14 DAY TRIAL // Have you ever thought what you would do if you found a wallet full of cash? When faced with this dilemma, Marcario Panuil decided to do what was right and return the wallet and its contents to their rightful owner.
The Jersey City letter carrier found a wallet with $4,800 (€3,450) in crisp $100 bills inside it on the sidewalk while he was delivering mail on January 22 after a big snowstorm.
Marcario “Mark” Panuil is a 20-year veteran at Bergen South Station Post Office in Jersey City and he was on his daily delivery route when he found the wallet. When asked what his first thought was after finding the money, the letter carrier responded, “I need to give it back to the owner.”
According to Yahoo News, the wallet’s owner was Rev. Rudolph Daniels Sr., a retired pastor of Claremont-Lafayette United Presbyterian Church in Jersey City. The man says he lost his wallet on his way home during a snowstorm. Daniels also mentions that he had planned to give the money to his children as a late Christmas present.
Given that this kind of happy-ending stories are really scarce nowadays, the wallet's owner was surprised to receive the wallet intact and with the money still inside. But fortunately for Daniels, his wallet was found by Mr. Panuil, who proved to be a very honest and modest man.
“I just assumed the money was gone. It was unbelievable. I was speechless,” Daniels said to a local newspaper.
Marcario Panuil was honored by his Postal Service coworkers and the local Postmaster in a ceremony at Bergen South Station Post Office this week, where he stood with Rev. Rudolph Daniels Sr.
The courier refused to accept a reward from Daniels, but the Postal Service gave him a letter of appreciation as well as a $100 gift certificate.
“It makes us proud that we have our employees, with all the things they go through every day, that they have it in mind that this is one of their customers,” Steven Hernandez, a district manager, said, according to N.J. News.
On the other hand, Daniels said he learned his lesson and he won't be carrying large amounts of money with him again.
Some estimates say that every two minutes around 1,000 wallets are stolen in the U.S. alone. Moreover, an estimated 9 million Americans are victims of identity theft each year, sometimes as a result of stolen wallets or credit cards.