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Receiving too much change
#1
BS"D

I just got home from the store and realized that they gave me $10 too much change. I had gone to visit a friend who I'd lent $10 last week to see if they could repay me, but they weren't home. Should I return the $10 to the store? I could really use the money right now, but don't want to transgress the 7 Laws. Or should I take this a "sign" from HaShem?

Thanks,
Donny
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#2
Shalom Donny,

Theft is a very grave sin. It was this sin that was the last straw and brought on the flood. See also Jonah 3:8. Even unintentional theft is forbidden, once it has been discovered. Since the store owner did not give you the money knowingly, and once he does know he will not tell you to keep it, you must return it. One must not use another person's property without their permission, and since the storekeeper has not given you permission to "borrow" the money, you may not use it.
Rabbi Yitz
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#3
I would positively return the money. I did however have a question about the gas and time it takes me to return the money when the error was no fault of my own and was the fault of an employee of the money owner.
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#4
I think this is the type of civil-law monetary claim that would be handled as a civil case in the court system or by arbitration. From "The Path of the Righteous Gentile," chapter 11:

6. In civil matters, that is cases between individual parties, ... the accepted opinion, however, is that Noahide judges and courts of law are to render legal decisions according to their own laws and principles of law.
7. Arbitration and mediation or any other means of finding an amicable settlement or compromise, thereby avoiding a [civil] court trial, is desirable, and, more than that, it is a commandment to seek compromise.
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#5
Randy Wrote:I would positively return the money. I did however have a question about the gas and time it takes me to return the money when the error was no fault of my own and was the fault of an employee of the money owner.

Would it not be feasible to mail the money back to the store? First class postage is still less than a dollar, and as long as one takes care that the money not be stolen out of the envelop before it gets into the hands of the store owner or his designated representative, would that not solve the problem?
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#6
Ideally that could be used to solve the problem, but if the money sent in the mail gets taken by the wrong person or used in the wrong way, the error still has not been corrected. You could send it with an explanation to a specific appropriate person, with that person's signature required for delivery, and/or write a check to the store with a restrictive endorsement of "For deposit only to the account of [the store's name]."
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