# Off Topic...UPS/FEDEX question



## newbie dooby

If you open mail addressed to someone else that was sent via *USPS* it is illegal due to federal law.

But if you open mail addressed to someone else sent by UPS, FEDEX, or DHL....is that illegal to open? Since it is a private company I would assume their mail is not covered under federal law. Once the package is delivered all of the companys responsiblity ends there.....all mail is not the same.

Here is the actual US code:

-CITE-

18 USC Sec. 1702 01/03/05

-EXPCITE-

TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

PART I - CRIMES

CHAPTER 83 - POSTAL SERVICE

-HEAD-

Sec. 1702. Obstruction of correspondence

-STATUTE-

Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.


Correct me if I am wrong!


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## the Dabbler

Oh Oh, have you got yourself in trouble...again ??  
I'm not sure about it with the postal law you cited, but it may come under some civil state theft law or interstate commerce law.


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## razorwyre1

that law does not apply to private carriers.
it is the carriers responsibility to the sender to deliver the package to the correct address as given by the sender. if the carrier delivers it to the wrong address, the recipient (the actual recipient, as opposed to the intended one) is under no legal obligation whatsoever to return it or to see that it gets to its intended destination. at that point that package is considered "lost in transit" and then the machinery to deal with that scenario grinds into motion. (again, that too is a private matter between the sender and the carrier.)
the upshot is that if you receive an item intended for someone else, you are free to open it, examine it, keep it, throw it in the trash, whatever. the responsibility is on the carriers head. 
the exception to this is if the carrier leaves it with you with the understanding that you are merely accepting it for the intended recipient, and that you will see to it that the person to whom it is addressed receives it (leaving the package with the next door neighbor, for example). at that point, the person who accepts the package is responsible for getting it to its addressee, and keeping it would be theft. however, i dont believe they are legally prohibited from opening it (but i could be mistaken about that). i'm sure the recipient wouldnt like it, and consider you to be a nosy twit and potential theif, but i dont think theres any legal trouble there.


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## BrianM

...what are you trying to say? Did you get my model kit shipment by mistake?
"Finder's Keepers" won't hold up in court!


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## farmersamm

razorwyre1 said:


> that law does not apply to private carriers.
> it is the carriers responsibility to the sender to deliver the package to the correct address as given by the sender. if the carrier delivers it to the wrong address, the recipient (the actual recipient, as opposed to the intended one) is under no legal obligation whatsoever to return it or to see that it gets to its intended destination. at that point that package is considered "lost in transit" and then the machinery to deal with that scenario grinds into motion. (again, that too is a private matter between the sender and the carrier.)
> the upshot is that if you receive an item intended for someone else, you are free to open it, examine it, keep it, throw it in the trash, whatever. the responsibility is on the carriers head.
> the exception to this is if the carrier leaves it with you with the understanding that you are merely accepting it for the intended recipient, and that you will see to it that the person to whom it is addressed receives it (leaving the package with the next door neighbor, for example). at that point, the person who accepts the package is responsible for getting it to its addressee, and keeping it would be theft. however, i dont believe they are legally prohibited from opening it (but i could be mistaken about that). i'm sure the recipient wouldnt like it, and consider you to be a nosy twit and potential theif, but i dont think theres any legal trouble there.


That is probably a correct opinion. I would assume that in the absence of state of federal statutes, the matter would fall under the law of Torts. Possibly Conversion if you took possession of the package or its contents with the requisite intent of keeping same. I'm sure a good lawyer could file an action under a Negligence theory also, lacking any intent. You could concievably recover from the carrier and or the recipient of the goods.


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## Lloyd Collins

It is not a point of legal or not, but what is right. If I recieved a package not mine, and they are local, I would contact them. If a long way, I would contact the carrier.See how simple that is.


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## Ohio_Southpaw

Lloyd Collins said:


> It is not a point of legal or not, but what is right. If I recieved a package not mine, and they are local, I would contact them. If a long way, I would contact the carrier.See how simple that is.



To a certain extent. I started receiving mail and packages at my home addressed to someone else. The mail I marked "Not at this address" and sent it back. I contacted UPS twice about packages that were delivered here. The man I spoke to told me the guy who ordered it gave him MY address, so it wasn't like a previous tenant who lived here. I was guessing he was having stuff delivered here and then picking it up before I got home. After that, the next item delivered I kept. I haven't had any deliveries since so I think he figured out he'd been discovered.


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## kit-junkie

Thieving from a thief is one thing. It would serve them right. But if you kept the package, you would be thieving from whoever sent the package, regardless of whether you were the one who ordered the item.


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## razorwyre1

BrianM said:


> ...what are you trying to say? Did you get my model kit shipment by mistake?
> "Finder's Keepers" won't hold up in court!


actually it will hold up in court, because it was the shipping carriers responsibility to get it to you, and their responsibility to replace it if it is mis-delivered. just because "i" (the person who mistakenly receives the package) know it was meant for someone else, "i" am under no legal obligation to return it to the shipper or forward it on to its intended recipient. 

please understand, i am not talking about right or wrong here, just legal.


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## frankenstyrene

I thought anything you mistakenly received - at least package-wise, maybe - via USPS was yours to keep? Have heard that since I was a kid. Did they change that law? Or was it always BS?


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## razorwyre1

razorwyre1 said:


> the upshot is that if you receive an item intended for someone else, you are free to open it, examine it, keep it, throw it in the trash, whatever. the responsibility is on the carriers head.


let me clarify that statement slightly: if you receive a package from ups, fed ex, dhl, or another private carrier that is intended for someone else, you are free to open it, examine it, keep it, throw it in the trash, whatever, as long as you have not accepted it on the pretense of forwarding it on to the addressee. the responsibility to get the package to the addressee begins and ends with the private carrier, no one else. 

to answer dooby's question directly, it is not illegal to open letters or packages addressed to someone else if those packages were delivered by a private carrier.


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## StarshipClass

frankenstyrene said:


> I thought anything you mistakenly received - at least package-wise, maybe - via USPS was yours to keep? Have heard that since I was a kid. Did they change that law? Or was it always BS?


It's true as far as I know. Years ago, I called and asked someone at the post office about an $80.00 video that was sent to my old address and the USPS told me that, even though it was addressed to me at that address, the folks who lived there now who received it were under no obligation to give it to me. 

Luckily for me, I asked them and they gave it to me.


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## LGFugate

It's an old way to use a stolen credit card number. You order something thru the Internet or by phone using the stolen number, keeping the total amount of the order below, say $100. Often, businesses will not check with the card's originator for small amounts like that. You give a false name, and the address of someone nearby that you know is away during the time of delivery. You then watch the porch of that address and pick up your order quietly before the home's owner comes back and discovers the package. We had kids in my area buying lists of numbers that were either true credit card numbers or ATM card numbers with instructions on how to use them about 20 years ago. We (the credit union I work for) found out about it when a member called and told us her kid had suddenly gotten a lot of expensive things and a cop had told her he had been taking packages off a nearby house's porch while the owners were away. Sad, isn't it?

Larry


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## razorwyre1

thats (one of the reasons) why so many companies are now asking for the cvv code


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## the Dabbler

It hasn't been established yet whether Newbie Dooby is the openER or openEE of said package. Curiouser and curiouser.  Perry Mason, call your office!


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## Mark McGovern

I retired from UPS last October 19 after 35 years with the company. They would probably rather pay the claim to the shipper of a misdirected package than pay a driver to go back out and try to collect it. If the mistake had been discovered while the driver was still on his route, or if the package contained some reeeeally expensive item that would make it worth the trip, then management _might _send someone back out. Otherwise, for the unintended recipient, it would indeed be a case of "finders keepers''.

Mark McGee, the Mrs. sure doesn't make it _feel _like I'm retired...


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## spe130

Somewhat off topic - I'm boycotting FedEx.


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