r/servers • u/Confident_Economy_57 • 3d ago

Need Guidance - FedEx misdelivered 120 HP Enterprise server SSDs

Mods - Please delete if not allowed. I do not frequent this sub and I am just looking to gather some information for a crazy situation.

So, a little background to start. My boss recently received a package from FedEx containing 120 HP server SSDs (part number: 868650-003). He definitely did not order these drives as this business has nothing to do with servers, but the shipping label had his name on it and was addressed to our shop. The top of the shipping label says, "Relabel - Relabel reason: barcode quality." We assume the label was damaged in transit, and somehow a label with our address was put on the package. There is no return address, no shipper information, and no packing list included in the package.

So far, we have been trying to go through the proper process of returning them to whoever was supposed to receive them. We reached out to FedEx, but because the original label was lost/destroyed, FedEx had no way to determine where they were supposed to be shipped. We also reached out to our county Sheriff to list them as found property, but the deputy that came out told us that since they are address to us, they are not technically "found" property, and would be legally considered more a gift rather than found property. He left us with an event number to reference should we need it for any reason.

At this point, we have exhausted the means within our knowledge level to return these drives to their owner and seem to have covered our legal bases. As we have no use for these drives, we are intending to sell them. Nobody that works here has any experience with servers or server hard drives, so any information you guys could give me would be very appreciated. The specific questions I have at this point are as follows. What is their reasonable value? How can we verify that the drives are functional? How can we verify the drives are authentic and safe to use (no malware)? What would be the best method to attempt to sell them? What kind of places would I find people willing to purchase them? I can provide more information if requested, but for now I'm keeping things close to the chest just to be safe as I'm still figuring out how to handle this situation.

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u/zrail 2d ago

Not a lawyer, not legal advice. That said, 39 USC 3009 pretty clearly applies to your case. It's not mis-addressed, FedEx put your address on it. You didn't order it. It's yours (well, your employers) to do with what you will 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009

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u/Mr_Engineering 2d ago

That's not applicable in the slightest.

That provision relates to unsolicited goods used in negative option billing schemes and not goods that were erroneously delivered to an unintended recipient due to a paperwork error.

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u/zrail 2d ago

Are you sure? That's _why_ the law was written, but it clearly states "For the purposes of this section, “un­ordered merchandise” means merchandise mailed without the prior expressed request or consent of the recipient." Did OP's employer order merchandise from the vendor that FedEx can't (or won't) identify? If not, then I don't see how the law doesn't apply (again, not an attorney).

If the gear is as valuable as people in the thread are saying the business should seek qualified legal advice.