We never stop talking about lost packages. This trade has exploded since the implementation of the Agec law, which came into force in 2022 and which prohibits the destruction of non-food goods. Lost package stands are popping up, so much so that it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between lost packages and scams. So how does this business work? How do I know if these are real lost packages and, if they are, what is their route? To find out, we bought lost packages from a stand at the Trône fair last April in Paris.
First step: look at the origin of the packages. On the stand we went to, they all come from Belgium. All were transported by the same carrier, namely Colis Privé, and passed through the Willebroek warehouse, located in the Flemish region. Contacted by email, Colis Privé explained to us that they transported these packages for a Chinese company, Equick. When these packages cannot find their recipient for whatever reason, Colis Privé then offers to Equick to collect them. Which Equick refused here. Unable to destroy them, Colis Privé 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 specializing in the recovery and revaluation of packages”. A wholesaler of lost packages, in short. These packages are given “free of charge”, affirms Colis Privé, which adds that the anonymization of these packages is the responsibility of Outshow. Two things that Laurent Depardieu, co-founder of Outshow, refutes.
If the General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Repression (DGCCRF) was not able to provide us with information on whether or not it is mandatory to anonymize these packages with regard to the law, “this condition is clearly indicated in the contracts between carriers and wholesalers,” Laurent Depardieu tells us. Dimitri de Bournonville, lawyer specializing in transport issues, confirms that the responsibility lies here, with the delivery company.
From China… to Yvelines
“The packages we process come from all over Europe,” he explains to us, as a truck coming straight from Poland prepares to deliver two trailers full of lost packages. No surprise then that our packages found at the Trône fair come from Belgium. In this Ali Baba’s cave filled with mountains of packages, some display Lithuanian labels, others 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 a pallet full of Amazon products. Once in Europe, it would cost too much to send it back to the country of departure, it’s simply a question of cost.”
As for the anonymization of these packages, some carriers “cross out the names in pen, it’s super long,” continues the co-founder of Outshow, who claims to have a “share of responsibility, although he “regularly receives the DGCCRF” and “never had a trial in seven years”. But in this gargantuan flood of orphan orders, some escape anonymization.
As proof, we were able to find two owners of our packages purchased at the Trône fair. Alize and Vanessa, living respectively in the suburbs of Antwerp and Brussels. They never had an explanation for the non-delivery of their order. “I was a little suspicious when you contacted me! », admits Vanessa. “I was not very happy to see that a stranger could trace my name and address by purchasing a simple lost package. “It’s a violation of privacy,” she sighs, although she’s not unhappy to finally have her order back. Purchased on the Temu website and after having traveled several continents, his package, which contains arm bracelets, ends up once again in Belgium. A journey all the more absurd as this package would, before 2022, have simply ended up in the trash.
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