We never stop talking about lost packages. This business is exploding Since the introduction of the Agec law, which came into effect in 2022, banning the destruction of non-food items. Lost package stands appear, so that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between lost packets and scams. So how does this business work? How do I know if these are real lost packets and if so, what is their route? To find out, we picked up the lost packages from the Trône booth in Paris last April.
First step: look at the origin of the packets. At the stand we went to, they are all from Belgium. All were transported by the same carrier, Colis Privé, and passed through the Willebroek warehouse in the Flemish region. Contacted by email, Colis Privé explained to us that they transported these packages for the Chinese company Equick. If these packages cannot find their buyer for any reason, Colis Privé offers Equick to collect them. Which Equick refused here. Unable to destroy them, Colis Prive is then faced with several solutions: destroy them, resell them, or give them away.
The carrier then “chose to give them (…) to Outshow, a company that specializes in package recovery and revaluation.” A wholesaler of lost parcels, in short. These packages are provided “free of charge”, Colis Privé confirms that the anonymization of these packages is Outshow’s responsibility. Two things Outshow co-founder Laurent Depardieu denies.
While the Directorate General for Competition, Consumerism and Fraud (DGCCRF) could not tell us whether the anonymization of these packages is mandatory by law, “this condition is clearly stated in the contracts between the carriers. and wholesalers,” Laurent Depardieu tells us. Dimitri de Bournonville, a lawyer specializing in transport issues, confirms to us that the responsibility lies with the delivery company.
From China… to Yvelines
“The packages we process come from all over Europe,” he explains to us as a truck direct from Poland prepares to deliver two trailers full of lost parcels. It’s no surprise that our packages found at the Trône exhibition come from Belgium. In this Ali Baba cave full of mountains, some Lithuanian labels, some Italian, German… “Let’s imagine that you have ordered a product from a distant country and you are not at home,” continues the entrepreneur, unloading the load. A pallet full of Amazon products. Once it is in Europe, it will be very expensive to send it to the destination country, it is just a matter of price.”
When it comes to anonymizing these packages, some carriers “pencil the names, it’s too long,” continues the Outshow co-founder, who claims he “regularly accepts DGCCRF” and has a “share of responsibility.” “There has never been a trial in seven years.” But in this huge flood of orphan orders, some escape anonymity.
As proof of this, we were able to find two owners of our packages purchased at the Trône fair. Alize and Vanessa live in the suburbs of Antwerp and Brussels respectively. They never had an explanation for the non-delivery of their order. “I was a little suspicious when he contacted me! », Vanessa admits. “I was not very happy to see that a stranger could track my name and address by buying a simple lost package. “It’s a breach of privacy,” he sighs, though he’s not unhappy to finally get his order back. Purchased from the Temu website and after traveling across several continents, his package of wristbands ends up back in Belgium. Even more absurd is the journey that this package will simply be thrown into the trash before 2022.