An Amazon delivery driver abandoned dozens of packages in the woods of a Massachusetts town because she was stressed.
A police sergeant for the town of Lakeville, which is about 42 miles south of Boston, found the boxes near 63 Bedford Street during a routine patrol around 2am on Sunday.
When he investigated further, he discovered ‘three large totes full of Amazon packages that were spread out several feet into the woods,’ according to a release by the Lakeland Police Department.
The sergeant’s body cam captured him lifting the totes out from the wooded area. Later, the totes – containing roughly 80 undelivered Amazon packages – were brought back to the police station.
‘I was like, “what is that? Is that trash?” Then I was like, “that’s not trash, that’s Amazon,”‘ the sergeant said as he and another officer lugged the packages into the back of their vehicle.
Police received no reports that the packages were misplaced or stolen, so they contacted a nearby Amazon distribution center in Middleborough and returned them.
The Amazon driver came forward on Monday and visited the Lakeville Police Department to confess that she had left the packages on the side of the road because she was ‘stressed.’
She dropped the packages there on Saturday at around 7pm, according to police.
Pictured: The Lakeland Police sergeant first sees the abandoned Amazon packages in the woods
Another officer later came to help the sergeant lug the packages into the back of their vehicle
The driver told police she was planning to report the incident to her manager. Police did not disclose the name of the driver.
‘I am proud of the way our Lakeville Police officers handled and investigated this matter. At this time, we are not seeking criminal charges and are considering this a human resources matter for Amazon,’ Lakeland Police Chief Matthew Perkins said.
Perkins added that ‘Sgt. Robert likely saved a Christmas headache for many local residents by noticing these totes and getting them back to Amazon, hopefully in time for a holiday delivery.’
Amazon told NBC News that ‘all customer orders were reprocessed and redelivered, or are currently in the process of being redelivered. Customers can check their accounts to see updates around expected delivery times.’
Blake Brangan was one of the residents affected by the missing packages, though he has since received it.
‘It’s frustrating, but there’s a lot more things in life to be more frustrated about,’ Brangan said. ‘It’s really crazy just to toss them out in the woods like that but thankfully, that officer found them.’
‘It’s stressful times during the holidays, but I really feel bad for whoever it was,’ he added.
Pictured: All 80 packages sitting in 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 later got it delivered
There are a number of things customers can do if they have issues with Amazon orders.
Amazon says that if an order is marked as delivered but the package hasn’t arrived, a customer should look for a notice of a delivery attempt.
If that doesn’t work, the customer should check with neighbors to see if the item was delivered to the wrong address.
If all that fails, Amazon recommends waiting 48 hours before contacting the carrier and then the seller.
If the package status is marked undeliverable or missing, Amazon will either refund the package or direct you to contact the third party seller directly.