Well, you could keep it, yes. Or you could send it back. The honest thing to do would be to contact them to let them know about it and they can make arrangements to have it shipped back, or they can tell you to keep it (this does happen sometimes). It would be dishonest to keep it without letting them know they sent something extra. After all, if they sent the wrong item, you would want what you ordered, right? To Thom64: Well, it depends on how you view honesty. From Dictionary.com : Honesty: The quality or condition of being honest; integrity. and Integrity..." Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code." I think honesty is more than just "telling the truth". Now, in the strictest sense, the company made the mistake. However, knowing that they made the mistake, and failing to inform them of this, that could be construed as being dishonest. I certainly percieve it as so. If more people were upfront and honest in their dealings with others, there would be more trust. Honesty in all regards inspires more honesty and trust and integrity.

Yes you can The company will soon find out that they sent it to the wrong address after the intended recipient complains. They will then have to send out a replacement. There's nothing wrong in looking after number 1 from time to time

It is my understanding that if a company mails you something that you didn't order, you are allowed to keep it. What is the rule? ... "Possession is 9/10 of the Law. But, of course, even though by law it is allowed, and you do decide to keep it, can you live with that decision? I mean, you have to sleep with yourself at night. Will it always haunt you that you kept something that you knew in your heart didn't belong to you? Something to think about.

Under the FTC's Trade Regulation Rule for Unordered Merchandise, it is CONSIDERED A GIFT to you. I 'm the person who asked the ? and I later researched. The small yet expensive item was ACCIDENTLY thrown away and could not be returned. But one is not responsible if they did not place the order, so says the FTC.

Even though its not yours, its not likely that the company will spend the time and expense to hunt you down only to discover that you conveniently have amnesia and dont recall a package ever comming. And then they would have to prove that you signed for it and they would have to prove that you have it in your posession and that you willingfully stole the item. After all of that, its easier to write it off as a loss or file an insurance claim. Large businesses lose stuff all of the time. And if you are talking about general merchandise its much easier for them to ship another item to the customer than to get you to ship it back to them so they can get it to its rightful customer. Plus they have special investigation teams that seek out lost merchandise that is particularly expensive like jewelery or laptom computers. So if the item was shipped to you, the right thing to do would be to call the comany that shipped it. I could probably live with myself if I kept the item if it came from someone like Microsoft or IBM. But if it was a package that was delivered from some Mom & Pop operation I would be more inclined to send it back.. I might even pay for the shipping to send it back to them.

Before we launch into a debate about ethics, how about a little real world experience. Some companies will send a product with an invoice hoping a busy clerk into paying. My experience was with publishers. Here comes a ten pound set of books we neither ordered nor wish to keep... The law is there to protect you for good reason.

If a company sends you something, such as greeting cards, or a calander, while soliciting money for it, you may keep it, or toss it. You are not responsible for returning it. Tingirl

We have an online store and sometimes customers receive the wrong item (flag, doormat, etc.). 90% of the time, we tell them that they can keep the item and they are delighted. We do this because it creates goodwill, rewards honesty, and we get free advertising because someone else may see the item and want one for themselves.

I would call them and offer to return the item. As a small business owner, it would be a big deal to me to "lose" any goods. This loss will have to made up for...likely by raising prices. In the end, everyone loses. You get something for free that does not belong to you. No matter what the FTC says, I believe it is wrong. Just an opinion; not really an answer.

These are all lame responses. Clearly, the questioner is asking about legality, not morality. Many unethical companies ship items without an order, especially to businesses. Someone at the business assumes that someone else had to have ordered it, so it gets paid for. When I worked at a video store, this happened all the time. My boss got wise, and started keeping the movies that were shipped without having been ordered by him. He didn't pay the bills, because he found out that, legally, this is a gift. Best advice? Contact your local attorney general's office for local laws, and insist upon an explicit, letter-of-the-law answer, not just moral advice.

Legally, you are entitled to keep it, since it is an unsolicited gift. Morally, you should not, if it was sent in error. Some companies take the value of the item or the costs associated with returning it out of the paycheque of the person who made the error. If you believe it to be a scam, return it to the sender or throw it away and report it to the legal department of the company you work for. For example, a common scam for many years involved refilled laser toner cartridges. Someone would contact you by phone, purporting to represent a legitimate company trying to sell you printer supplies. Regardless of what you said on the phone, a few weeks later you would receive a toner cartrdige and a stiff invoice. I have received one of these myself and have had to deal with a couple that worried staff consulted with me over. The bill for the toner cartridge was typically on the order of C$250 to C$300 - for something you could buy for C$60 from a legitimate supplier. The sender would use the excuse that they had contacted you and received verbal approval for the order - half true, but they had the phone records to prove the contact took place. I have heard this scam used for many things, always targeted at businesses and government.offices: laser toner, personalized pens and pencils, etc. Sometimes nothing, just the invoice. My answer was and remains the same: unsolicited items are gifts, since no official PO (purchase order) was issued. Throw the item(s) away or return them to the sender, postage due if possible. In many businesses, POs are not issued for low-cost items and an invoice may simply be paid because it looks like any other invoice. In many businesses, the person paying for the item(s) has nothing to do with its purchase. The fraudulent invoice is simply one in a stack of a hundred for that week or month. Not expensive enough to draw attention to itself, but the scam artists issue enough of them to keep in business. In Canada, Montréal became notorious for boiler-house operations of many stripes, since so many were run out of that city for many years. It only takes a handful of organizers to run a dozen or more scam businesses. An unsolicited invoice with a Montréal return address was always suspicious. And the company? Within a couple of months it would disappear, move to a new location, and operate under a new name.

This from the Postal Inspection Service website: Receipt of Unsolicited Merchandise A company sends you a gift in the mail--a ball point pen, a key chain, a tie. But you didn't order it. What do you do? If you are the type of person this company is looking for, you may feel guilty about accepting the item without paying for it. Don't feel guilty! It's yours, and you are under no obligation to pay anything. You, the consumer, may only legally be sent two types of merchandise through the mail without your consent or agreement: Free samples which are clearly and conspicuously marked as such. Merchandise mailed by a charitable organization that is soliciting contributions. And in these two cases, you can consider the merchandise a gift if you wish. In all other situations, it is illegal to send merchandise to someone, unless that person has previously ordered or requested it. These rules are codified in Title 39, United States Code, Section 3009. That section of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 incorporates these protections for American consumers and makes the mailing of unordered merchandise unfair methods of competition and unfair trade practices under the law. If you do not wish to pay for unsolicited merchandise or make a donation to a charity sending such an item, you may do one of three things (in each case, by law, you have no obligation to the sender): If you have not opened the package, you may mark it "Return to Sender," and the Postal Service will return it with no additional postage charged to you. If you open the package and don't like what you find, you may throw it away. If you open the package and like what you find, you may keep it for free. In this instance, "finders-keepers" applies unconditionally. Furthermore, it is illegal for a company that sends you unordered merchandise to follow the mailing with a bill or dunning communication. If you are aware of violations of the federal law prohibiting the mailing of unordered merchandise, or if you have personally had difficulty with such items--especially if you are sent statements demanding payment for the merchandise--you should contact you local postmaster or the nearest Postal Inspector.