You thought you could just tee that one up & no one would notice? 
Ouch!
Living in the big city as I do, you’d think I’d se this more. But only two things ever showed up unannounced. Some yahoo stole the Christmas yard decorations from a house nearby, and dumped them on my yard. I dunno, maybe they grew a conscience, or maybe they thought I needed decorations. I called the cops, as AFAIK they went back to where they belonged.
The other was a baby spare tire, left leaning against the curb. Now, you have to understand - no one parks in front of my house. I don’t live in one of those neighborhoods with every space taken. So someone stopped, not coming to visit me, partially unloaded their trunk, found what they were looking for, went on their way, and left their spare. No way to figure out whose it was, but it fits my utility trailer, so now I have a spare. Thanks, careless nameless person!
Good point, though furniture and mattresses seem like weird things to deliver to someone else and more like things people who are just moving in and haven’t yet correctly memorized their address might buy. On the plus side, if you are right, I might expect more deliveries around the holidays. I haven’t noticed more errors in December in past years, but I look forward to a holiday bonanza.
A couple of months ago I had a delivery (not from Amazon) addressed to A N Other but at my address. I phoned the carrier and then the fun started.
They wanted a number that was supposed to be on the label, but I couldn’t find it. They insisted it was there and I insisted it wasn’t and after some back and forth, I told them that I would dispose of it if they didn’t collect it within seven days.
Seven days later, I opened the parcel and found a rather nice set of screwdrivers. Ta very much 
I like that the Amazon people who deliver to my door (I’m in a condo complex and some packages come via USPS) usually take a picture of the package on my doormat. Really helped when they delivered my package to the neighbor directly across from me!
You just committed several crimes.
Yep.
What would you have done differently in that situation?
What delivery company was it? USPS? Drop it in a mailbox or the Post office, marked “Not at this address”. or leave it to be picked up.
UPS? Drop it at a UPS store, or leave for UPS driver to pick up.
Etc.
Under no circumstances are you allowed to open and steal stuff not addressed to you.
Now, you can open stuff addressed to you that you did not order.
You are wrong. In UK law, I gave them sufficient time to collect the goods. If they had asked for more, I would have allowed it.
I do get annoyed when armchair lawyers make incorrect statements with no cite - this isn’t FQs, but it would be better to check facts before making statements.
You didnt mention you were in the UK.
But in the USA it is against the law to open mail not addressed to you.
Federal laws strictly regulate the handling of mail in the United States, and the act of opening mail not addressed to you is considered a federal offense.
However-
The Postal Services Act 2000 section 84 states: “A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he - (a)intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or (b) intentionally opens a mail-bag.”
It also says that: “A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.”
So the law seems similar in the UK. Unless you have a cite that says it is okay?
the last time this happened to us… i went on amazons help chat and not only did they send a replacement out overnight to the original address they told us to keep the one that was sent to us
Your cite is only about mail, stuff sent via USPS. It’s extremely vague about the actual regulations, too. But one thing that’s clear is that if USPS improperly delivered mail to you, it’s easy to get them to take it back. Just write “not at this address” on the letter or parcel and leave it where you picked it up, and the mailman who delivered it will take it from there.
@bob_2 attempted to get the carrier to pick up the parcel, and they refused. So we are already on a different page from your cites.
You really shouldn’t keep exaggerating the US mail regulations.
No, they did not refuse, or if they did he didnt say so-
I dunno where he got this “seven days rule”.
We have cited the USPS regs several times in this thread. I gave an extra cite just for him, in case he hadnt read the thread.
I dont see how I did. The US mail is very clear on packages not addressed to you.
And here it is again-
https://faq.usps.com/s/article/How-is-Undeliverable-and-Misdelivered-Mail-Handled
Reporting / returning misdelivered mail
Despite our best efforts, occasionally mail is misdelivered, or is delivered to an old location for an individual. If you are receiving mail for the previous resident and do not know their address, simply return the mail piece back to the mailstream (by leaving in a Collection Box or other mail receptacle) with the notation “Not at this address” marked on the envelope.
For Priority Mail Express® items only, you can obtain the number of the Priority Mail Express Reporting Unit by calling:
1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777)
For other misdelivered mail items (such as letters):
** If the mailpiece is delivered to the wrong location:*
-
- Don’t erase or mark over the information, or write any type of endorsement on the mailpiece.*
-
- Place the item back in the mailbox or hand the item back to your mailperson.*
** If the mailpiece is delivered to the correct location but the recipient on the mailpiece does not reside at the address:*
-
- Write “Not at this address” on mailpiece.*
-
- Don’t erase or mark over the address.*
-
- Provide the mailpiece to your mailperson or drop into a Collection Box receptacle.*
It says to hand it to a mailperson or drop injto a mail box. It does not say anything about the mail carrier making a special trip to your address to pick up.
Now, yes, this is about Mail (including Royal Mail, apparently, according to my earlier cite).
You can leave it in the mailbox they delivered it to.
But again, all those regs are only relevant for items sent US mail. They aren’t relevant for items sent FedEx, it Amazon, or anything in the UK. You are exaggerating the reach of regulations that apply only to a small fraction of parcels.
But I cited UK regs for Royal mail. True not relevant for Amazon, but he said NOT Amazon. We dont know how it was shipped/delivered, so we cant give a precise cite.
Yeah, my mailbox is one of those corner jobs for ten houses, so large parcels dont fit- most books do.
“without reasonable excuse,” I made a reasonable attempt to return the parcel to the sender, but the carrier (Yodel I think) wasn’t interested. Of course, I kept a note of the conversation, including the name of the individual to whom I spoke.
The word “reasonable” is key to this. If I had made no attempt to return the parcel, that would have been illegal, but the law does not expect me to do any more than I did to rectify the error.
I live on Example* Street East. My package was delivered to (same #) Example Street West, which is IMHO an understandable Oops (they are parallel roads two houses apart). BUT Example Street West is a quadplex, so I’m not sure how the the delivery driver determined which apartment to deliver to (they delivered it to apartment 3 – I knew this because Amazon sent a picture)
It was delivered on a Thursday – I didn’t get home until late that day. They weren’t home when I checked at 5:30ish PM Friday. They were home Friday at 7. They were confused by the package but DID NOT look and did not keep the packaging. I did get my item.
When I get an unexpected package I actually look to see if it was misdelivered. It be one thing if it was miles away, but it is a ~100 yard walk between ### Example Street East and West.
Brian
* Not actual street name
Yes, if i get misdelivered mail to anyplace nearby, i just bring it over. I usually ring the bell and hand it to the occupant when they open the door, explaining that it showed up at my house by mistake.
Before COVID we used to regularly accept parcels for the immediate neighbours, and they did for us. During COVID, it became normal to drop parcels on a step or in a porch and take a photo.
This practice has persisted, even now.