Massachusetts Law Concerning Merchandise You Didn’t Order

I live in an apartment building with a bunch of other people. Between Amazon, Walmart, Hello Fresh, Chewy, UPS, FedEx, the U.S. Postal Service, Uber Eats, DoorDash and everyone else that delivers stuff to my building, every day of the week looks like Christmas in the lobby.

That's just my apartment building. I can sit in the window any day and see trucks making deliveries in the neighborhood, all day long, and that is just my neighborhood.

There are more than seven million people in Massachusetts. Think of all the neighborhoods. Imagine all of the packages delivered in a day. With all of those deliveries, mistakes will be made.

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What if you receive a package you didn't order? Do you have to pay for it? Are you required to return the item to the sender?

Can you keep it? What if you refuse to pay for it or send it back?

There was a time when unsuspecting recipients of unsolicited materials would feel obligated to pay for them.

Massachusetts law is clear on this.

Mass.gov says, "If you receive merchandise you did not order or request, it's yours to keep, so long as it clearly isn't a delivery error (i.e. it's your neighbor's package)."

According to the Commonwealth's official website, "Although you are not legally obliged, you may wish to notify the sender that you intend to keep the merchandise as a gift to avoid possible problems, such as the sender trying to bill you for the merchandise."

Mass.gov has a "Massachusetts Consumer Guide to Shopping Rights" with helpful information about your rights as a consumer.