If a package arrives at your house by mistake, you can keep it.. OR NOT.

[Vash The Stampede]

I've had packages delivered to my home by accident a lot lately due to my mailman mixed up street names. I have taken the time to go to their home and leave it on their door step. Now if this was an 86 inch TV then sorry I'm keeping that. I get a free TV and the seller has to send out another one while FedEX, UPS, USPS has to pay for it. Everyone wins.

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

I've had packages delivered to my home by accident a lot lately due to my mailman mixed up street names. I have taken the time to go to their home and leave it on their door step. Now if this was an 86 inch TV then sorry I'm keeping that. I get a free TV and the seller has to send out another one while FedEX, UPS, USPS has to pay for it. Everyone wins.

I'm fairly certain that the company name or at least delivery business name is on the invoice or notes that came with the package, give them a call or send them an e-mail telling them about whatever you recieved that you didn't order. Tell them that they have to come pick it up or else you're keeping it, doing the right thing is a win... a free tv isn't winning.

[vindicatorx]

But what's the fun in someone *POSSIBLY* getting a fine, that I'd have to have evidence of for the cops to even go to their door, when someone could take the shit and dump it all over their porch.

What? You guys don't have phones?

[Linkedblade]

Yeah personally I have listened to people make arguments on both sides of the issue of whether or not if an item gets delivered to the wrong address if you are allowed to keep it.

However in my opinion this falls under the don't shit where you eat kind of deals. Most of my neighbors if they aren't home, I know them all well enough that I am ok with them having an item delivered to my home, because, 1 I have a fenced in yard, and 2 because I have top of the line security cameras monitoring my front door.

And unfortunately in this day an age where people not only do this you have individuals that specifically patrol neighborhoods in order to steal packages off peoples property.

But anyways, what is your take on this issue, is it finders keepers, or if it is or isn't where you live, where do you stand morally on this issue or anywhere else?

That's some BS. I know some companies, like Walmart, sometimes substitute if they are out of stock of a certain product.

It's not theft if it's delivered to your door by accident. Hell, once it's on your property, it's yours. The person or company the incorrectly delivered it would need to get your permission to come back and retrieve it.

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What do you call a mistake? If they delivered a TV by mistake that means it was addressed to him? That wouldn't make it a mistake. He said that he never signed for the delivery. The video from the news station shows an invoice with a signature. It isn't uncommon for signatures to be forged by delivery people though. He never claimed to be another person.

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No. By accepting the mistaken delivery and refusing to return it when confronted he converted it to his property. As in he stole it. Just because you are given something extra does not make it right for you to always keep it. The same is true for when banks given you extra money or mistakenly deposit money into your account. You can be accused of theft if you withdraw it and refuse to return it.

So no factually you are so far from wrong it is comical. You do not need to prove that he misrepresented himself to the deliver guy. Look up the actually law or read the parts I've provided. If a delivery company makes a mistake in delivering a package you are not legally able to keep it unless they tell you that you can. Or how they want you to return it is unreasonable.

He certainly does have to prove his innocence. He refused to return it and was found with the TV in his possession. That is a crime. You are mistakenly thinking that he was arrested for theft because he faked who he was to get the extra TV. That isn't the case. He was arrested because he refused to return a package that was delivered by mistake. Which is a crime. They are saying that by signing for two packages when he knew he was only supposed to have one that it is Larceny by false pretense.

This isn't the case of a mislabel by the seller. It is the case of the delivery company screwing up. It was delivered as freight (think like you would get an appliance) and not through a company like UPS/Fedex.

http://legislature.maine.gov/statute...Asec356-A.html

Here is a quick link to a maine law. I will try to find something similar in the Mass. legal code. But given he was arrested its clear that the same exists.

Theft means he had both the actus reus and mens rea of the crime of theft. Did he steal it? No. Did he intend to steal it? No. Therefore no crime was committed.

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He accepted two TVs, not a wrong size TV.

Which more on is not a crime.

[Shadowferal]

According to Freetown Police Department, they were informed by the delivery service that two televisions had been delivered and one was delivered by mistake.

Two televisions...seems relevant.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I've had packages delivered to my home by accident a lot lately due to my mailman mixed up street names. I have taken the time to go to their home and leave it on their door step. Now if this was an 86 inch TV then sorry I'm keeping that. I get a free TV and the seller has to send out another one while FedEX, UPS, USPS has to pay for it. Everyone wins.

Do you "win" when you get arrested?

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That's some BS. I know some companies, like Walmart, sometimes substitute if they are out of stock of a certain product.

They didn't substitute a TV...he got his TV...AND he took someone else's TV as well.

It's not theft if it's delivered to your door by accident. Hell, once it's on your property, it's yours. The person or company the incorrectly delivered it would need to get your permission to come back and retrieve it.

Sure, and when you don't comply they get the cops involved...which is exactly what happened here. They called him, he refused to give back the TV. They got the cops to drop by...he still refused to give back the TV. The cops then get a warrant, take the TV, and arrest him.

[Kithelle]

The whole thing is completely stupid, because the correct answer for all of this was to just charge his CC for the amount of a 86'' T.V. until he returned it.

Once I ordered a comp from Newegg and they sent an entire other PC sent with it. Guess what happened? They charged me over a grand until the other pc was sent back, even though it was their mistake.

Well that is kinda a sticky situation....what if it was charged to his debit card but he didn't have enough to cover the difference....it could get declined or he'll be charged overdraft fees, which I imagine they'll try and weasel out of.

[Dwarfhamster]

If two were accidentally sent to you, yes you can keep it. If it belongs to someone else and it was mistakenly delivered to your address, then no, you can't keep it. It technically belongs to someone else.

[gondrin]

Do you "win" when you get arrested?

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They didn't substitute a TV...he got his TV...AND he took someone else's TV as well.



Sure, and when you don't comply they get the cops involved...which is exactly what happened here. They called him, he refused to give back the TV. They got the cops to drop by...he still refused to give back the TV. The cops then get a warrant, take the TV, and arrest him.

The biggest thing missing from the news stories is whether or not the second TV was labeled or addressed to someone else or not. If it is addressed to him or has dropped off at the same time as the first tv with nothing on it to show it was for someone else, then it is considered a free gift per the FTC. Granted, there might be a state law that goes further however that is unknown for now. The only thing that you cannot keep regardless of how it got there is mistaken money put into your bank account.

[Paulosio]

Mistakes happens, doesn't mean you get to steal someone else's delivery which is what it basically is. Same as if someone accidentally sends money to the wrong account you don't get to spend it. They can do a drawback and I imagine if you've already spent it and they can't receive the money you will have to pay them back. At least that's how it is here... I think.

That isn't what happened in this case though. It says he ordered a 74 inch flat screen TV but instead an 84 inch flat screen was delivered.... It's not like the mail man delivered something to the wrong address and he just decided to keep it. Seems beyond excessive to have police surrounding the house. Surely the company could have just phoned him up and asked about the mistake and got someone to come exchange the product.

I often have my neighbours packages delivered to my house when they aren't in. I often even go and take them round to their house myself later... I'd never steal someone elses packages. However if I ordered a mid range graphics card for my PC and a top of the range graphics card arrived instead, would I say anything and go out of my way to correct the error ? Probably not if i'm being honest although I can't say for sure until in that situation.

I feel sort of differently about cash going into a bank account by mistake though... You often hear stories about people suddenly finding masses of cash in their account and then instead of contacting their bank, they go on some made spending spree and then get in trouble for it later. In principle I suppose it's not much different to my graphics card scenario but for some reason it just feels different.

[Granyala]

I wouldn’t keep it, if there was a mistake in something I ordered I would let the company know and go from there.

This.
In the case of such a TV, I would not have accepted the delivery in the first place and told the transporteur that "This is NOT what I ordered".

In any "silent, non obvious delivery" case, I would expect to be asked to pay the difference and if I could afford the item in error and wanted it, I would immediately contact the dealer and pay the difference or send it back.

[PACOX]

I'm not even sure if what the guy did was technically illegal but it falls under a violation of common decency.

It's not yours, you know it's not yours, you know a mistake was made, just send it back. Plain and simple. So much drama in the world would cease if people would just do the right thing and stop trying to get over on others.

[Vash The Stampede]

Do you "win" when you get arrested?

How will they know? As long as I don't sign any papers like this guy did which is how they got him. I would have just put a line where the signature is. Also Amazon was fine with him keeping the incorrect sized TV as he originally ordered a 74 inch and not an 86 inch. It was the shipping company that had a problem with this as I guess they were left with the bill for the incorrect delivery. If I was in his shoes I would have done the same thing. I probably wouldn't even know until I opened the box and took the TV out that I got a 86 inch and not the 74 inch I ordered. Amazon was fine with him keeping he TV as well, which just confuses this situation further. If the shipper wanted the TV back I would have told them to sit on a lemon and twist. You know how hard it would be to mount something that large to the wall and then to have to go through the trouble to unmount it?

If he can prove that Amazon was alright with him keeping the TV I can't imagine they can keep him in jail. Also seriously they surrounded his house with a swart team for this?

[AIBot]

Guys I ordered an rtx 2080 from amazon.de, but they delivered an rtx 2080ti, it was like a week ago. Should I be worried?

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

How will they know? As long as I don't sign any papers like this guy did which is how they got him. I would have just put a line where the signature is. Also Amazon was fine with him keeping the incorrect sized TV as he originally ordered a 74 inch and not an 86 inch. It was the shipping company that had a problem with this as I guess they were left with the bill for the incorrect delivery. If I was in his shoes I would have done the same thing. I probably wouldn't even know until I opened the box and took the TV out that I got a 86 inch and not the 74 inch I ordered. Amazon was fine with him keeping he TV as well, which just confuses this situation further. If the shipper wanted the TV back I would have told them to sit on a lemon and twist. You know how hard it would be to mount something that large to the wall and then to have to go through the trouble to unmount it?

If he can prove that Amazon was alright with him keeping the TV I can't imagine they can keep him in jail. Also seriously they surrounded his house with a swart team for this?

You didn't read the article.

He didn't get the 86" instead of his 74"...he got both TV's. And it wasn't a "SWAT team"...they had some cops with flashlights.

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The biggest thing missing from the news stories is whether or not the second TV was labeled or addressed to someone else or not. If it is addressed to him or has dropped off at the same time as the first tv with nothing on it to show it was for someone else, then it is considered a free gift per the FTC. Granted, there might be a state law that goes further however that is unknown for now. The only thing that you cannot keep regardless of how it got there is mistaken money put into your bank account.

There's one line in the article that gives me the impression that the TV had someone else's name on it.

The shipping company claims that Memmo signed for the incorrect delivery, which Memmo disputes. He also says that he never informed them he was someone he is not.

To men it looks like, because he never actually told them his name was "John Smith" or whatever, he thinks he's fine to keep the TV.

[Themius]

The part that stands out to me:

“I looked into all the laws and said, ‘You know, it’s a scratch ticket. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,'” he said. He added, “Amazon said I had nothing to worry about. I made no wrong decisions at that point.”

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I'm not even sure if what the guy did was technically illegal but it falls under a violation of common decency.

It's not yours, you know it's not yours, you know a mistake was made, just send it back. Plain and simple. So much drama in the world would cease if people would just do the right thing and stop trying to get over on others.

It appears that the wrong thing got delivered and amazon said he had nothing to worry about which I assume is where he bought it from and the 3rd party were the delivery people.

Larceny and jail time seems silly to me in this case.

At most payment of delivery fees.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

The part that stands out to me:

“I looked into all the laws and said, ‘You know, it’s a scratch ticket. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,'” he said. He added, “Amazon said I had nothing to worry about. I made no wrong decisions at that point.”

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It appears that the wrong thing got delivered and amazon said he had nothing to worry about which I assume is where he bought it from and the 3rd party were the delivery people.

He got the thing he ordered. He also got the TV that someone else ordered.

[shadowmatrix]

I'm not getting blown up/poisoned by mistake opening up someone else's packages. Sounds extreme till you think back to past incidents.

[Themius]

He got the thing he ordered. He also got the TV that someone else ordered.

Was the other tv delivered under the other person name?

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Was the other tv delivered under the other person name?

This line here makes me think it was.

The shipping company claims that Memmo signed for the incorrect delivery, which Memmo disputes. He also says that he never informed them he was someone he is not.

Basically, it sounds like they never actually asked if he was "John Smith" and he never actually told them that he was...he just signed for the delivery.

I could understand it if it were they delivered the wrong TV by mistake. I could even understand if he didn't actually notice until they left that the extra package was meant for someone else. But they also called him a few times and asked about it. Then they called the cops and the cops asked him about it. Then the cops get a warrant, seize the TV, and arrest him and still he's like "I didn't do anything wrong". There's a certain point where he should definitely have gotten the message that it wasn't okay for him to keep the TV.

The OP left a couple parts of the article out of quote.

According to Freetown Police Department, they were informed by the delivery service that two televisions had been delivered and one was delivered by mistake. “The delivery service contacted police after several unsuccessful attempts to recover the television. Police then visited the residence where they spoke with the male in an effort to recover the television. Unfortunately, he refused to cooperate,” the FPD said.

Memmo was charged with larceny Over $1,200 by false pretense and misleading a police officer.