# Just got a big box of stuff from amazon...that I didn't order **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725 "2016-12-14T21:50:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/21 "2016-12-15T01:18:10Z")
I confess, I sent it. Happy holidays! Now I expect something really nice in return. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/22 "2016-12-15T01:32:22Z")
> [@CatandMouse](#): > > I guess you checked your bank account? > … I have alerts on my credit card, too, if any charge over $50 is made. But I checked, too, just to be sure. > [@panache45](#): > > I confess, I sent it. Happy holidays! > > Now I expect something really nice in return. Well, when that semi backs up to your front door, there will be a big surprise inside! You keep bales of hay on hand, I hope? Never mind, I can order those from amazon, too. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/23 "2016-12-15T01:32:32Z")
With the insane volume of shipments that Amazon boxes up and sends out every day at this time of year, I’m surprised there aren’t more phantom deliveries like this. Meanwhile, someone in Virginia is mad because Amazon is saying their roomba and humidifier were delivered. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/24 "2016-12-15T01:41:11Z")
I see lots of shipping errors, some similar enough to this one. usually what has happened, is due to the detailed procedures and mechanisms the source company uses to arrange shipments. Little things like electronic hiccups, erroneously printing not one, but two shipping labels for your dog food, can lead to the people who are paid to “grab the next label, stick it on the next box, and ship that thang” to give you these gifts. Best freebee I got so far, was when I ordered a new keyboard for a customer. The vendor made a mistake, and sent me a crate of keyboards instead, with a charge for only one, because it was one box of keyboards. I sold the extras on ebay for about $300. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/25 "2016-12-15T02:40:53Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > With the insane volume of shipments that Amazon boxes up and sends out every day at this time of year, I’m surprised there aren’t more phantom deliveries like this. Meanwhile, someone in Virginia is mad because Amazon is saying their roomba and humidifier were delivered. I know. :smack: And they probably got a big bag of dog food. > [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > I see lots of shipping errors, some similar enough to this one. usually what has happened, is due to the detailed procedures and mechanisms the source company uses to arrange shipments. Little things like electronic hiccups, erroneously printing not one, but two shipping labels for your dog food, can lead to the people who are paid to “grab the next label, stick it on the next box, and ship that thang” to give you these gifts. > > Best freebee I got so far, was when I ordered a new keyboard for a customer. The vendor made a mistake, and sent me a crate of keyboards instead, with a charge for only one, because it was one box of keyboards. I sold the extras on ebay for about $300. WOW! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/26 "2016-12-15T02:46:57Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > With the insane volume of shipments that Amazon boxes up and sends out every day at this time of year, I’m surprised there aren’t more phantom deliveries like this. Meanwhile, someone in Virginia is mad because Amazon is saying their roomba and humidifier were delivered. Out of about 130 orders, we’ve only had one mistake. Ordered 3 DVDs, got a K-Cup coffee machine and two boxes of assorted flavor K-Cups. Got to keep the coffee stuff and replacement DVDs were overnighted. ETA: This was clearly an error. The order and tracking numbers matched, no phantoms on this one. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/27 "2016-12-15T03:59:15Z")
How’s the K-Cup coffee? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/28 "2016-12-15T04:10:36Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > How’s the K-Cup coffee? No idea. I hate coffee. 😃 My wife liked 'em. They were from [this company.](http://crazycups.com/) [This assortment.](http://crazycups.com/40-count-crazy-cups-decaf-flavored-coffee-single-serve-cups-variety-pack-sampler/) ---
**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:** [December 15, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/29 "2016-12-15T05:07:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I know they handle so many millions of orders (and I certainly do my part) that something has to go wrong from time to time, but nothing like this has ever happened to me. I did just change my amazon password for good mojo. By what mechanism could something get sent to me by mistake? With no record of any order? Anyone ever have something like this happen? If you send me a jpeg of the label I could tell you where it came from and how it was delivered most likely. The why becomes a little tougher. I am told by friends who work in the FCs (fulfillment centers where the stuff is actually boxed) that sometimes people on their last day will gift things; you order one and they send you ten, duplicate a real order and send it to some random customer, stuff like that. FCs are known to be fairly brutal to work at and some people try for their pound of flesh as they leave. Because it often is random its hard for the company to trace back so most times they don’t even bother. Same goes if you want to return it - not worth their effort to arrange for it to come back and restock it. The big times for this are around Christmas, Prime Day and the beginning and end of school/college semesters when some of my fellow workers just throw in the towel under the pressure of the job and when the company has a lot of agency hires who basically don’t give a darn. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/30 "2016-12-15T16:39:03Z")
I get random packages from Amazon all the time! Then I open them and realize that I don’t have a secret sweetie or a benevolent fulfillment center elf, I just order so much mundane shit from Amazon that I forget that I ordered something and here it is. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/31 "2016-12-15T17:14:03Z")
Not Amazon but Marks & Spencers. I ordered some trousers and they were apparently delivered today. Someone signed for them - someone who does not have my name. Naturally, my trousers are not here. That’s right: someone has walked off with my trousers! 🙂 ☹ ---
**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:** [December 15, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/32 "2016-12-15T17:39:06Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Not Amazon but Marks & Spencers. I ordered some trousers and they were apparently delivered today. Someone signed for them - someone who does not have my name. Naturally, my trousers are not here. That’s right: someone has walked off with my trousers! 🙂 ☹ And when I think of all the things I’ve tried to get someone into my pants -------- :smack: ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/33 "2016-12-15T21:04:00Z")
I ordered a bunch of items. I got them quickly, then another package with some duplicates. I contacted them letting them know, and I guess they thought it meant I didn’t get them? So I got a _third_ copy of some of the items. Legally, you can keep the items. The OP did contact them, but even if the morality of just keeping them is questionable, usually they will not request them back and it will be a hassle/impossible to return them. This is true if Amazon sells them, third party sellers may want them returned, YMMV. > [@WhyNot](#): > > I very nearly accidentally ordered something rather embarrassing on my boss’s Amazon account because he lets me order supplies under his account, and I forgot to switch accounts. Caught it before I checked out, but I can’t figure out how to delete that particular thing from his Recently Viewed history. Ah well. He’s got plenty of embarrassing items in there himself. :o Ooh, what was it!? I do my personal Amazon through Firefox and work through Chrome or IE to avoid just this problem. You should be able to remove recently viewed if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. Click “See all your recently viewed items \>”. Then you can click individual ones to remove them, or click “Manage history” to open a section that lets you remove all or turn off history. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/34 "2016-12-15T23:12:30Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I confess, I sent it. Happy holidays! > > Now I expect something really nice in return. How does dog food for a 60-pounder and a 35-pounder strike you? ---
**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:** [December 16, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/35 "2016-12-16T02:11:35Z")
OK ---- **ThelmaLou** ---- 98% chance you got gifted by someone on their last day. Your package was filled at the Fulfillment Center in Hebron KY which has a reputation for ----- let us say “interesting” ------ employees. It was then probably flown as part of what we refer to as Archangel to the sortation center in San Antonio and from there placed on a pallet (B line, pallet number 18) to be trucked to your local post office where the USPS handled it from there. In theory the number before the C032 could tell the Big Wigs in Da Jungle who filled that particular box (the “picker” who runs around the warehouse shopping for you) but -------- this time of year scanners get grabbed and people forget to log out and you really can’t tell much of anything without physically watching the box in reverse as it leave the gaylord it was loaded in back through to where it was sealed to the person doing the picking. It _could_ be done — we have that many cameras. But does it make business sense to do so. (more to follow) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/36 "2016-12-16T02:21:46Z")
Thanks for the very interesting info! The number before the C032 was my phone number. I blurred it, since I uploaded to Photobucket. Please don’t pinpoint my location too specifically on this board. I prefer to be vague about that. So a real life Christmas elf at Amazon sent me prezzies! How cool! ---
**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:** [December 16, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/37 "2016-12-16T02:26:31Z")
The turn-over for part-timers at FCs is really high; basically after 3 weeks you are a veteran and after 2 months you are a senior staff member. I know people at FCs and they are not nearly the happy campers us SC (sortation) people are ---- we usually last more like 4 months. (I’ve been there over 2 years but I’m a little nuts so it helps). Pickers, being timed while they do it, run from place to place to place filling an order and having the results logged by their scanner. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you get your hands on a scanner logged to another person you can basically go nuts. If you are slightly better than that you can figure out how to create total orders from thin air at different stages from before the stuff is “picked”. Now remember – you are making fair money ($12.50 per hour most places) but its only part time and you may just be seasonal. And at a FC like Hebron you are getting treated pretty poorly and pushed really hard. And you figure out the tricks. Like I said earlier; some associates just have to get their pound of flesh out of the company on their way out the door. I would bet money (and US stuff at that) that that is what happened here. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/38 "2016-12-16T02:35:43Z")
San Antonio covers huge chunks of the South; services most of their post offices. The number I meant wasn’t blurred ----- it started with # and ended with # Another side note; I got a little laugh when we started flying stuff to the various sortation centers and calling it “Archangel”. As I read my Scripture usually when the Archangel visits the Earth someone ends up dead or pregnant. Either way you’re &#@^ed! 😃 ---
**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:** [December 16, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/39 "2016-12-16T16:18:23Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > That’s right: someone has walked off with my trousers! 🙂 ☹ It’s the [wrong trousers, Gromit!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrmZIgVoQw4) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725/40 "2016-12-16T17:55:38Z")
**kopek** , thanks again for explaining this phenomenon. Two years, huh? You must be one tough cookie. 😉 And smart. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-got-a-big-box-of-stuff-from-amazon-that-i-didnt-order/774725.md?page=3)