Or am I being a parcel stealing, curtain twitching busybody?

[TwilightSkylightsAndA40WattBulb]

Name change.

A video has been posted on a local facebook group that looks like I have stolen parcels. The person who posted it said "what is the world coming to when the local druggy nicks your child's bedtime story books". I'm scared this will get back to my employer. I work for the civil service so if they dont get the full story, I will be sacked. I will tell my boss when she gets in. She wont find it funny and I'm humiliated. I dont take drugs but I did stumble in the video and I have a cold so was wiping my nose a lot which looks bad.

My husband thinks I was niave and shouldnt have got involved. I have the parcels but will I be liable for them if I put them back where I found them because they will get nicked? I dont really want to speak with the person as they are obviously looking for trouble.

I've already commented on the video and have asked admin the take it down.

Our Evri and Amazon driver has started leaving parcels on our doorsteps which are directly on the street. Obviously they arent there when we get home.

I walked past a neighbour's house yesterday. It is a few houses down but I dont know them. They had parcels leaning against their house (directly on the street/pavement). I thought I was being nice. I wish someone had taken in the ebay parcel I had stolen the other day because the item in that was irreplaceable. So I thoight I was being a good neighbour.

The video shows me look at the parcels as I walk past, then come back a few minutes later, pick them up and walk off with them. What actually happened was that I walk past, come back with a note, post it through the door and then walk away with the parcels. I didnt realise there was a camera or I would have made a big drama of posting the note. You can see the door on the video but because of how Im standing you can see Im doing sonething but not that I posted a letter through. The note was an A4 sheet of pink lined paper ripped from a book and folded in half so they would have seen it.

The note said that their parcels were left on the doorstep so Ive taken them in, my house number and that someone will be in for the rest of the day and today.

I dont know what to do with the parcels. I dont want to speak with this person but if I put them back they'll get stolen.

I'm humiliated. I wont do it again.

My husbabd thinks I was interfearing in sonething that didnt concern me and basically asked for trouble. I thought I was just being nice and doing what I wish other people did.

YABU - you should have left the parcels alone
YANBU - you were trying to be neighbourly

It's a plot element of Tess Of The D'Urbervilles.

@BauhausOfEliott Thank you! I'll check it out.

You pop round - don't mentioned the FB video.
"Oh hi, I'm Sandra from number 6. I took your parcels the other day as my Ebay one got nicked... I did pop a note through... anyway here's your parcel buy"

“I won’t be doing you any more favours, come and get your parcels”
Seriously? It’s not a favour if it wasn’t asked for. How about instead of making more work for the poor person, OP just returns the parcel to where she took them from?

As someone not from the UK, the many posts about neighbours taking in parcels baffles me - it’s not the done thing where I’m from. Friends/family have asked me to collect their parcels and they’ve done the same for me - it would actually annoy me greatly if someone with no business being on my property decided to take the initiative and hijack my parcels, potentially ruining arrangements I’d made with others.

Did you not read the first post or even just the bit where OP said they left a note?

No good deed goes unpunished.

I would first go and knock on their door and explain in it's entirety. With the parcels. Don't sneak and put them back, that implies guilt.

Absolutely a non-story for the Civil Service - and I say that as a Civil Servant. No one is going to care.

It's not the end of the world.

Post on the page, explaining what happened - and don't offer an apologies, that makes you look guilty - and tell them they can collect the parcels from your house anytime between X and Y.

It might not be a social norm where you come from, but until the last few years it was in the UK.

Even if you were annoyed at having to walk three doors down the street to collect your parcel, that doesn’t justify posting a video on social media of the OP and accusing her of being a druggy and a thief.

Good deeds can certainly misfire. Evri left two parcels outside my gate - not even by my door. They were for two different addresses the other side of the estate, I am mobility impaired and unable to take them or let the recipients know I had their parcels. A relative arrived 2 days later and kindly offered to drop them off on his way home. At the first address there was no reply although there was a car on the drive. He left the parcel on the step because there was no other choice. The second parcel was for a woman who moaned that he had taken 3 days to bring it around. Relative explained that it was misdelivered to his disabled aunt but she still whinged about the delay. Relative told her next time anything like this happens I will advise my aunt to bin the misdelivered packages.

Put a message on the video to say you took them in, in good faith and put a not through the door. Take them back wave to the camera and never do it again. Anyone who knows you will know you meant well.

Poor old Tess!

I’m sorry, I know this is a serious matter for you OP but I’m laughing my head off at the thought of you falling over TWICE doing this.

This

You did a good and neighbourly thing. People seem to be removed from community these days.
Go and buy yourself a new coat that makes you feel utterly gorgeous. It is October, and you will get months of wear from it if you get it now. Charity shops are fabulous for this, as you said.

Why would you ever take someone's packages off their porch when you don't even know them or had made prior arrangements? WTF.

Return them and apologize and don't take people's packages again.

Don't tell your boss.

Until a few years ago, it was routine for UK deliveries to be made to a neighbour if the recipient was out (unless the company retained them for redelivery or return). They would post a note through saying which number. Then ‘safe place’ was introduced, again with a note and often only with prior arrangement. Things have deteriorated. First it was no notes. Then it was 'safe place’ without permission. Now deliveries are left out in the open in all weathers, sometimes at the wrong address or without a note. Not all are trackable, and some tracking systems don’t work anyway. Now, even packages that would fit through the letterbox are dumped outside in the rain.

Yanbu you did it with good intentions. I'd comment on FB post "Hi I'm the person who took the parcel off your doorstep as they was left there by delivery driver and I didn't want them to be stolen or damaged so thought I'd be a good neighbour and keep them safe for you to collect as per the note I put through your letterbox. I won't be doing that for you in the future. I'll be putting your parcel in your recycling bin at my earliest convenience and taking a timestamped photograph as proof and posting that photograph here"

Hey OP, you sound like a kind neighbour. Sorry this has happened to you. You never know, your note may have been eaten by a dog which is why they didn’t see it. I hope they collect or you manage to deliver the parcels soon so you can stop worrying about this.

As others have said, there is no need to Involve your boss.

I think this is a lesson learned for the future. I would only bother doing this for my direct neighbours or people I’ve actually met and introduced myself to.

Maybe if there is someone elderly or vulnerable close by you can help but from the majority of the replies on here, it seems it is best to not bother next time.

If anyone wanted you to take their stuff they would have asked, your husband shouldn't have gone round knocking their door and posting another note. Why did he think that was a good idea?

These strangers simply made a purchase online and now are getting multiple notes and door knockings when there's no need.

Just give their property back.

You would tell someone of your intent to remove their property and film yourself putting it in a bin?
Doesn't seem like the best idea.

Me and my direct neighbour do this for each other if we spot a parcel outside, many times I’ve had notification that a parcels been left but it’s not by the door and I know they’ve grabbed it to keep safe.
I wouldn’t do it for other neighbours unless specifically asked to.

People order stuff then toddle off to work and expect it to arrive by magic. Most of my parcels are tracked and I keep a carefu; watch over them on the day designated to be delivered. Its called taking personal responsibility for what you order. I do have a designated safe place and on the very few occasions I have to be out the parcels are left there. There are also drop off points at local shops where parcels can be safely deposited and then collected by working recipients.

I imagine they haven't seen the note, it's probably all happened today and they are still out? I can't see why else they would post it. They've probably just seen the event on their phone and posted the video online.

Have we time travelled back to 2020?

Covid doesn't survive well on surfaces, especially when outside. Here's a grip 🫱🏼 for your hyperbole.