fictitious costs. If there is no value other than to the owner of the item lost then the reward can be set by the owner. There is no pre-defined formula for working this out, though.

When I lost my wallet with quite a lot of cash, I sent a letter, some chocolates and 50 Euro.

If there was little cash in it, I think 20 Euro is appropriate but I'd add some "personal" touch and not just money.

I actually would not send any cash at all but rather write a nice personal thank you card. I think this is much more appealing to an honest finder than 10 or 20 Euros (might be different of course for larger sums).

Send him a 20 EUR Amazon gift card.

The last time I had a lost wallet found, I gave a huge personal thank you and a 50€ finder's fee and probably made the woman's year as she worked in Schlecker and their pay rates are terrible.
But it saved me from having to get a new driving licence so was pretty good value.

PAs my man if you want give €20 to the dude I say do it man. I would do the same. No reward is expected from my experience here so a reward is nicely appreciated just like you nicely appreciatted your wallet returned intact.

Return of a lost wallet is certainly a reason to be happy, and a reward is often not even expected here, despite the right to it, which makes it all the more reason to give one. Same thing happened to me, in Segmueller when trying out sofas it fell out of my pocket, and it was found by a member of staff who refused to take anything.

Sent him a second SMS to ask for his address after he confirmed who he was but no response so far:-(

I happen picked up a wallet on the street, checked all the cards and found the address, called the owner to get it back...just a "thank you" and a puzzle looking, kept talking on the phone when receiving the wallet back.

Awesome awesome Munich, have seen and experienced this a few times (both sides) - no where else.

I think the Muenchners are the best folks in the world.

I have a little more faith in people. I lost my Blackberry in Edinburgh and it was handed in. No way it would have happened in Glasgow though.

lucky you I dropped my wallet outside my flat and someone whizzed it.
it was found dumped a few blocks away with 400€ robbed out of it. grr.
so yes, a reward is a nice gesture.
how about a nice bottle of plonk?

I would neither expect nor accept anything in return for what is rightfully someone else's stuff.
We had a wallet and a handbag at the DIF Stand yesterday at Greenfarm which were lost and given back to the happy owners. None of us would have accepted a reward, it's enough to know you did what was right.

I've lost my wallet more times than I can count and have all but one time got it back. Each time the person who returned it (if found and given back directly) absolutely refused a reward of any kind. It's always nice to offer though. If you are going to mail it to him, I think the heartfelt thanks you write will be more important than any cash included.

I found a woman's MVV ticket several years ago when it was all fields around here and the tickets still had your name and address written on them. As it was right around the corner from where I live I dropped by and gave it to her. She was overjoyed to get it back so soon and downright shattered with gratitude that I had brought it by in person instead of taking it to the MVV office at Poccistrasse (no handy MVV services at Marienplatz back then). She came by the next day with a huge Milka Easter egg.

P.S. If she had lived in Sendling or Obermenzing I wouldn't have bothered going by, I would have sent the ticket to Poccistrasse but done my damnedest to find out her telephone number to inform her about picking it up there.

I once found a bank card in a cigarette machine. That was entertaining.

I once found a expensive camera, in the woods and managed to report it to some 'Lost & Found' organization and get that person (who lost it), informed. That person promptly checked in with this organization and took the camera, but not even a word of 'Thanks' to me.

I lost my wallet. The guy tracked me down, called me, and offered to come by and drop it off. I picked it up and brought a bottle of wine. He wouldn't accept any cash reward. Munich is great.

I can reveal what the police "reward" is when you find theirs (complete with official ID etc) and return it direct to the station...a chocolate easter bunny .

I cetainly give cash in such cases and just, shrug and say, buy something, get a drink or a meal, whatever.

A guy called me one day and told me he had my wallet. I had no idea that I had lost it downtown. There was a substantial amount of cash and credit cards in it along with driver's license etc. He lived outside and offered to meet me with it at OEZ on the Saturday. I put some money in thank you card and tried to give it to him (it was just an envelope) but he wouldn't accept it. Just another reason to love it here.

I don't accept awards either - the reward is seeing the person's happy face. What goes around comes around.

I got his address now. I'll do the right thing...

I took a fat reward after finding a fat wallet in Paris. It was so stuffed with cash you couldn't fold it closed. I asked my French colleagues there and they said I should keep it! So I asked them if I should take it to the Police and they said. "No. The police will keep it!" It had no ID in it but various receipts. It took a while but I noticed the same G7 taxi number on a lot of them. We rang that Taxi company, G7 and they identified a driver and radioed through to her. She called back and identified the contents without doubt and arrange to come to the office. When she turned up she pulled 2 of the biggest notes out of the wallet and gave them to me. I tried to give one back (pathetically!) but she refused and fished out 2 bottles of Champagne from her car for me. She then called her daughter who spoke English and asked her to thank me and said If I need any assistance when I'm in Paris, then I should call her.
I don't know how much money was in there, but it was clear from her relief that it was a lot. I got a fat reward and a story to tell out of it in the end.

Yeah, we don't want to know about that thank you.

When I was young my friends and I would go to the police station for chocolate. The head of the police station would keep a box of it for those that did something nice and that was the reward. He also gave it to kids who came by for free chocolate. So, the world is not so different after all. Chocolate is the ultimate gift.

According to this article, having a baby photo in your wallet best increases your chances of getting it back.

Didn't work for me, though - the one I lost had photos of my kids in it, and I never saw it again.

My bf drew a stick cartoon character of me which I carry round in my purse (in the style of The Order of the Stick) - will that have the same effect?

In my wallet it say "In case of death call police". No pictures though.

When I found my last wallet in Dresden @Jazz Fest, I found the address of the owner's mum. I called her, she was calling her son, he called me and he came into the pub I was sitting with my friends. The wallet owner got his wallet, went to the innkeeper and asked: "What did these ppl have? I pay that." Did it and disappeared. I never will forget innkeeper's face!

Oh, couldn't see any vouchers at McD's so sent boring old euros.

I know I would much rather have cash than McD's vouchers, so I reckon he'll be happy!