STOCKTON, Calif. — For San Joaquin County homeowner Tori Beeck, her own trash contained her treasure Tuesday after an unusual drop-off by an Amazon delivery driver landed her newly ordered package in a landfill.
Beeck, who has been working extended hours at her accounting job in recent weeks, is a self-admitted frequent shopper of Amazon.
She turned to the e-commerce giant when she needed to purchase a new battery for her leaf blower, valued at nearly $100, to clean up her property from recent storms that brought down leaves and debris.
"I probably have something delivered from Amazon every other day," Beeck admitted. "I had realized Tuesday afternoon that one of my items had said 'delivered,' but I hadn't seen it brought in the house by myself or my husband."
After discovering that the package was missing Tuesday evening, Beeck turned to the Amazon app which provides a photo of the delivered package taken by the delivery driver.
The photo taken by the driver Sunday showed the delivered package placed lopsided, alongside full trash bags inside of her black trash can, which had been sitting at the edge of her driveway ahead of trash day on Monday.
"I thought, no way. No way would they have delivered inside the trash can," Beeck said. "I thought maybe they set it on the fence and it got knocked in or something. There has to be a logical explanation."
Seeking answers as to why her box was left in the trash, Beeck pulled up footage from her home security cameras.
"I was baffled," Beeck said after seeing the video showing the driver tossing her package directly into the trash can. "It's one of those moments where you just kind of have to shake your head because I just, I didn't understand."
Bewilderment quickly turned into a minor annoyance for Beeck who realized on Tuesday that she took out her trash cans Sunday night, including the package unknowingly inside.
"It's dark when I leave, it's dark when I get home. So going through the trash looking for my Amazon package wouldn't have ever been something that would have happened," said Beeck. "I don't think most people thoroughly look through their trash before they take it out."
In her gated front yard, with the trash can and Amazon package, were Beeck's two dogs which she believes may have been the reason why the delivery driver decided to not leave the package on the ground.
She adds that her delivery instructions called for the driver to leave the package inside of her fence-- where the trash can was-- or near her mailbox.
"Maybe they were worried that the dogs would have chewed up the box. And honestly, in my opinion, that is my risk, not the delivery driver's," said Beeck. "I would have much rather had a box that was ripped up by the dogs, versus one that got taken out with the trash on Tuesday morning."
Despite the delivery mishap, Beeck said she will continue to order from Amazon and praised the company's efforts to correct the issue.
"Amazon was fantastic," Beeck said after reaching out to customer service representatives. "They were 100% more than accommodating, they sent a new item. In fact, I already have it. And they even gave me a $10 inconvenience gift card."
Amazon issued a statement to ABC10 Thursday apologizing for the delivery.
“We work hard to provide our customers with a great experience," the statement said. "We’ve apologized to the customer that this delivery did not live up to our high standards and we offered to make it right.”
In the end, the delivery not only left Beeck with a new leaf blower battery and store credit, but also with a good laugh.
"I guess you laugh at it and you shake your head and walk away," Beeck said. "There's not much that I'm going to change based off this experience."
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