The Case of the Missing Wine

[OttoVonBismarck]

As I notice an uptick in threads where people pontificate on their moral positions I thought I would share a situation from my personal life.

In early November I came home one day to find FedEx had delivered a case of wine to my front door. Now, I had not ordered a case of wine. In fact under the law in pretty much all States where wine can even be delivered, you aren't even supposed to drop it off without getting the signature of an adult who presents photo I.D. In fact, as I inspect the package I note that it's intended for an address in an entirely different city.

Being the good fellow that I am, I make a call to FedEx, and explain the situation. I ask if they can have their delivery man return for the wine. Well, this is where things take a turn. The woman on the phone basically acts as though I'm a dick for even bothering her with a phone call, and explains that "we can't just turn our driver's back around." Okay. I ask how I can get the package picked up, and she said that the shipper or recipient would have to contact FedEx and let them know the package had been mis-delivered, and FedEx would handle it from there. I asked if someone would be coming to get the wine, and she says "that'll depend on what the customers want here." Okay.

So not wanting to be morally bankrupt, I do a search on the recipient's name, unfortunately I can't ferret out a phone number or other contact information. All I have for him is an address, and it's a 30 minute one way drive from my house, in a direction I never go (not on the way to work or anywhere I normally shop.) Okay, sorry dude, your wine isn't worth an hour round trip of my time.

I put it inside the house beside the front door and leave it. Two days later, I get a phone call, it's FedEx. They want to let me know they are sending someone for the wine. I say, "okay, when do you think it should come so I know when to leave it out?" They act affronted by the question and say, "Well, we don't know when exactly, sometime in the next week or so." I don't really like leaving packages out in the front of my house for random intervals of time, so I (being annoyed) tell them "okay, well it'll be out front for 5 days, after that I'll dispose of it." They act like I have some responsibility for this wine, but I make it clear I did not ask for this package to be dropped on my property, but now that it is I certainly am not responsible for getting it to the recipient--it's their job to get packages to where they belong.

Over a week passes, and I move the wine into the house, open the package, and drink one of the bottles. A few days later, I drink another. The wine is of decent quality, so I unpack the case and put them in my wine racks down stairs, and throw away the box.

Then, around 8-9 days after I had last spoken to FedEx, they knock on my door wanting the wine. Not wanting to admit I've already started drinking it and thrown away the case, I just tell them it's gone. They seem incredulous, but I explain that "I left it out for awhile and now it's gone, not my problem."

Then the beginning of this week, an old man is knocking on my front door. I go out front, and it's the original intended recipient of the wine. He angrily asks where his wine is, and he says that FedEx told him that it was delivered to me and that they couldn't recover it. I tell him the same lie I told FedEx, and explain to him that I gave them a lot of time to come get the wine, and that there's a reason I don't like to leave packages out front for days and days on end. He clearly doesn't believe me, and basically says he knows I took his wine, and that I'm going to hell for being in violation of the Christmas spirit. I let him know that I'm "sorry I can't help you." And off he puffs.

So where do my actions fall here? Right, wrong, gray area?

[Josquius]

No problem IMO.
If you had done everything in 100% by the letter of the law (...? It was delivered to you....) then the wine would have just stayed outside and been stolen, gone bad, had someone trip over it and smash it, etc...
You gave them a more than reasonable amount of time to collect it before you said you'd throw it away.

And of course waste is a sin. Throwing away perfectly good wine is wrong in so many ways. Might as well drink it rather than just put it in the bin.


Pretty bizarre that fedex would tell the guy your address.
Is it some sort of con where they knew you would drink the wine and will now try and scam you out of silly-money for it?
I couldn't imagine this sort of thing happening in Britain. It would all be the delivery company's fault.
Report the local branch to head office?

[MadImmortalMan]

If I were him I'd be asking for my money from FedEx.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Only because I've actually had FedEx mis-deliver a package of mine before, I know that on their online package tracking it actually shows when they drop the package off the address they left it at. That's how when it happened to me I knew I just needed to walk one street over to my neighbor's house and pick it up. So that may be how the old man got my address, or maybe FedEx really did tell him where it was sent who knows. The whole thing felt weird because FedEx is a Fortune 500, ultra-established company and it felt like I was dealing with Bob's Discount Shipping Service, nothing felt professional about the whole thing.

[Admiral Yi]

It would not have been any noticeable inconvenience to leave it out front for 9 days, or month, or a year.  Plus you lied.

Two additional weeks in purgatory.

[Ed Anger]

I over rule Yi's judgement. Otto is declared innocent due to Fed Ex Douchebaggery.

[MadBurgerMaker]

You gave them plenty of chances.  It's not your problem.

[Jacob]

You gave them plenty of chances.  It's not your problem.

Nor was it his wine.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Meh.  After days/weeks of waiting and no one showing up for it, why not?  Dude who ordered the stuff needs to take it up with FedEx, not Otto.  They're the ones who gave it to someone else, then acted like dipshits, then didn't show up to get it when they said they would.  It's not his responsibility to store shit for FedEx.

[MadImmortalMan]

Yeah it was FedEx's responsibility and they messed up. I would have just left it outside forever and if it got stolen or broken it's not my fault.

[Ed Anger]

And that old man who showed up all huffy on Otto's property? I would have given him 30 seconds to git.

[MadBurgerMaker]

I'd get tired of having it on my damn front porch after a few days.  It would either be on the street in the trash, or (in this case) part of my wine collection. 

[Barrister]

It's not your wine to drink.  You were fine up to that point.

The fact you lied about it means you know this is true.

[Jacob]

Meh.  After days/weeks of waiting and no one showing up for it, why not?  Dude who ordered the stuff needs to take it up with FedEx, not Otto.  They're the ones who gave it to someone else, then acted like dipshits, then didn't show up to get it when they said they would.  It's not his responsibility to store shit for FedEx.

Personally I measure the time for that kind of stuff in years. If he'd kept the wine around for a few years, six months minimum, then yeah okay (and it's not like the wine would go bad). But a couple of weeks? Not cool. As evidenced by the fact that the guy whose wine it was came to pick it up within that timeframe.

Even then it could've been rectified by 'fessing up.

As it it stands, it's straight up theft.

That doesn't mean that FedEx isn't a bunch of useless idiots in this case, of course.

[Camerus]

So is it legally kosher for Fedex to give out your address?