Parcel Stories - detours and other misadventures

[GPX | 1,370]

Just the other day I had a funny parcel story so I thought I share it here (actually 2 stories).

1. Recent story:

3-4 months ago I had purchased a cheap Sega Megadrive game around $20 AUD (including postage). A week then passed and on the tracking it says delivered on the official tracking website. I checked everywhere, front porch, front lawn, I didn’t see anything. So weeks go by and I honestly thought the package was either stolen or there was some dogdy stuff going on with the local postal office. 3 months later, I had completely forgotten about it..Until..my mother told me she found a package put in the garage shed which somehow nobody noticed! Sure enough, it was the Megadrive game from the eBay purchase at the end of 2023! The postman had the bright idea of leaving it inside my garage when the door was left open, instead of leaving it in the usual spot at the front porch!

2. Embarrassing tale:

I would be interested if anyone else has ever done the same..
A few years back, I sold some stuff and sent one of the parcel with my details as the buyer and the buyer details put in the seller’s section. 
TLDR - I sent the package to my damn self!! 

[ikk | 560]

This is such a good idea for a topic, so much weird shit happens during shipping.

I never wrote my own address on a package, but I did once manage to give a seller the wrong housenumber.
Fortunately the person living there refused to accept the package (big package with some kitchen appliance) and the delivery driver called me so he could still deliver it.

I also have a recent story:
Last september I ordered a game from Australia (I'm in the Netherlands).
After a couple weeks I got an email that it was delivered, but when I checked the tracker it showed it was delivered at an Australian address. Turns out it was send back to a servicepoint because the seller filled something in incorrectly, so I had to contact him to go pick it up and send it again.
After he sent it again according to the tracker it wasn't loaded on the flight it was supposed too and then got stuck on waiting for next plane for a month. When it finally moved it was stuck at customs for almost 2 months.
In january, after 4 months of waiting, it finally arrived.

[nrslam | 476]

I shipped a package cross country to the "verified address" of a PayPal user, then got a panicked message that they had moved but neglected to update PayPal. Jumped through some hoops to verify he was telling the truth then began the odyssey of trying to get fedex to reroute to the new address. 

Called and got fedex to issue a change order, but the package still went to the old address. Luckily, they refused delivery and requested a return to sender. It arrived back in my local sorting depot where somebody noticed the address change paperwork, made out a new sticker and resent the box, but the tracking number was apparently still tied to old address so it got delivered there again, refused again, and sent back my way again, where the depot again saw a problem, issued a new tracking number, and sent it out again. But this time, they screwed up the address, putting the new street address together with the old city. That address didn't exist so, yes, it started back my way again. Finally got a fedex supervisor on the phone and we're both looking at the tracking info seeing this box go back and forth across the country 3 times, had a good laugh, and (hooray) he got it straightened out.  Took 3 weeks to get that box where it belonged.

This was back before I quit using eBay. Nowadays, I'm sure they'd say it was my fault and reimburse the buyer.

[The Count | 527]

Several years ago I sold a GBA and a GBA SP to two different people on EBay. Of course, I inadvertently swapped either the GBAs or the addresses and had to contact both buyers about shipping them back to me so I could correct my mistake. The one guy naturally wanted to keep the SP, but I had to insist on getting it back. I ate the return shipping cost as well as offering a discount. TLDR: I'm dumb.

[DK | 260]

Sad story... I bought this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/404795417632

It was set to be delivered on Friday Feb 23rd, but we were going out of town for the weekend. Thought I might be able to get the mail before we went, but it hadn't come by the time we left. Got the delivery notification, all seemed well. We returned on Sunday and...the mailbox was empty.

I should have put in a hold mail request, but I live in a totally safe area and thought it would be fine. Anyways, lesson learned.

If anyone ever happens to see this Indian Samurai Rad Racer with end label damage, it's mine

[RH | 4,915]

2 hours ago, The Count said:

Several years ago I sold a GBA and a GBA SP to two different people on EBay. Of course, I inadvertently swapped either the GBAs or the addresses and had to contact both buyers about shipping them back to me so I could correct my mistake. The one guy naturally wanted to keep the SP, but I had to insist on getting it back. I ate the return shipping cost as well as offering a discount. TLDR: I'm dumb.

You'll only do that once! Don't ask me how I know... ok, I did this too, years ago in college and I triple-check now every time.  For me, I had all my stuff boxed up and I put notes on the boxes. This was where the label would go, so I didn't mind annotating the boxes and fearing that someone in the PO might steal the stuff.  Regardless, something got switched and it was a nightmare coordinating the fix.  This was the early days of eBay too and a lot of people were still dealing in cashier's checks!

[xelement5x | 66]

Plenty of stories like this, but I'm always on edge when I order something from another country and use a forwarding service.  All it takes is one mishap in the address or the like to run into issues.  Bought something and the seller addressed it properly but set it as a pickup from the post type deal, which my proxy wasn't going to walk down to the place and do, and the seller told me to just walk down the street and get it myself (thousands of miles away). 

Since the seller admitted they screwed up in message I was able to get a refund from ebay, but the seller kept complaining I screwed them over since they didn't have the item or the payment.  The package is still probably sitting there for pickup.