VIDEO. We traced the path of lost parcels (and found their owners)

We never stop talking about lost packages. This trade has increased dramatically since the Agec law, which came into force in 2022 and prohibits the destruction of non-food items. There are so many stands of lost packages that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish lost packages from fraud. So how does this business work? How do I know if these are indeed lost packages, and if so, what is their route? To find out, we bought lost packages from a stand at the Tron fair last April in Paris.

First step: look at the origin of the packages. At the stand we came to, they were all from Belgium. They were all delivered by the same carrier, namely Colis Privé, and passed through a warehouse in Willebroek, located in the Flemish region. When we contacted Colis Privé by email, they explained to us that they were transporting these parcels for the Chinese company Equick. When these packages cannot find their recipient for any reason, Colis Privé offers Equick to pick them up. To which Ekvik refused. Unable to destroy them, Kolis Prive is faced with several decisions: destroy them, resell them, or give them away. The carrier then “decided to transfer them (…) to Outshow, a company specializing in the recovery and revaluation of parcels.” In short, a lost parcel wholesaler. These packages are provided “free of charge,” confirms Colis Privé, adding that Outshow is responsible for anonymizing these packages. Two things that Laurent Depardieu, co-founder of Outshow, denies.

If the Directorate General of Competition, Consumption and Fraud (DGCCRF) could not provide us with information on whether the anonymization of these parcels is legally mandatory, “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 that the responsibility lies with the carrier company.

From China… to Yvelines

“The parcels 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 parcels. It’s no surprise that our packages found at Tron Fair originate from Belgium. In this Ali Baba cave, filled with mountains of packages, some have Lithuanian labels, others Italian, German… “Let’s imagine that you ordered goods from a distant country and you are not at home,” continues the entrepreneur, unloading a pallet full of Amazon products . Once in Europe, it will be too expensive to send it back to the country of origin, it is simply a matter of cost.”

As for anonymizing these packages, some telecom operators “cross out names with a pen, it’s very long,” continues the Outshow co-founder, who claims to bear “share of responsibility, although he “regularly receives DGCCRF” and “has never had a court case for seven years”. But in this gigantic flood of orphan orders, some are eschewing anonymity.

As proof, we managed 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 not fulfilling the order. “I was a little suspicious when you contacted me! “Vanessa admits. “I was not very happy to see that a stranger could find out my name and address by purchasing a simple lost package. “It’s a breach of confidentiality,” she sighs, although she’s not upset that she finally got her order back. Purchased on the Temu website and after traveling across several continents, his parcel with bracelets on his hands again ends up in Belgium. The journey is all the more absurd because by 2022 this package would simply end up in the trash.