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I actually did it. This was back in the times when you could get a job the next day, and my new employer didn't want me keeping anything from the old employer by the time I started. Old employer was dragging their feet on the shipping label and made it clear that failure to return the equipment would be considered theft. I gave them a week of daily reminder emails with an approaching deadline (no response), then handed it to the cops as abandoned property. Got a few HR calls immediately afterwards asking how to pick it up, and an annoyed police call asking me not to do it again.

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goldchainposse 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> made it clear that failure to return the equipment would be considered theft

Is "please arrange for a courier to retrieve it" not the end of your obligations?

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AlotOfReading a day ago | parent [-]

In a situation where everyone (including me) was acting reasonably, sure. But I was slightly gruntled from being pushed out for filing a safety report, and keeping it in my possession would have technically violated my new contract. Giving it to the police was clearly not stealing it and didn't require going out of my way to help them solve a problem of their own creation.

	▲	goldchainposse 20 hours ago \| parent [-]
		On the other side of this, I doubt the police would have done anything if they reported it stolen. There are questions online about "what if a former employee doesn't return their laptop." They almost always end with "send a threatening letter in legalese." They stop after that because the the next step is get a $300 per hour lawyer involved for a $600 laptop.

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kstrauser 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I love this. Bravo.