Friday I got a package, addressed to the person who used to live at my address. Through means best not gone into here, I have arrived at the knowledge that it contains a 32GB iPod Touch.
Today, another package arrived, addressed same as the previous. I have not researched what it may contain, but it is suspiciously MacBook shaped.
I emailed the addressee (who now lives in the Northeast) over the weekend, but let’s assume for a moment that I do not hear back from him. For a month, let’s say.
I have to just send these back where they came from … right?
Not even going into the morality of it, I do believe it’s a felony to open mail that’s not yours, let alone open mail that’s not yours and contains items you didn’t pay for yet intend to keep.
Because that sounded awfully accusatory, I need to point out: I didn’t say I opened it.
FTR, and to be clear, the box has an order number on it and the name of the website it was ordered from. With those two pieces of information, plus the shipping zip code, I was able to view the invoice.
I don’t imagine that would come into play if the packages weren’t sent via USPS (and most MacBooks wouldn’t be sent via USPS).
I do wonder if there might be some kind of fraud happening here, though (not by the OP). iPods and MacBooks are attractive items to buy fraudulently (high value, easy to resell). They also are the kind of thing I’d expect someone to be pretty darned careful when ordering, so unlikely to accidentally enter the wrong shipping address. Did they both come from the same merchant? It might be worth contacting the merchant as well…
I get mail all the time for the lady that used to live in my apartment. Anything other than advertisements and obvious junk mail gets sent back. Just send it back.
I have contacted the vendor for the first package to request a return tag. These were not sent by USPS, so I don’t think it’s as simple as writing “return to sender” on them. I’ll contact the vendor for the second today, if I can figure out who it is. The second package is not nearly so well marked as the first.
I guess I am going to go against the grain here and ask a few questions? How long ago did the person move?
The reason I ask is because I still get mail (mostly scientology shit and other alumni mailings, but occasionally credit cards and such) for previous owners who lived here over 5 years ago. If they can’t be bothered to change their address with these people, who I have continually rejected their mail for the past five years, then if something useful got sent my way, I just might keep it.
Now, if I suspected fraud, I might inquire a bit about it, but after some point it’s just plain rude not to change your address, and this just might provide them the incentive.
(by the way, I do cut up the credit cards when they are sent. The amount of trouble I could be in for using them outweighs the “surprise, dipshit! you need to change your mailing address!” factor by several times. Also, if they contacted me about items being received at this address, I would of course forward them on if asked, but I would not make the effort without being contacted first)
I’ve lived at my current address since July 2007, crazyjoe. Within a few weeks, the previous owner received a DHL package which I promptly informed him about only to be told that it was junk mail and that I should toss it.
They do, of course, still get junk mail, which I discard without notifying them about. These are the first packages they’ve gotten since the one I was told could be tossed.
Being rude or forgetful isn’t against the law. Keeping things that you know aren’t yours and were sent to you by accident is. Everything else is rationalization.
Here in the U.K., you should contact the sender and request to have the items collected. Document this. They then have one month. After that, if there hasn’t been an attempt at collection, they’re considered abandoned and therefore yours.
Thank you, Quartz, this was what I was trying to get at with the (obviously poorly-put) original question, before the thread turned into a questioning of my rationality, morality, and legality. Alas, I have to assume that if there were any such provision on this side of the pond, I’d have heard about it by now.
Still no word from either the addressee or the sender, but it’s only been a few days for the former and less than a day for the latter.
Yeah, I know, and being rude doesn’t have penalties, and even often rewards the rude person with affirmative responses. As I said, I would not keep the item if contacted about it, but I might just hold it to see if I WAS contacted, and let them know I’d relinquish the items when I saw a change of address form filled out with the post office.
“By accident” is also somewhat in question…I have a hard time beleiving that people accidentally don’t change their address for a year or more.
I mean, there are so many ways for this to go wrong for whoever used to live there. “Yes, I got your package. Oddly, I won’t ever be home when it’s conveneint for you unless you also happen to be holding a reciept from a change of address for from the post office. What’s that, you’l call the police? Well then, I’ll just set it out on the porch for you to come and get at your convenience. I’ll put big lables on them that say “iPod” and “MacBook” so you (and the local hoodlums) will be sure to know just what to take.”
I’m not usually a dick, but when someone is rude to me, I stop being accommodating. Unfortunately, while I am not often a dick, when I decide to be, I am really good at it
At one time, UPS delivered a box of mp.3 players to our house (opened before we realized it wasn’t the package we were expecting). The address was completely wrong–the guy just picked up the wrong box. I called and they gave me directions to a fairly distant distribution center. I laughed and said it was their mistake, they were going to have to come pick them up, and they did. However, say they’d refused to come pick them up–would it have been my moral responsibility to drive them over there? I really don’t think my obligations go that far.
