UPS delivers 15 million items every day, so maybe it’s inevitable that some of them will end up in the wrong place. The problem is what happens when they deliver a package to the wrong place: say, 101 Truman Street instead of 101 Truman Avenue. In one man’s case, UPS appeared to have sent a stranger to his home to fetch his own misdelivered package.

That’s not really an issue when a package is inadvertently delivered to a business, but what about when it’s delivered to someone’s home? What about when it’s delivered to your home, and a stranger shows up on your doorstep asking for their package back?

That’s what happened to a man named Jay in Texas last week. He took to social media to complain about the policy, finding it very problematic. After all, UPS performs pickup and delivery: can’t they bring the package where it’s supposed to go?

As it turns out, that is what’s supposed to happen. Forbes’ Kashmir Hill wrote up the incident and talked to a UPS spokesperson about the real protocol in situations like this. If someone calls in with the tracking number, the company will tell them where the package was delivered. They do not, however, tell the recipient that they need to go pick it up: the company will take care of that. A UPS delivery person showed up at the house shortly after the intended recipient of the package.

The question is: how often do people rush over to that address to fetch their package once they get the information? Isn’t that a violation of privacy for the people at that address?

If You Get A Misdelivered Package, UPS Will Give A Stranger Your Home Address [Forbes] (Thanks, Mindy!)

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