# Is Amazon having some kind of secret promotion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382 "2015-01-20T14:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/1 "2015-01-20T14:34:53Z")
I ordered a Sodastream from Amazon a few days ago. I received two packages from Amazon yesterday. One had my Sodastream, the other had a wireless keyboard. I did not order the keyboard. I asked my friends if they wanted the keyboard, none of them did, and they said it could have been a secret promotion. Is that the case or did they just make a mistake? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/2 "2015-01-20T14:39:59Z")
Most likely, it was a misdirected shipment. Have you called them? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/3 "2015-01-20T14:47:55Z")
I buy a lot from Amazon and am a Prime member. No secret promotion, and one involving free random items would be silly, right? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/4 "2015-01-20T14:49:51Z")
Plus if they deliberately sent it to the OP as a promotion, _they would have made it obvious_ in the paperwork accompanying the box or perhaps in the labeling on the box. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/5 "2015-01-20T14:59:15Z")
You’ve been sent the keyboard in error. Contact Amazon to inform them. Chances are they will tell you to keep it, because it’s more hassle for them to receive and process the return. I doubt very much this is some kind of ‘secret promotion’ as there is little benefit to the company of doing something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/6 "2015-01-20T15:25:28Z")
Besides, what’s the point of a covert promotion anyway? “Hey boss, I have a killer idea! Let’s send random items to random customers!” “Well, okay, Johnson, but on two conditions: first, we will not tell anyone that we are going to do the promotion. Second, that we will not tell the customers that they received the benefit of the promotion. It’s like Fight Club.” “I’m on it, sir!” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/7 "2015-01-20T15:28:24Z")
How did they send it? If it was via US mail, then legally, it’s yours, and you have no obligation to return it, and can do whatever you like with it. It would still be polite to inform Amazon anyway, so they know that it didn’t go to its intended recipient, and can send a replacement to that recipient. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/8 "2015-01-20T15:37:47Z")
Yes, I believe that one goes by promo code “NSA”. They send random electronics which are then able to snoop on your activities. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/9 "2015-01-20T15:41:46Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Yes, I believe that one goes by promo code “NSA”. They send random electronics which are then able to snoop on your activities. Yeah, the keyboard probably has a spy chip in it. Be sure to completely immerse it in water for a couple hours; that’ll show 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/10 "2015-01-20T15:49:39Z")
Sorry, that was mine. Must have transposed numbers in the shipping address. I’ll be right over to grab it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/11 "2015-01-20T15:55:03Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I buy a lot from Amazon and am a Prime member. From me this isn’t going to sound good but -------- I probably handled your package several times the last three months. Especially if there is a A B C or D in the little box at the top of the label. Back to the OP – no promotion. Someone in the Fulfillment Center or along the way in shipping screwed the pooch. To know where the mistake happened I would need to see the label from the box. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/12 "2015-01-20T15:55:04Z")
Amazon does make mistakes. I once ordered and was charged for 2 sticks of ddr3 4gb computer memory. I received 2 boxes with 10 pairs of said sticks in each box. I called and the person I spoke to did not seem to get it and told me to keep it. Still wonder to this day how $1600 worth of ram did not rate a return. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/13 "2015-01-20T16:35:21Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > From me this isn’t going to sound good but -------- I probably handled your package several times the last three months. Especially if there is a A B C or D in the little box at the top of the label. 😃 Keep up the good work!! I always give kudos to the packaging people when asked. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/14 "2015-01-20T16:36:58Z")
Does anyone else have access to your computer or your Amazon account? I’d go back and look at your order history to make sure someone didn’t actually order the keyboard from your account. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/15 "2015-01-20T17:44:57Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > 😃 Keep up the good work!! I always give kudos to the packaging people when asked. Actually Shipping Center but ------------ thanks! We’re able to get something to you from Kentucky or Memphis for example in two days. One and a half actually since the USPS needs at least half a day. And we do it at a cost of like a buck a box. I’m the bottom of the food chain but its a food chain well worth being proud of. > [@drachillix](#): > > Amazon does make mistakes. I once ordered and was charged for 2 sticks of ddr3 4gb computer memory. I received 2 boxes with 10 pairs of said sticks in each box. I called and the person I spoke to did not seem to get it and told me to keep it. Still wonder to this day how $1600 worth of ram did not rate a return. One of the issues I see at from the bottom is communication; ignorance is bliss and not speaking to each other helps keep folks happy. And actual communication (stuff that results in change) is all one way - top to bottom. As long as everything is in its place (and there are tape outlines of just where that place is), as long as procedure for scanning is followed, so long as its impossible for an associate to be the one benefiting from a loss, losses are accepted after some selective bloodshed. Had the person you spoke to made a report, he/she would have been responsible for the final result or consequence. By not “getting it” and starting the report, everything flows back to the FC. Which, at some point, showed a major loss due to “shrinkage”. People possibly were terminated, at the least anyone who filled orders including that item were investigated, and someone on a management team got their tukas fried. But in the local traditions, all that is better than one person being told “Figure out what happened and report back to me”. Its hard to fault the system though when its grown leaps and bounds and made oodles of money though. It’s getting better; probably more so now than when it happened to you. But its still a whole different world from most places we’re used to. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/16 "2015-01-20T17:47:30Z")
I am constantly amazed at how fast Amazon gets me stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/17 "2015-01-20T17:51:17Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Besides, what’s the point of a covert promotion anyway? > > “Hey boss, I have a killer idea! Let’s send random items to random customers!” > “Well, okay, Johnson, but on two conditions: first, we will not tell anyone that we are going to do the promotion. Second, that we will not tell the customers that they received the benefit of the promotion. It’s like Fight Club.” > “I’m on it, sir!” Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Prime. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/18 "2015-01-20T18:59:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Plus if they deliberately sent it to the OP as a promotion, _they would have made it obvious_ in the paperwork accompanying the box or perhaps in the labeling on the box. I have gotten random crap from some retailers ([drugstore.com](http://drugstore.com) at least sent me some lotion or something) and it didn’t come with any information. In this case it was in the same package, and nothing as expensive as a keyboard. I assumed it was a promotion. In some of these cases I wonder whether someone bought a gift item and didn’t include the gift message. Except I don’t know who would gift a keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/19 "2015-01-20T19:38:48Z")
Yep, sounds like a mistake. While I agree that you may have no legal obligation I think the right thing to do is let them know and send it back to them if they ask (at their expense of course). I think the “I’m keeping it” mentality is best suited for the scams where you’re billed for unsolicited goods. I’m sympathetic to an honest mistake. That said, they’ll almost certainly tell you to keep it. We had an “AMAZON ERROR IN YOUR FAVOR COLLECT $200” moment a while back when instead of our subscription to toilet paper they shipped a $200 toddler car seat and said we could hang on to it. Coincidentally (or perhaps creepily) we were in the market for one, so it turned out great. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382/20 "2015-01-20T20:03:05Z")
On another message board this same subject came up. Apparently this happens a lot, there is no option to return the item because you didn’t order it and if you call they don’t seem to understand what you’re trying to tell them and they eventually just tell you to keep it. The actual recipient will have reported non-receipt of the item and have been sent a replacement. You can and should try to call them but you’ll probably just end up with a headache and a new wireless keyboard. On a side note, the only surprise bonus item I ever received in an online order was a giant tweezers. It was from a pet supply company. I don’t think they even sold them. It was baffling. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-amazon-having-some-kind-of-secret-promotion/710382.md?page=2)