Date: June 30th, 2026 4:04 PM Author: Metaphysics is Gay
I placed an order for $250 worth of Gear from REI. It was delivered to the wrong address -- a block over. I went there, and the package was gone. I knocked, and no answer. I informed REI the package was misdelivered (it was), and I assumed stolen. They re-sent the order, overnight, at no charge.
Today I was walking around and the neighbor was outside. I asked if they had the package. They did, and they gave it to me. They apparently thought they'd hang on to it for safe keeping, and then give it to me when they got around to it.
Well, I'm about to get $250 worth of extra stuff from REI. I am reproducing their exact email below which, at no time, instructs me I must return the duplicate.
Can I keep it?
>> I’m sorry to hear your order hasn’t arrived! That’s definitely not the experience we strive for.
>>
>> I just went ahead and created a replacement order for you, XXXXXXXXXX. It should arrive by July 2nd. You’ll be able to monitor the status of your order by entering the order number here.
>>
>> Once it ships, we'll send you an email with your new tracking number.
>>
>> I’ll also have UPS email you a Return Shipping Label, just in case you end up receiving the original order. The email will contain step-by-step instructions to complete the return, if you need it.
>>
>> You should be all set here, but please let me know if you run into snags or if there’s anything else I can help with!
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:17 PM Author: Mischievous effete alpha station
if the merchant is goy (which REI is, ofs), the obv CR is to return the duplicate merchandise using the original receipt. that way, you get the items for free. you have no affirmative duty to disclose further developments since they offered to replace the items.
for hypo purposes, if the merchant is jewish, you'd have a duty to notify the merchant and ask them how they want to proceed -- and if they want the items back, they'd have to ship them back at their expense.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:20 PM Author: Mischievous effete alpha station
also note their email does DIRECT you to return the original items if you receive them. it uses discretionary language like "if you need it." if they said something more firm like our sending you replacement items is on condition of your continuing duty to return the items to us, then it would be a different case.
"if you need it" almost implies that you can make a judgment call whether to keep the items or return them if you don't want them.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:54 PM Author: Mischievous effete alpha station
how are the members doing this? "discounts" in the form of rebates are no different than any other retailer having rebates, reward programs, airline miles programs, costco 2% cash back for exec club members
Date: June 30th, 2026 7:30 PM Author: Aromatic Lodge Foreskin
They sell trendy shit like vuori which presumably is not profitable to sell constantly with a 10 percent discount. I guess they use it as a “loss leader” except they seem like they also lose money on the real camping shit
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:37 PM Author: nudist sandwich church building
idk about the Talmud but here's how I'd interpret it autistically.
in practice, they're a large corporation so who cares? keep the shit, sell it, whatever.
in theory, in the sentence "I’ll also have UPS email you a Return Shipping Label, just in case you end up receiving the original order," the words "just in case" stand for "in preparation for the case where." to me, that isn't ambiguous. they're sending the label to be used in the case where you receive the original items, necessarily imo.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:41 PM Author: nudist sandwich church building
definitely not, but in my reading, they're logically implying (not just "implying" in a general sense) that that's what you're supposed to do.
but who cares? even if they specifically said to send it back, I wouldn't. in an extremely salient possible world, your neighbor really did steal it. it's fine. the delivery got fucked up and they had to send a new one.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:42 PM Author: Metaphysics is Gay
slow down chief, you're gonna have to explain what you mean by "logically implying." I'm just a simple consumer that ordered a blow up mattress for sleeping on the ground in the forest.
Date: June 30th, 2026 5:43 PM Author: irradiated theatre pisswyrm
Emailing with customer service doesn't create joinder. It's an informal conversation, and OP can make a judgment about the intent of the REI rep with far greater latitude than interpreting a statute or contract. In fact the customer service interaction often has motives other than simply resolving the dispute according to a strict legal interpretation, e.g., OP might chat up the rep about how much they love REI and how they always have great experiences with their reps, with the goal of buttering up the rep to give them what they want. The rep might talk about random polite BS so OP will give them a good score in the follow-up review. Plus REI has cultivated a certain "chill" aesthetic wrt returns and stuff, which comes into play as well.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:47 PM Author: nudist sandwich church building
I think my reformulation requires fewer leaps in logic than that.
if you take the sentence exactly as written, they're saying that they're going to send the email if MiG receives the original order. but they're sending the email either way, so clearly that's not what they meant.
so what did "just in case" actually mean there? to me, it means "to be used in the case that." how would you re-word the original sentence? "to be used in the case that the original order arrives and you feel like it"? that's adding something extra imo.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:48 PM Author: Metaphysics is Gay
they never said "use". they are simply providing it to me so that, in the case i find the original items, i have the original items and the return label.
what i do with those 2 things is left ambiguous by saying they are giving them to me "if i need [them]."
What creates the need is not specified, which is the whole crux of the matter.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:55 PM Author: nudist sandwich church building
yeah "use" was extra, I'll go back to the first thing I said, "in preparation for the case where." I still think that setting it up that way defaults to the interpretation that it is to be used in that case. it would be fine if they added "if you feel like sending it back" to the sentence but that would be adding something, not the default interpretation of what they're actually saying.
but more importantly you should keep or sell it imo.
Date: June 30th, 2026 5:12 PM Author: Mischievous effete alpha station
there's no issue. it's perfectly reasonable that you never received the original order, didn't like the items from the second shipment, and wanted to return the items you actually received for your money back.
of course, if you regularly claimed that packages are lost and got replacements and returned them for full refunds, they might red flag you.
Date: June 30th, 2026 5:23 PM Author: nudist sandwich church building
this is morally fine too bc who cares about large corps, but it does move it into active scammer territory rather than just "they made a mistake and I didn't go out of my way to correct it"
Date: June 30th, 2026 5:26 PM Author: Mischievous effete alpha station
1) slippery slope there. what if you actually didnt like the items?
2) it's not active scammer territory because you had no intent to scam
3) in terms of scamminess, how's selling them on ebay any different than returning them to REI? i fail to see how it matters where you're trying to profit from with the goods.
Date: June 30th, 2026 5:34 PM Author: nudist sandwich church building
1) the possible universe where the neighbor really stole the items is more Salient than the one where the neighbor stole the items AND he didn't like the replacements
2) it's only scamming once you pretend you didn't like them to get money back. although... I guess sending it back is saying "I don't want these" rather than "I don't like these," and it's true that he doesn't want the duplicate items, so maybe it doesn't require lying about being dissatisfied
3) again it's a matter of not going out of your way to correct their mistake vs. actively deceiving them. but it's only active deception if he selects something like "I'm not satisfied with this item" in a dropdown or something. if he can just return them because he doesn't want/need them anymore, which he really doesn't because he acquired them in the meantime, then it's probably still not scamming
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:51 PM Author: Mischievous effete alpha station
you're not reading the "just in case" with the "if you need it" in the next sentence. you also have to keep in mind that it's REI and they intentionally didnt want to sound lawyerly and harsh, and they intentionally drafted this ambiguously for the sake of seemingly friendly customer service.
Date: June 30th, 2026 4:56 PM Author: nudist sandwich church building
I completely discarded the "if you need it" sentence in my interpretation because it means nothing to me. if we take it as communicating something additional then yeah maybe that switches it over to the "optional" reading
Date: June 30th, 2026 7:39 PM Author: doobsian home wagecucks
Goy here: you have no ethical obligation to return the extra stuff. You had to go to your neighbors place twice, worry that you had a package thief, contact REI, print/prepare the return package/label, take it over yourself to UPS consuming fuel and wasting time in the process. The amount of time and effort you wasted on this is worth more than what the crap you bought cost them.
Similar thing happened to me years ago where I ordered dress shirts from brooks brothers and somehow instead they sent me man Spanx compression shirts. When I called them they told me to just use the return label and send them back. I was like lol yea I’ll get right on that. I ended up giving them to my brother for Xmas that year.
Date: June 30th, 2026 7:51 PM Author: doobsian home wagecucks
if REI valued the op as a customer they would have apologized and replaced the items and also sent him some extra swag related to whatever he was buying to make up for the inconvenience (also would have cost them basically nothing). They obviously won’t do that and then REI and every other retailer wonders why Amazon is kicking their asses.