Poll: Coins Dropped at Drive Throughs

Do you pick them up if you didn't drop them?
Should you?
What are the legal ramifications?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

So I assume getting out of your car and picking up change off the ground of the drive through? Lol that's a bit to coin crazy for me.

 

Only if they're dimes or quarters... and if I have my hand sanitizer with me ;-)

 

When I go to the car wash I always look around on the ground for coins people dumped out of their cars while vacuuming. But I've never tried a drive through before.

 

And bang my car door on the wall? Or hold the line up? No thanks.

 

How the heck are they not yours legally? Most of them are "abandoned." Meaning, if someone drops a coin, they know they dropped it, and decided to leave it there instead of getting out to get it. If I am walking by and see some, I will pick them up, but I never lean out of my car and look down for them.

 

I'm not a lawyer, but just to continue the discussion I'd say the other side of the argument is that you're on someone's private property (ie, the guy that owns the McD) taking something. So if the guy that dropped the coins has abandoned them, they could legally belong to the McD.

 

The person owns the franchise - not the building or property, hence the term:

PUBLIC FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS

 

I would agree that the owner of the building owns any abandoned property on his land. Same reason why you must have landowner permission to search for coins with a metal detector.

 

It's the same in a casino. You spot a toke/chip, or even cash, on the floor as you walk around, decide it's your lucky day, pick it up and walk away. Nope! Security saw you do that and demands you turn it over to them. Legally, it's the property of the casino, you don't get to keep it, no matter who dropped it.

 

What precipitated all of this was... I opened my door to snag a quarter the other day and the manager pushes her way past the employee to tell me that it was her quarter; she had dropped it earlier.

Being a nice guy, I gave it to her. But it started me thinking if she truly had a right to the coin, what would happen if she called the cops (!), etc.

My gut tells me that it's mine as much as hers, but common sense tells me that it belongs to the franchise owner.

(Common sense *also* tells me that there is a 99.9% chance that they would not challenge me if I ardently maintained that it was mine...)

 

Why don't you test her will and see if she will take you to court for 25c.

Also, if this were a criminal action, do you really think any sane district attorney would haul you into court for 25c?

Chris

 

The maintenance person picks it all up every morning and supposedly drops it in the charity box just under the window.

When change is dropped during the handoff, the cashier is supposed to replace it from the till thereby shorting their drawer. Any discrepancy of +/- $2 could lose that cashier's job.

 

You are misinterpreting the word "public". The restaurant is only open to the public but is not public property. The franchise owner has exclusive use of the property either through a lease or outright ownership and has legal claim to anything on that property - including anything abandoned on that property. The restaurant may deny anyone service if they choose and may have someone arrested for trespassing should they refuse to leave.

 

I chose "other". We are talking about the drive-thru, right? If its my change, then I decide whether or not I want to go to the trouble to pick it up. I have Never picked it up! I doesn't happen very often and I can't remember the last time. If its some change that someone else dropped and I just happen see it... it would never occur to me to pick it up. Its at the "drive-thru"! Out in the lot, only if its folding money. Inside the building? Well just how silly would it be to announce, Anyone lose $5 dollars. Half the place would claim it. Just the change you're speaking of? I would just look for one of those donation jars and stuff it in there.

 

My grown daughter and I have a contest every year to see which of us can find the most money on the ground. It all started with old basketball injuries to my ankles creating instability, and needing to look down at the ground to avoid falling. Even after corrective surgeries I've never been able to break the habit of looking down. So, we have some fun with it. I will never, ever pass up a coin on the ground...except at McDonald's with the charity box right there. Otherwise, it's fair game. I found a $50 bill at the bank a year and a half ago, right before Christmas. I was worried some elderly grandmother might have been taking out bills for a grandchild, so I turned it in, requesting they contact me if no one claimed it. Six weeks later they sent me a check for $50. Last year my daughter found six $20s in a wad. Usually the annual winner is for something like a total of $10. I've got quite a stash of my findings. I have even found foreign coinage on the ground in the USA.
Steve

 

Are you sure they can refuse service to ANYONE they choose?? That is proving itself not to be the case anymore.

 

I'll tell you, things are really tough. I was depositing dollars in the change machine at the car wash the other day, I put the first dollar in and the change dropped, I started to put the second dollar in and this down on his luck individual swoops the quarters out of the slot, stating at the same time, "These quarters aren't yours, you're just now putting the dollar in". WOW, never experienced that one before. I started to pull out the gun, but thought, and moved by the guy's obvious misfortune, told him they were my quarters, but go ahead and keep them.

 

Can you cite some instances that might prove your statement?

 

Magnanimous of you Wyatt........

I'd of done the same thing.