Family Finds $10,000 in Cracker Box at Whole Foods

by Terri Potratz | December 28, 2008 at 12:20 pm

2144 views | 30 Recommendations | 13 comments

A family in Irvine, California purchased a box of crackers at Whole Foods and discovered that $10,000 had been stashed in there.

They turned the box in to the supermarket, and it was subsequently returned to an old woman who had stored her life savings there before deciding that she wanted to return the box of crackers to the store for a refund.

The Rogoff family of Irvine found the $10,000 in a box of Annie's Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers, The Orange County (Calif.) Register reported Sunday.
Allie, Sandra, Max and their parents, Debra and Joe Rogoff counted out the $100 bills and took pictures of each other before calling police.

"We just thought, this is someone's money. We would never feel good about spending it," said Debra Rogoff.

The police contacted Whole Foods in Tustin, where the crackers had been purchased, and learned an elderly customer had reported returning a box of crackers without realizing she had stashed her life savings in there.

Returned food usually goes to a composting facility, but the box apparently made its way back onto the shelf and in the hands of the Rogoffs, police said.

After discussing this story with friends, we've decided that a whole string of idiots was involved in this situation. So, let's break down the chain of idiocracy:

Old woman stores life savings in cracker box.
Old woman decides she wants to return crackers to store, even though she's opened the box. Obviously, she's kept her receipt.
Store accepts opened box of crackers for full refund, no questions asked.
Store doesn't bother to look inside opened box of crackers to ensure that the plastic bag is still sealed shut; doesn't find the $10,000.
Store somehow manages to put an opened box of crackers back onto the shelves to be re-sold.
Family goes to Whole Foods, and of all the boxes of crackers decides to purchase the one that's been previously opened.
Old woman calls store and reports lost crackers and money as missing.
Family finds $10,000, takes photos with the money, and then returns it to store.
Old woman who lost $10,000 in a cracker box doesn't bother to track down the family who had the decency to return her money and thank them.

I wish I was making this stuff up.

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jessica.lam

at 12:26 on December 28th, 2008

I agree with your last line. Absolutely.

Nutty News (not verified)

at 12:53 on December 28th, 2008

She needs to find a better place to hide her money - how about the bank?

dumbboys (not verified)

at 19:06 on December 28th, 2008

I'd keep it. Bitch didn't even say thanks.

Paschen

at 06:14 on December 29th, 2008

That is a great story. I wish all would act like that. i would not judge the Old Woman to harsh, Using a C.Box for once savings and losing it does speak volumes.

harringtola

at 08:23 on December 29th, 2008

What a crazy (and a little bit suspicious) turn of events. Seems like maybe a publicity stunt was in the works.

thomasb369 (not verified)

at 18:10 on December 29th, 2008

While I can fully believe the part about the elderly lady hiding the money (I have a mother like that...) I cannot believe the store just putting an opened box back on the shelf, and a shopper buying it without noticing. I also suspect a publicity stunt, which would explain why the elderly lady has remained anonymous...because she either doesn't exist OR was part of the stunt. Whole Foods Market has done weirder things, like when their co-founder/CEO John Mackey was caught using a fake name to hype his stock on the Yahoo! discussion boards. Just look how much play this story has gotten all around the world.

Put it this way: if it's not a stunt, it makes me very leery of shopping at WFM if that's how they handle their food!!

leorege

at 09:23 on December 30th, 2008

It's great to see Whole Food coming to London!

leorege has contributed a photo to this story.

John K (not verified)

at 09:49 on December 30th, 2008

I like this site. haha!! I felt the same way.

I thought

"Yeah I aggree. This just sounds almost fictitious, leaky with too many holes. Do newscasters just make this stuff up? The way I see it one of three things is occurring here;

1. The women truly was senile and amnesiac and for some reason decided to return a box of crackers to the store by putting it back on a store shelf instead of at the counter and this box of crackers just happened to have contained her $10,000 life savings.

2. The media is alterring or making stuff up.

3. The woman made up the story of returning the life savings to get a hold of a $10k and for some reason grocery clerks and officails believed her.

The most disturbing feature here is the fact that people just laugh at this instead of realize how fallacious and fictitious it sounds."
but you're right. the #4. answer could be just, all people involved are blithering idiots and just goofy.

thinkretail

at 12:28 on December 30th, 2008

I love Whole Foods stores, the Visual Communication and the Store Marketing are just amazing. Mission and Brand Statements are strategically located in focal points and after the tills to create a unique shopping experience.
luca@ispira.com

thinkretail has contributed a photo to this story.

paul mckenzie sr

at 13:25 on December 30th, 2008

This was our family's first trip to Seattle. We stopped by the WFM for lunch. This is a shot of my wife and children enjoying hanging out after lunch.

paul mckenzie sr has contributed a photo to this story.

thomasb369 (not verified)

at 07:09 on January 7th, 2009

Having told this story to a friend who declared "it must be internet folklore" I decided to track down the story as originally published, which was in the Orange County Register. What the blogs leave out is the fact that the box WAS sealed when the family opened it, and the woman who bought the box surmises that the elderly woman must have glued it back shut...which given the circumstances would make sense. I mean, if you were going to use a box of crackers as your "safe", you'd want it to look unopened.

Which would also explain why WFM just restocked it. I stand corrected and withdraw my cynicism. I can also understand why the elderly lady has remained nameless, given the fact that the story received worldwide attention. COOL UPDATE: Annies, the cracker company, has donated $10,000 to Second Harvest in honor of the family. Check it out here

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/family-rogoff-story-2269986-rogoffs-company

Terri Potratz

at 10:39 on January 7th, 2009

Very cool!

Thanks for the updates.

GroenerGras

at 01:10 on January 13th, 2009

As tourists from Holland we were amazed by the collection of vegan products you can buy at Whole Foods market. Although we didn't find any money in the products we bought...

GroenerGras has contributed a photo to this story.