An Amazon delivery person left dozens of packages in the woods of a Massachusetts town because she was stressed.
A police sergeant in the city of Lakeville, about 42 miles (68 kilometers) south of Boston, found the boxes near 63 Bedford Street during a routine patrol around 2 a.m. Sunday.
When he investigated further, he discovered “three large bins full of Amazon packages scattered several feet into the woods,” according to a statement from Lakeland police.
The sergeant’s body camera recorded him lifting the bins from the wooded area. Later, the bins – containing approximately 80 undelivered Amazon packages – were returned to the police station.
‘I thought, “What is that? Is that garbage?” Then I thought, “That’s not trash, that’s Amazon,” the sergeant said as he and another officer dragged the packages into the back of their vehicle.
Police received no reports of the packages being lost or stolen, so they contacted a nearby Amazon distribution center in Middleborough and returned them.
The Amazon driver came forward Monday and visited Lakeville police to confess that she left the packages on the side of the road because she was “stressed out.”
According to police, she dropped off the packages there on Saturday around 7 p.m.
Pictured: Lakeland Police Sergeant first sees abandoned Amazon packages in the woods
Another officer later came to help the sergeant drag the packages into the back of their vehicle
The driver told police she planned to report the incident to her manager. Police have not released the name of the driver.
“I am proud of the way our Lakeville police officers handled and investigated this case. At this time we are not pursuing criminal charges and are treating this as a personnel matter for Amazon,” said Lakeland Police Chief Matthew Perkins.
Perkins added that “Sgt. Robert probably saved many locals a Christmas headache by spotting these bins and returning them to Amazon, hopefully in time for a holiday delivery.”
Amazon told NBC News that ‘all customer orders have been reprocessed and redelivered, or are in the process of being redelivered. Customers can see updates about expected delivery times in their account.’
Blake Brangan was among the residents affected by the missing packages, although he has since received them.
“It’s frustrating, but there are a lot of other things in life you can be more frustrated about,” Brangan said. “It’s really crazy to throw them into the woods like that, but luckily the officer found them.”
“These are stressful times during the holidays, but I really feel sorry for whoever it was,” he added.
In the photo: all 80 packages are at the police station after being collected by officers. They were later delivered to a nearby Amazon distribution center
Blake Brangan, a local resident, noticed his package was missing. He got it delivered later
There are a number of things customers can do if they are having problems with Amazon orders.
Amazon says that if an order is marked as delivered but the package has not yet arrived, a customer should look for a delivery attempt notification.
If that fails, the customer must check with the neighbors whether the item was delivered to the wrong address.
If all else fails, Amazon recommends waiting 48 hours before contacting the carrier and then the seller.
If the status of the package is marked as undeliverable or missing, Amazon will refund the package or ask you to contact the third-party seller directly.