The exact same thing I do whenever I find any cash lying about in the street. Namely pocket it and spend it. I found a wallet not too long back containing £450 and no ID bar two credit cards and a debit card in three different names. This was around 03:00 and there was not a soul in sight.

Yoink!

Depends where it was. If It was in a shop, restaurant or some such I would hand it in. I found a £20 note on the floor in ASDA once and I handed it in to the customer services. Later on there was a tannoy announcement for me and I was greeted by one very grateful lady. I was working there at the time so it would not have been a good idea to keep it for myself in any case. Even if I hadn't been working there I would have done the same though.

If it was out on the street that would be different. Chances are the person who lost it isn't going to see it again anyway. What else could you even do besides leaving it for somebody else to pick up, donating it to a good cause or keeping it for yourself?

If it was in a purse or wallet with the owner's credit/debit cards and what have you I would leave it inside and try my best to trace them, or hand it in at the nearest police station if possible.

..........Its a tenner

Not a lot you can do about it unless you saw who dropped it. Would be different if it was a wallet with contact details etc.

Oddly enough I was in a Wetherspoons earlier this year and spotted a tenner under a table and, just as I was picking it up, a woman with a charity collecting tin came round.

I agonised over what to do and decided the best thing was to put it in the fruit machine, that way if I won more than a tenner, not only could I give the charity woman some cash but I also might have enough left for a beer for myself.

Sadly, by the time I'd finished playing on the machine the charity woman was nowhere to be seen so I had to spend all my winnings on beer.

touch

Mentioned this one before, went to the cinema, it was about half full, couple came in carrying two large popcorns and cokes and sat further down my row. Film started up. Slurp, slurp, slurp, crunch, crunch, slurp, crunch, etc. Halfway through the film the guy went out and came back with another round. As he sat down he dropped a ten pound note. How they missed it I'll never know as it was sticking out from under the seat in such a maner that they couldn't fail to miss it if they glanced down, but they didn't seem to spot it. Slurp, slurp, slurp, crunch, crunch, slurp, crunch, right through the rest of the film. Film ended and they got up, I thought they were bound to spot it at that point but no, they started up the steps to the exit so I hung back for a moment watching the credits, then pocketed the tenner on my way out.

I'd do what you did. Pick it up & spend it... after checking there were no hidden cameras or sociology students watching me.

If I saw someone drop it I'd give it back or if it was near a shop till I'd hand it in but otherwise I'd consider it a good day.

I'd mostly spend it on Cherry Coke and Roysters.

Don't feel bad. It's no biggie.

I've found a tenner laying around and kept it. If I saw someone drop it then obviously there's no way I could have been that selfish and keep it.

As Wee Tinkers says, there'd be a temptation to just walk past it as there's a good chance you'll end up on a youtube "these people all picked up the tenner and didn't even hand it in, shame on them" video.

Obviously, if i'd seen who had dropped it I would let them know they've dropped it and show them where it lay.

Failing that, yep, free money, put it in my dinner money, will buy plenty soup.

If i saw someone drop it, i would alert them and give it back - same for any money that someone drops.
If it was just lying there then i would pick it up and keep, same for £20 as for a £50, i would have think on that, probably hand it to the police station ( with a receipt if they do that) as lost property and then get it back if its not claimed ( if you can still do that )

As for someone working in a shop then it would be different, likewise if i was in a store/shop then it may be different as it could be possible to find the person via a PA announcement
And If i was a policeman again different, although I wouldn't do this :

But then what's stopping a random person trying to claim it? kinda hard to proof it.

Would probably be best if they didn't make a public announcement and just wait to see if anyone comes back for it.

That's strange because I was out running the other day and lost a tenner. Send it to me and we'll call it quits

Last time I found a tenner was 2 years ago outside our local airport. We were on our way to Manchester for my husband to have surgery and the NHS cheque hadn't cleared in time to pay for our subsistence/hotel. I literally had nothing as I'd just lost my job. That tenner helped me get through the next two days (bus to hospital, food) and I'll never forget it. Thank you to whoever dropped it that day

I pick up any denomination of £/p and it either goes to a local charity shop, or it gets put into a money tin that gets opened when it's full/we're skint

For a tenner I don't think it's worth trying to find the owner, even £20 is a push.
The problem is not really the fact that it's been dropped, but the likelihood that someone is trying to find it. by the time you've made a trip to a police station you've already wasted an amount in man-hours to do so & the person wanting to find it has to do the same too.
Even if they do try, which station are they going to go to? In a large urban area they could have been in 5-6 police station zones and not known where they lost the money.

When you get up to £30+ I think it becomes more likely that someone might try to find it as even with the time spent finding it at a station they still be better of spending that time to do so.

My mum recently found £60in a money clip in a popular dog walking area in her small-ish town. She took it to the local station and handed it in. In her mind £60 is a lot of money for some one to lose (& my mind!) and couldn't bear the thought of an oap or someone struggling with money losing out.
The police took her details and said that in 4-6 weeks (I think), if it wasn't claimed they would call her to collect. It wasn't claimed so she was £60 up with a guilt free conscience that whoever lost hadn't made a reasonable effort to find it.

who remembers this video ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQbwI61GHSQ

course Liverpool Street is full of Eastend herberts and Essex lairy boys, so can't be classed as typical honest citizens

the bloke at Waterloo, sarf london wideboy

Years ago I did stupidly left £20 in an ATM, was my fault so I don't blame the person for taking it. Although if I was behind someone and they forgot then I couldn't keep it.