People order things for delivery all the time. Food, gifts, household products; there's no limit on what can be delivered. Sometimes, the best types of deliveries are the ones people forgot they ordered because then it's kind of like getting a present. Although, maybe they didn't forget they purchased something because they actually didn't.
People on Quora share the weirdest things delivered to their doorstep they didn't order. Content has been edited for clarity.
So That’s Why He Was Scanning The Apartment
“It was wet sitting in a puddle, so I dragged it in and let the box fall apart on the way in. Quickly, I noticed it was a Christmas gift in wrapping paper. Instead of waiting for the big day, and letting it sit drenched, I started unwrapping it only to find the content wrapped round-and-round in plastic wrap. So I kept at it, unwinding and unwinding creating a massive ball of plastic and finally a view to what was inside… dried vines that looked like potpourri with a nice fruity fragrance.
What was this? I figured something with bugs inside, kept in by all that plastic. So I decided to look at who shipped it to me, to then realize it was not for me! I lived on ‘S’ St and this was for my street number, but on ‘F’ St. I guess the delivery person got the two addresses mixed up, and left the box for me since my street number doesn’t exist on F St. Well, this all spooked me and with the fear of bugs in the wrap, I decided to put the whole heap into a big plastic trash bag and tie it tight.
Due to trash pickup not being for a few days, I left the bag in my apartment near the door. Within a day I opened the door to a big guy ‘selling candy,’ and very interested in looking right past me and scanning my unit. With Christmas nearby I simply said no thanks, I have candy galore and closed the door on him. I knew that was odd, and honestly a little frightening.
A day or two later, a friend came for a visit and I decided to ask him what he thought my garbage really was.
He intriguingly looked inside and quickly exclaimed, ‘That’s a ton of pot!’
Turns out it was about 10 pounds of the high-grade weed. My friend wanted to break into the ‘brick,’ I didn’t allow it and instead called the police. They wanted me to bring it in, but I thought that was a bit scary to do, so I asked them to come to me.
Their response was ‘We can’t come until tomorrow,’ to which I thought Who cares, I’ve had this for days already.
They agreed to let it sit with me for the night but said, ‘don’t smoke any of it!’
The next morning, a crew of investigators and officers arrived determining it was from Hawaii, and had a street value of over $40,000. They took it away and luckily nothing more ever came from this.”
They Should Have Stopped This Sooner
“I received four packages from Amazon in the space of about a year. Twice I got fancy dresses for an 18-inch doll. One red and one wedding dress. I don’t have a doll. Amazon did not charge me for them, but would not tell me who sent them. Then I got a weird hook thing to hang a shower head from. Same story. I told them it was creepy, and I kind of felt threatened getting weird gifts from strangers.
Then I got an expensive ‘My Pillow’ style pillow. This product was listed at like $50 at the time. I called again.
‘No Ms. Tanner, we are not charging you, someone else paid. Yes, they sent it to your address on purpose,’ I was told.
I lost my mind and told the Amazon Lady the next thing I got that I did not order, I was calling the police and a lawyer. I felt stalked and harassed and they were at fault because they wouldn’t tell me who did it. I know it sounds silly, but I really was kind of scared. I threw a screaming cursing fit and she finally swore she would make sure it never happened again. It has been about three years and it hasn’t so I guess either freaky gift-giver got bored, or Amazon Lady put a note on my account.”
Won’t Be Using Those Businesses Ever
“The first time this happened was when I arrived home late one night from a week-long holiday. On my front doorstep was a bouquet of badly wilted flowers. I checked the card, wondering who sent me flowers, and for what reason. It was pretty weird.
Turns out they were delivered to the wrong address. I tried to find the right address, but I couldn’t find it. I’m guessing the delivery guy couldn’t find it, and just dropped them at my door instead. Why?
The next day I contacted the florist, letting them know they’d mistakenly left these flowers for someone else on my doorstep a week ago, but I was away. They didn’t seem to care. As long as they got paid, they appeared to take no responsibility after that.
I pity the poor person who’s not received their flowers, and I really pity the poor person who forked out a hundred bucks for something their loved-one didn’t receive.
I’m definitely not using that florist. Ever.
Another time, I was working from home one day when there was a knock at the door. I opened it, and immediately saw a huge delivery van in my drive, and two guys carrying furniture. The guy at my door just walked in.
I grabbed the door, blocked his path, and said:’“Excuse me, who are you?’
Again he said nothing but gestured to the load he was carrying.
So I said, ‘What is this?’
He got huffy and said ‘Where do you want it?’
I said I didn’t order it. He got even huffier. He pulled out some paperwork and thrust it at me. I saw the address was not my address, and the name on the order was not mine. I pointed this out. He got really annoyed then, and the two stormed out back to their van, and carelessly threw the furniture back in. As loudly as possible, they slammed doors and screeched out of my driveway.
Yeah, not going use that furniture company for delivery either.”
A Truly Secret Santa
“I live in South Louisiana with no plans for an out-of-town trip anytime soon. So when I opened the package and saw a pair of snow gloves, I was puzzled.
Overstock.com, huh? So I called them to find out what was what. They told me the order was placed somewhere in Florida, but it was charged to my card and sent to my address. They agreed to refund the costs of the gloves on their return. But they told me I should check my card for other activity.
Almost immediately afterward, I received a notice from my credit card my third $150 purchase from Starbucks was being denied. Third? Oh yeah, in the past two days two purchases of $150 gift cards were made.
A call to Starbucks was interesting. Who made the purchase? They couldn’t say. But it was charged to my card. Yes. But you know who made the purchase. Yes. You just can’t tell me. Yes.
Got all my money back and changed my cards.
The gloves were a test to see if the card worked. It did, and they took advantage.
But wait, that’s not all. I got a pair of sunglasses from Amazon that I didn’t order. I didn’t recognize the name on the label, but it was my address. Then I received a phone case for a phone I didn’t own. Again, not my name but my address.
I found out this was probably a scam to get good reviews of these products. Amazon successfully delivered the products so a verified buyer could give a weighted review. Dumb.
But this one is by far the strangest. We have grown children living out of state. Three of them were planning to come for Christmas, so they asked if packages could be delivered to our home. Of course, that was no problem as long as they were marked as such. I had packages coming as did my wife.
I received a bundle of packages address to me, but I did not order them. I had to open them to see what they were just in case I may have forgotten. I do that sometimes.
There was a set of photo light umbrellas and stands. Cool, I thought. My wife was getting serious about her photography, so one of the kids got her something for her studio. So I put them in my closet with the rest.
The kids finally arrived and fetched all of the shipped gifts to wrap them for under the tree.
Christmas morning, I stumbled upon the photo equipment in my closet. Oops, somebody forgot something. So when all of the presents were distributed and unwrapped, I asked each of the children if they may have forgotten something for their mom. Nope. Nobody.
I then explained the weird shipment and told my wife Merry Christmas from your secret admirer.
The next day I called Amazon, and all they could tell me was it was ordered and shipped correctly. No charge ever appeared on my card, nor was there any record of it in my order history.
It’s still a mystery four years later.”
This Poor Woman
“I received a call one day from an older woman about the tree delivered to her house, a tree she didn’t order. Two men said the tree was shipped to this address and they came inside and set the tree up in her living room. She wanted someone to come and take it back.
I told her we didn’t handle interior botanical, but she insisted on ‘us’ doing something. She gave me her name and address and I looked the order up, but couldn’t find anything that matched. I told her we weren’t the company that delivered the tree.
She begged me to send some men to come get it. To take it away. It was in her house and it terrified her.
I asked her what type of tree it was. She said a large palm or maybe a banana tree. And, it was shaking. I asked what she meant by it ‘shaking,’ and she said the tree trunk was quivering on its own and the branches and fronds were thrashing.
I didn’t know what to say to her. We didn’t deliver the tree or have any connection to it. But her voice was rising in fear and anxiety, so I told I’d send out some men to check the tree.
Then she began screaming. She dropped the phone, hollering as she ran. I could hear several doors slam.
I sent out two workers immediately.
When they came back they were pretty white-faced. I asked where the tree was, as the back of the truck was empty. They said they left the tree there, and took the lady away instead, drove her to a friend’s house. They said someone else needed to be called about this tree.
’Who?’ I asked.
‘An exterminator!’ they replied.
Turns out the quivering and thrashing, the shaking, happened because there was an egg sac, or sacs, in the center of the banana tree and that egg sac(s) came to fruition and hatched, sending out hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny spiders, that burst out of the tree with great force, and spread across the house, except for the bedroom of the woman, who had stuffed clothing under the door. The men pulled her out of her bedroom window to get her to safety.
Whether it was baby tarantulas or baby Phoneutria, or wandering spider, the sheer numbers of them freaked everyone out. At our company, we never knew if the spiders were life-threatening or not. But the fear they inspired was.
The house was exterminated. The old lady moved back in.
But we never found out from where the banana tree came.”
Should Have Turned Off The T.V.
“My sophomore year of college, I came back from a fairly basic college party one night, not extraordinarily late, and fell asleep alone watching TV.
A week or two later I received an irate phone call informing me that there was an absolutely humongous package waiting for me in the mailroom. I was told to remove it immediately. And to probably bring someone to assist me, because it was unlikely I would be able to remove the item alone.
I thought to myself, I am not expecting any mail: this has to be a mistake. Also, how big can a mailroom package possibly be? This sounds like an exaggeration.
Every single thing about that group of thoughts and thought process and reaction turned out to be wrong.
At the mailroom, there was a package waiting that was only about a foot shorter than I am, leaning against a wall. I’m 5’6. It was much too heavy for me to carry.
The monstrosity had my name on it. It took me and two other people and a dolly to get the thing to my room. It was a total mystery. I had made no recent purchases, the return address was vague.
I got it home and opened it. I was very, very interested to see what was in there. The cardboard of the box was thick. It took a knife. It felt more like something you’d construct a building from than ship something in. And the contents? I mean — it clanked when we moved it all up the stairs. It sounded and kind of weighed like metal.
And it was!
It turned out that the strangest thing delivered to me that I didn’t order was actually the strangest thing delivered to me that I didn’t remember ordering.
At some point, I guess I ordered ‘The Gazelle’ by Tony Little from an infomercial that I vaguely remembered watching as I drifted off to sleep. Even though my college had state-of-the-art gym facilities and I had a roommate arriving in a week.
I sold that thing for most of what it was worth to someone local and had to pay the rest off.”
Always Check The Address
“One day, I was sitting inside my house when my dad brought a package to me. I didn’t recall ordering anything, so I was a bit confused. I opened it up and inside was a bike lock. I have a bike, but I never ordered a bike lock. There was no note or anything either and it was addressed to me! I just shrugged it off as a random package.
A couple of days later, I received another package. Once again, I didn’t order anything, so I had no clue what it was. I opened it and inside was a bottle of female performance enhancer pills! I was shocked! I told my parents about it and they were concerned. They thought there was a creep sending me inappropriate packages. My mom called Amazon and we found out what really happened.
A few weeks before the packages got to my house, I was taking voice acting lessons with a voice coach. He had a friend who said he would send me a microphone because I didn’t have one at the time. What he didn’t realize was, that he accidentally put my address for all other packages he had ordered. So, those kinky packages were for him and his wife! Definitely an interesting story which I won’t forget!”
Too Many Things To Count Here
“We live in a small hamlet in the mountains where everyone knows everyone. There have been several times when we’ve come home to find strange things had been left. Once, we found some turkeys in our freezer. The fire department had ordered too many for an auction they had and needed a place to store them. So they let themselves in and put them in our freezer.
Another time we came home to find a video game on our front porch. Our neighbor has a business that distributes pinball machines, video games, vending machines, etc. One of our sons was graduating that year, and he brought it over for us to use for free. There were mornings when we would find people on the front porch playing the game. They were friends and felt comfortable just stopping and playing on their way by.
Then there was the time we found a motorcycle in our garage. Our neighbor worked at a place that repaired cars and motorcycles. He knew that if he kept the motorcycle on the lot, one of his workers would want to buy it, and the worker couldn’t afford it. So he brought it home, parked it in our garage, and it was there until it was sold.
Now we say that we lock our doors, not for what people will take, but for what they will leave. I love living here.”
This Took Some Time
“Fifty years ago, I was in Scientology, but I quit them in the 70s. A few years ago, a bunch of boxes appeared at my front door from FedEx or UPS. They just dropped them off. I didn’t sign for them. There were over a hundred pounds of boxes.
I called the delivery company and told them I hadn’t ordered anything. I was very freaked out. Was I going to be billed tons of money for something I didn’t order?
The next day more came. They all came from an address I recognized in California, a Scientology org. It turned out to be books and CDs
I didn’t want anything to do with Scientology ever again and I certainly didn’t want their books and nonsense, so I made them all be shipped back. At their cost, of course.
They sent me a whole boatload of letters and I don’t know how many phone calls. I was polite at first but that didn’t help at all, so I became as rude as I could imagine because their mindset is never give up no matter what. My wife was shocked that I would use such language over the phone. I wasn’t talking that way because I was angry. I was trying to make it sink in that I wanted them to no longer call me, write me, or ship me stuff I didn’t want.
Of course, it didn’t work. But tossing away anything from them, and never answering their calls ever again worked eventually after a long time.”
Should Have Read The Paper
“Once in my twenties, I lived in a old terrible apartment. I got home late from work one night and I was absolutely smashed. There was a package on my doorstep. I barely remember scooping it up and dropping it on the floor inside. I went to sleep and forgot all about the package.
About three weeks later, I came home and this time it’s not so late and I am not so smashed. There was a folded flyer taped to my door. I assumed it was junk, and pulled it down and tossed it aside when I got inside. I went to sleep.
Another few weeks pass by. I have a day off and am straightening my little apartment when I come across all the flyers and trash I had tossed aside. One of the flyers catches my eye – it wasn’t a commercial flyer, it was a hand-scrawled note that was obviously a copy of the original.
It basically said, ‘Did you get a package meant for me?’
It still didn’t ring any bells. I tossed it in the garbage bag and when I got to the bottom of the pile, there was the package I had brought in weeks earlier. It wasn’t too big, about twelve inches by five by maybe three. I had no idea what it could be because I hadn’t ordered anything. I opened it and there, inside, was a beautiful old weapon in great condition. It was wrapped in light leather. I looked at the box again and it wasn’t addressed to me.
Then the bells went off. I dug the flyer out of the bag and sure enough, it was the missing package. I called the old man and he came and got the weapon.
I told him the story and why it took so long. I apologized. Turns out it was his father’s weapon and his numb nut grandson stole it and when caught mailed it back the cheapest way possible.”
Something Suspicious Was Happening Here
“My roommate had a pair of shoes delivered to her that she didn’t order, from China. There was no shipping info on it. Her account was not accessed, the shoes were not in her size, no one she knows claims to have sent it. Mysterious. Random shoes, no info, just her address, and name.
I think she got a few other things too like a backpack was one thing, then it stopped. Personally I still think maybe illegal activity was attempted by someone, and maybe just didn’t work out quite right. Either that or maybe her info has been saved for future use maybe, something like that.”
Misdeliveries Can Be A Good Thing
“Amazon delivered the package, I can’t remember where in our condo complex. It was addressed to someone who does not live in our complex. A resident brought the package to me because I’m the secretary of the condo board of directors, and keep the record of our residents. I posted notices on our bulletin boards in case the addressee might be a guest of one of our residents and claim it. When no one did, I called Amazon to tell them I would return it to them. To my surprise, they said to just keep it. (At that point, I didn’t yet know it was a book, just that it was from Amazon.)
I opened the package to find a book on the rather esoteric topic of the Crusaders. As a traveler, I had visited Crusader sites in various places in Europe, Israel, and Jordan, but never learned much about them except for the architecture. I began reading the book and became quickly engrossed. No wonder guides never talk about more than architecture! The story was incredibly gruesome but written in a mesmerizing style.
I looked up the author, Jay Rubenstein, online, and found out he was a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He was also an acknowledged world authority on the Crusades. He has given guest lectures on them around the country. It so happened that I had a trip scheduled to Tennessee a few weeks later, including Knoxville. I called the university and asked if I could meet Dr. Rubenstein. They said sure, provided he was in town during my visit.
He was and graciously spent maybe half an hour with me. Knowing that I was from Los Angeles, he mentioned that he would be lecturing at Cal Tech in Pasadena about a week later. My visit to Tennessee was on its tail end. By the time of his visit, I would be home – about 15 minutes from Pasadena. Jay Rubenstein invited me to the lecture. I attended.
I haven’t been to any Crusader sites since then, but if I ever visit any, I will never view them in the same light as if I hadn’t gotten Amazon’s misdelivery. In fact, I can look at pictures of my past visits, and will never view them in the same light as if I hadn’t gotten Amazon’s misdelivery.”