Wow. That is sad. I don't understand this idea that money is safer when not in a bank. This may be a recession but it's not the great depression, banks aren't going to run out of money. Safer how? Cash can easily be transferred to anyone, it's probably gone by now, someone's lucky day.

If you're going to keep $13,000 at home, why not spend a few hundred on a fireproof safe?

lol, i bet whoever bought that suit has an even nicer suit now.

Somehow I don't see this returning.

Not that I am bleeding greenbacks here, but I find the most disturbing thing is that $13K was his life savings.

Don't donation get checked by the staff before being placed out on the floor?

As far as I know, I remember talking to someone that worked in such a place, and many times, the staff got first dibs on what came in.

imfallen_angel: Don't donation get checked by the staff before being placed out on the floor?

As far as I know, I remember talking to someone that worked in such a place, and many times, the staff got first dibs on what came in.

Right, and it is common knowledge that working as a donations sorter can be lucrative.

That's idiotic. If you don't trust banks, OK, then why not buy a safe and keep your money in it instead?

\yes I know, how dare I offer a common sense solution

imfallen_angel: Don't donation get checked by the staff before being placed out on the floor?

As far as I know, I remember talking to someone that worked in such a place, and many times, the staff got first dibs on what came in.

Yes and Good will knows darn well what employee it was by thier new car and new teeth.

In this corner, it's the puller of your heart strings, the [sad] tag! And in the other corner, the vanguard of stupidity, the [dumbass] tag! Let's get ready to rummmmble

No need to use the fail tag when you've got an obvious case for the good old fashioned dumbass tag.

apt311: Not that I am bleeding greenbacks here, but I find the most disturbing thing is that $13K was his life savings.

If he was paying her medical bills and desperately needs that money back to continue paying ... did you ever stop to think that he may have spent the majority of his life savings by now by giving his wife medical care?

That's what old people do. They die.

The contents in my pockets most likely IS my life savings.

58 cents, some lint, half a stick of gum, used condom, and a breathe mint.

I wonder how long ago it was donated. Money might already be spent.

When I was a kid, my aunt made the papers when she was sorting donated clothes and found more than $21,000. The money went back to the family that donated the clothes.

Super cool, I just tried to look it up, and found this archived clipping, picture and all. Totally just made my morning.
Link (new window)
RIP Aunt Mimi

dr_iacovone: The contents in my pockets most likely IS my life savings.

58 cents, some lint, half a stick of gum, used condom, and a breathe mint.

Please don't tell us the story concerning the used condom.....or why you carry it around......thank you.

Ruffian: When I was a kid, my aunt made the papers when she was sorting donated clothes and found more than $21,000. The money went back to the family that donated the clothes.

Super cool, I just tried to look it up, and found this archived clipping, picture and all. Totally just made my morning.
Link (new window)
RIP Aunt Mimi

That is cool ;)

I'd say it's more likely that an employee of the local dry cleaners has the money.

I don't know about you, but if I bought a used suit anywhere in the Illinois Quad Cities, I'd be god damned if I'm gonna let that thing touch my skin until it's been soaked in some sort of solvent.

what a dumbass.

i wouldn't give it back.

plus, i would send a note saying "See? THIS is why you people need universal health care."

and maybe another that says "What kind of cancer cure did you get for $13,000 anyway?"

The man's daughter offered a $1,000 reward for the suit's new owner to "do the right thing" and come forward.

So if I come forward and say I just spent 13k that I found on hookers and blow will I still get the reward?

davynelson: and maybe another that says "What kind of cancer cure did you get for $13,000 anyway?"

Well, it would pay for a half decent funeral....

_{/yeah, a tad morbid.}

I submitted this story with a nearly identical headline.

/Just sayin'...

Damn, the only thing I ever found in a suit I bought from Good Will was a stinky 80 year old man. I asked him what the hell was he doing in my new old suit, he said he left $13,000 in it, or maybe it was $13, or perhaps a life saver, spearmint, or perhaps peppermint, or maybe it was the last of a variety roll so could be a complete mystery.

Or maybe it was an 80 or old woman, I forget.

Ruffian: When I was a kid, my aunt made the papers when she was sorting donated clothes and found more than $21,000. The money went back to the family that donated the clothes.

Super cool, I just tried to look it up, and found this archived clipping, picture and all. Totally just made my morning.
Link (new window)
RIP Aunt Mimi

Enjoyed the story, as well as the Apple IIe computer literacy ad on that clipping. I think this is a common tactic for older folks who were severely hurt during the depression. In those days banks really did simply lose all their clients' money with no FDIC to cover the losses.

The modern version is more insidious. I know of a case where a man bought a $10,000, long term CD from a local bank. The bank was merged with a national bank before the CD matured, then merged again. After the CD matured a few months after the second bank merger there was no record of the CD in the new bank's system. Had to hire a lawyer and miraculously find a decade-old receipt to get the money (with interest).

Gotta love the banks!

caddisfly: I think this is a common tactic for older folks who were severely hurt during the depression.

Older folks do a lot of things sometimes that make little sense unless you remember they lived through the Depression. One of my grandmothers used to re-use aluminum foil for, literally, as long as possible. She would wash it in the sink if it got food on it and if part of it broke off from metal fatigue, well, she'd parcel the leftovers smaller to fit the foil.

When I was a kid my mom dragged me to a church yard sale, the kind where people donate things then they sell them off. I found a purse that had a $100 bill folded up small in one of the interior pockets and took it to the church ladies so they could return it to the previous owner "because it looks like an old lady purse and she probably really needs it." They didn't know who'd donated it but gave me half of the money for being honest and thinking of the "old lady". When I got home my mom beat me for losing half of the money doing that. :(