Free stuff! Worth every penny!

I live in a small condo/apartment building. Because it's a small building, and because I've lived here forever (30+ years), I know all the other residents. Except - sometimes - I don't know all of the young women who live in Unit 4. For many years, this apartment has been rented out to a succession of twenty-somethings who come - job in Boston! - and go - job somewhere else! move in with BF! go to grad school! Sometimes I just can't keep up with all the moves.

Anyway, about a month ago, an Amazon package showed up for a Julie C.

Then another one.

I assumed that one of the "girls" (which is how I think of the young women in Unit 4) was moving on and Julie C. was moving in.

But no one picked the packages up, which surely someone in Unit 4 would have done if Julie C. was moving in.

So I texted Phoebe in Unit 4 and asked her whether there was a Julie C. moving in.

Nope! There were new "girls" coming - Phoebe and Erin are going - but neither of the newbies is Julie C.

Hmmmm.

Sometimes we get errant packages.

Sometimes the fix is simple. Walk it a couple of houses up or down the street and leave the package on the stoop.

Other times, there's a degree of difficulty involved.

A couple of years ago, there was a FedExed package being delivered to someone who didn't live here. Twice I returned it to FedEx, explaining that this was the wrong address. Twice the package landed back on the little mahogany table in our vestibule.

So I opened the package up and found the correct address on the inside. With this bit of info in mitt, I was able to get FedEx to deliver it to the right place. I'm sure the gentleman was delighted to get his several hundred dollars worth of essential oils.

Another time it was school uniforms for someone who lived at the same street and number as I do, but in another section of the city. That redirect was easy.

Then there was the expensive Patagonia windbreaker that I couldn't get Patagonia to reroute to the right person. I can't remember what, exactly, they wanted me to do with it, but the options I gave them were send me a new (correct) label OR I would donate the windbreaker. They told me to go ahead and donate it. Someone at St. Francis House got a nice new windbreaker.

For three Christmases after he decamped, a former tenant got a gift box of fancy cookies delivered to our building. I had no idea where John O. had moved to. Somewhere in DC, maybe. Anyway, the first two times I sent the cookies back to wherever they came from, explaining that John O. was no longer here. The third time, I kept them. Yum.

Back to the present, and the mysterious case of Julie C.

A few more packages drifted in.

I tried to look Julie C. up, but couldn't find anyone by that name in Boston.

I opened one of the packages to see if there was some further identifying info on the enclosed receipt.

No receipt.

Hmmmm.

I opened package two. Same. And three.

What was also the same was that the packages seemed to contain random junk. 

By now I was detecting a pattern.

A quick trip to the google and I found that these were likely unsolicited merchandise sent out by Amazon vendors that wanted to increase their sales by posting fake positive reviews by a "verified" customer. Which Julie C. would now be. This scam is called "brushing."

There was information on how to report shipments sent to wrong person/wrong place, but when I tried to file a report, I kept getting into an endless loop, leading me back to a page where I couldn't do anything.

If the packages had been addressed to me, I would have persisted. But they were coming to the mythical Julie C.

And, as it turned out, I was entitled to keep them.

Lucky me!

I am now the owner of five pairs of cat-eye fully false eyelashes, which retail for about ten bucks.

Then there's the engagement ring, with the marquis cubic zirconium "diamond." $16.99. Size 9. I'm no petite young thing, and that ring slid off my ring finger. 

I can celebrate my engagement with a fine selection of regular and mylar balloons. The package includes 13 mylar "inspire a smile balloons", including a champagne bottle balloon (Chateau Celebration - for vintage good times) and a champagne glass balloon. 

There was also an assortment of regular balloons - royal, aqua, cream with light blue polka dots, and silver.

The instructions were somewhat cryptic. Something about using tools to attach the balloon to the wall. And a suggestion that I "please retain packaging for further reference."

The most expensive item was what I assume is a likely fake Swarovski Christmas ornament. A tiny little red and clear glass Holiday Cheers Santa that would retain for $65 at Macy's. Not that I know what real Swarovski packaging looks like, but the packaging looked real-ish. For fake packaging, the web informed me that the color might be a bit off from the real thing. I couldn't tell. The ornament itself could be real, or a deep fake.

Not something I ever would have bought for myself, but it's going on this year's tree.

One of the items wasn't from Amazon, but came via USPS from an address in Cincinnati. Some folks who got this item received a clothespin. Others got an empty envelope. Some got a piece of paper with something that sounded like a fortune cookie message printed on it. I got a blue paper surgical mask. 

I'm kind of hoping that Julie C. gets a few more things before the stream dries up. Sure it's all junk. But it's free stuff. Worth every penny!