Did you know courier services (UPS/FEDEX etc) auctions away “undeliverable” packages?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Did you know courier services (UPS/FEDEX etc) auctions away “undeliverable” packages?

Posted: 1/12/2021 10:04:44 PM EDT

Neither did I.

Was having a bitch session with my BIL today about how fucked up everything is, basically both of our Xmas gifts to each other have been lost by UPS since before November. Tracking updates have been useless for weeks “weather emergency causing delays”, now they’re saying they’re investigating the lost package.

Interestingly, he’s dealing with a situation at work where someone in Canada got in touch with his US company saying he bought a package from UPS that turned out to be sales samples from this company. Since they’re of no value to him, yet valuable to the company, they made arrangements for him to ship the samples to a local Canadian distributor.

I did some searching and found this.

USPS:
All live auctions at our Atlanta Mail Recovery Center have been canceled. All auctions of undeliverable, unclaimed, damaged, and claim-paid merchandise are now conducted online:
https://about.usps.com/doing-business/auctions/welcome.htm 2.4k

UPS:
UPS does not auction these items to the general public anymore. Unclaimed freight is logged and housed for a period of up to five months. If a match is not made within that period of time the merchandise goes to a salvage vendor. Damaged items that claims have been paid on are also salvaged via salvage vendors.

FedEx:
FedEx uses an outside company, Northwest Research, to assist with missing or stray packages, but sometimes a search can end in vain. According to Northwest Research, after a certain amount of time, unclaimed packages go to Bulward Auctions in Salt Lake City.

View Quote

The post is from 2014, so I guess this Canadian wannabe Storage Wars character buys his shit from one of these salvage vendors. I guess they just pay out the insured value worst case scenario (for them anyway) , then the teamsters get to make the stuff fall off the loading dock? lol

Posted: 1/12/2021 10:07:19 PM EDT

[#1]

Did not know that, not surprised.

Posted: 1/12/2021 10:15:48 PM EDT

[#2]

You can buy unclaimed freight by the pallet or truck load, as well as store returns from Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, etc...

A few airlines sell "lost" luggage in the same fashion.

Posted: 1/12/2021 10:18:41 PM EDT

[#3]

There was a story here on arfcom of a guy who had some highly valuable stuff lost by one of the carriers. He found it on one of the auctions. They wouldn't give the package to him.

Posted: 1/12/2021 11:04:50 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
There was a story here on arfcom of a guy who had some highly valuable stuff lost by one of the carriers. He found it on one of the auctions. They wouldn't give the package to him.

View Quote

lol not surprising

Sir, we can’t give this to you

THE PACKAGE IS ADDRESSED TO ME AND YOU WERE PAID TO DELIVER IT TO ME

Sir, we can’t give this to you, would you like to bid on the item or not?

Posted: 1/12/2021 11:12:07 PM EDT

[#5]

Hilarious.
When I clicked on the link, it went to the GovDeals site I randomly happened across just last week.
Had considered purchasing a couple of locked safes nearby.

Spoiler alert: I didn't buy them, nobody got time for dat

Posted: 1/13/2021 12:54:01 AM EDT

[#6]

I was just looking around on the govdeals link in the OP. There is a tiny home built by MSU building science students. It is really nice and would make an awesome cabin. Little more than a day left and bid is only at $6500. Just the materials would be well over that now. Somebody in Mississippi buy this and post a thread about your new hunting cabin!!

ETA: search tiny house or MSU

Posted: 1/13/2021 12:59:23 AM EDT

[#7]

Overgoods.

Yep. Any shit that there is no way to find or contact the shipper gets auctioned.

It happens much more often than you'd think.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Did you know courier services (UPS/FEDEX etc) auctions away “undeliverable” packages?

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