What do you do when you receive too much change from a store?
In 2005, the periodical ‘The Journal of Business Ethics’ published a study titled, “Relationship Commitment and Ethical Consumer Behavior in a Retail Setting: The Case of Receiving Too Much Change at Checkout”
As one can infer from the title, their study indicated that a person returning mistaken change that they received depended on their prior relationship with the store in question. Should they have an affiliation with the shop then guilty feelings will likely cause them to return the change.
The Guardian newspaper-in their financial advice section- also wondered about the ethics of keeping extra change.
There the writer ends with an interesting caveat:
“Irrespective of the law, staff are often forced to make up shortages in the till at the end of the day from their own pockets. Hand it back.”
A few weeks ago, for the shavuos issue, we wrote about the importance of showing our fidelity to the Torah in its entirety, and the need to recommit ourselves to choshen misphat, its monetary laws, especially when dealing with non-Jews, as the Torah prohibition against stealing applies to both Jew and Gentile (See Beis Yosef on siman 259, Rif and Rosh on Bava Kama 113a, Rambam, Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 348 with Gra, Shach and Be’er Hagolah in the name of Sefer Chasidim. Cf. Rashi on Sanhedrin 57a, s.v. Yisrael, that it is d’Rabbanan. Almost all disagree with Rashi; see Nesivus siman 348)
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Now, some may wish to point out that there is also a halachah called ta’us akum. This law states that in regard to certain errors that could occur in a business transaction, we are not responsible to return what was mistakenly given to us.
This is a very complex issue, one that arises much less frequently than most assume—and even then, according to many, we must often communicate to the akum in person, via phone or email, that we are relying on their calculations. (See Shach siman 348:2 and Yam shel Shlomo, Bava Kama 10:20)
Even in cases when it would be activated, there is one other hurdle to overcome—chillul Hashem.
The poskim (see Rama ad loc.)rule that a chillul Hashem often overrides any heter (should there be one).
However, assuming that we are dealing with a Jewish-owned store, there would be an absolute obligation in all cases to return the mistaken change due to hashavus avieda.
The other week I received a related shailah that turned into an amazing lesson of sensitivity.
It was late at night when my phone rang, and I was concerned that this was a question of life and death.
To my relief, it was a question of money.
Someone had just retuned from a restaurant where they had ordered take-out.
He was not sure if he should get the large dinner or the small, he had initially ordered the large. He quickly changed his mind and asked if it was not too late to change his order to the small.
As he waited for his order to be ready, he paid for his (small) dinner.
He now arrived home and sat down to eat when he realized that they had given the large dinner, when he only paid for the small!
“Well call them back and explain the error” I quickly suggested.
“I can’t, they are now closed”.
We both knew that they were not going to take back a cold dinner tomorrow.
“Well then, you have to pay them back”.
This case, I explained, can be even more severe than a case of receiving too much change.
In the case of a store misplacing the change, it is deemed a lost object for which one must simply notify them (one is not obligated to expend extra money beyond this), and if he does not know which store the extra change came from then he should make a note in his ledger so that Eliyahu Hanavi can reveal to him to whom it belongs when Moshiach comes.
However, when one actually takes an unpaid item from a store, then we are dealing with potential geneiva/theft.
Ironically, precisely because this theft was not on purpose there are added stringencies according to many. So, as opposed to purposeful theft, here one may indeed have to expend their own money to return either what they had stolen or its value. (See Shulchan Aruch 367 with Nesivus 232)
After explaining this to the shoel, I was surprised by his response.
“Let me think about it, Rabbi”
Think about it?! “You have to pay the store back” I gently reprimanded.
But he explained his concerns. The young man behind the counter was a simple man who was struggling to find parnasa. As the Guardian indicated above, often the store-owner will make the cashier pay out of pocket for such errors, or worse, fire them!
“I can’t have this person being fired because of my showing the store and its owner his error”
His concern stopped me in my tracks. “Let me think about how to resolve this. Let’s talk tomorrow.”
The next morning, I was shopping at Wasserman’s, a local supermarket and butcher here in Queens, when R’ Shulem Brach, the store’s manager, ran over to me.
“Rabbi Taub, do I have a maaseh for you! It is perfect for Ami!”
He asked me to follow him into his office, explaining that he needs to show me something.
As we are walking there he begins to share with me the details of the incident.
A few weeks prior, a woman received too much change from the store. She called and tried to explain how the error came to be. It was complex, as it seemed that the store made an error in forgetting to bill her for something (leading to a potential case of geneiva b’shogeg). The manager was impressed with her honesty and told her not to worry about it.
But she persisted, calling again and again that she has a mitzvah of hashavas aveida and a question of geneiva.
Curious as to what made this story so special, I interjected, “Well, I am sure this happens all the time, after all ‘mi k’amcha yisroel’…”
“Ah, but this was different”, Shulem continued, “I have never seen such sensitivity. Today I received a letter in the mail where she not only paid back the mistaken money, but included this…”
The ‘this’ was the receipt of her purchase. What was amazing was not that she kept calling again and again trying to explain how she received too much change back, nor that she actually mailed back the money, not even that she included the receipt.
While all of that was wonderful, she did something else. If the reader looks closely at the image, she took a razor blade and cut out the section of the receipt that states who the cashier was that made the initial error!
While one can argue, perhaps, that this too is a shailah – for perhaps the manager needs to know who is prone to error – R’Shulem could not have been more b’simcha.
“Can you believe the customers we have here?! What honesty! What chesed! What sensitivity! She wished to pay us back but feared doing it in a way that could harm another human being!”
I responded in astonishment. “You are not going to believe this, but just last night I received this very shailah-how to pay back a store without risking loss to the person who made the initial error!
R’ Shulem looked at me with a smile and said, “I told you this would be great for Ami!”
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