10 Cases of Mistaken Mail Deliveries

Everyone loves getting packages in the mail—assuming it’s what they ordered. But occasionally, delivery services make mistakes, and depending on what gets misdelivered, the results can run from mildly amusing to straight up catastrophic.

1. The package that got everyone buzzing

Just last month, a woman on the northeast side of Washington D.C accidentally received a crate of 1000 bees that were supposed to go to someone with the same address—but on the southeast side of town. Ray Noll, director of Animal Control Field Services for the Washington Humane Society, told Washington City Paper that the resident who received the bees—which were contained in a wood-and-wire box within a plastic bin—"was freaked out" (understandably). When Noll, who noted that Animal Control doesn't normally handle buzzing insects, tried to calm the woman, she said, "You're not the one with the bees on your porch!" The bees were eventually delivered to the right person.

2. A Wrong Address Leads to a Drug Bust

It’s not every day that a box of unordered narcotics ends up on your doorstep. But in 2014, due to an incorrectly labeled package, FedEx delivered a box of cocaine, heroin, and meth to the neighbor of the intended recipient in Houston, Texas, who then alerted the local police. Sheriffs were sent to the correct address and, upon raiding the house, found what KHOU referred to as "a hodgepodge of cocaine, heroin, LSD, steroids, assorted prescription drugs and a whole bunch of guns," including an AR-15 with a military-grade night scope. Three suspects were taken into custody after the incident.

3. Pot and Dentistry Don't Mix

In 2011, a Richard Lyons, a New York City dentist, received an unexpected box of marijuana from the UPS. Even though it wasn’t addressed to him, he opened it. “Then I see it—just a little piece of green—and I knew what it was; I immediately called the police,” Lyons told CBS New York. “It was stinking up the entire office. It was reeking so bad that the police officers had to use masks.” The NYPD investigated the identity of the addressee, but found no one with that name. “That’s not normal that it was delivered here,” Lyons said. “Forget that it’s not normal it was delivered here—it’s not normal that it can go through UPS ... I would like to get to the bottom of this to know just what the hell is going on.”

4. Banana Republic Slips Up

In 2013, a couple from Boston accidentally received a box of employment papers from Banana Republic instead of the tie and pocket square they ordered. The papers—meant for the company’s headquarters located nearby—contained employees’ Social Security numbers, birth dates, and other confidential information. Emily Dreyfuss, the recipient of the box, contacted the company on Twitter, and told ABC News that they were "really gracious about it and they seem mortified that it happened." Edie Kissko, a spokesperson for Gap Inc., which owns Banana Republic, said that the package "was accidentally mislabeled and information intended for headquarters was mailed to a customer instead ... Regrettably, human mistakes happen and this was one of them. We're taking immediate action to evaluate and strengthen our processes to prevent mis-mailings in the future and apologize for the error."

5. A Supermarket Gets the Wrong South American Product

Instead of getting in a shipment of bananas, a Danish supermarket received 100 kilograms of cocaine from a Colombian drug gang in 2013. According to an article in the Daily Mail, “The powder was discovered in Aarhus, western Denmark, when workers noticed that some of the boxes were heavier than others.” The shipment of cocaine had a street value of more than $15 million.

6. Cars don’t run on jet fuel

In 2012, customers of a Monmouth County, N.J. Delta gas station had their tanks filled with jet fuel instead of gasoline due to a mistaken delivery. Instead of zooming away, the cars stalled. The mistake was attributed to the storage facility in charge of delivering the gas. The gas station and all others that could have been affected were immediately shut down for cleaning. One woman blamed the gas station's name: "It was probably because it was called Delta and they thought it was Delta Airlines, right?"

7. The Home Depot Receives The Wrong Kind of Pump. 

Heart valves—while useful—aren’t the go-to tools for kitchen remodeling. Unfortunately, a Home Depot in New York City received a box full of them back in 2010. The heart valves were supposed to go to a hospital in Chicago, but somehow ended up on the Upper East Side. "I think it's crazy," employee Bryan Beltrez told ABC7. "They should look at their packages before they deliver them."

8. The Air Force Makes an Intercontinental Mistake

In 2006, the U.S. Air Force accidentally sent four intercontinental ballistic missile electrical fuses to Taiwan—which had actually ordered helicopter batteries. The Department of Defense revealed the incident in 2008 after then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered an investigation. Though the the fuses had already been recovered, China's foreign minister Qin Gang expressed "strong displeasure," saying, "We ... demand the U.S. side thoroughly investigate this matter, and report to China in a timely matter the details of the situation and eliminate the negative effects and disastrous consequences created by this incident." He also demanded that all weapon sales between the U.S. and Taiwan cease.

9. A Bar Owner Invents a New Dish Out of What She Gets

The Buffalo Chicken Wing has multiple origin stories, but one of them involves a mistaken delivery and a bit of cooking ingenuity. In 1964, Teressa Bellissimo, who along with her husband Frank co-founded the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y., ordered chicken necks to use in her spaghetti sauce. When chicken wings arrived instead, she made do and invented the popular bar food. 

10. The Obamas Wish the wrong people Merry Christmas

Last year, when Alane Eklund Church received a long-delayed Christmas package from her brother-in-law, she found a surprise at the bottom of the box: a photo album from the Obamas. Church posted a picture on Facebook with the caption, "Ok this is crazy!!!! We finally received Tom's brothers Christmas box from NY.... It [came] damaged and with an extra gift!!! All the packages were opened and tossed in a toilet paper box!!!! We got the Presidents Gift!!!!!!!! What to do.......? Wow!!!!" The album, a yearly tradition from the Obamas, was meant for Eleanor “Mama Kaye” Wilson, their family friend and Sasha and Malia’s godmother. When the post office had to repackage her in-law’s damaged goods, they accidentally bundled the two gifts and sent them off together; Church tracked Wilson down and made sure that she received the album.