AITA for returning a neighbor’s package instead of holding onto it?

I (29M) live in an apartment building where packages are sometimes delivered to the wrong unit. Normally, if I recognize the name, I’ll take it over or text the person if I have their number. Last week, a package addressed to another tenant in the building was left outside my door. It wasn’t small, and I didn’t know the neighbor personally. There’s also been a recent issue in our building with packages going missing, which management has warned us about. I checked the label and saw it had been misdelivered. Instead of keeping it inside my apartment, I took it straight to the building office and handed it to the front desk so they could log it and notify the correct tenant. Later that evening, the neighbor knocked on my door asking if I had seen their package. I told them I had turned it in to the office. They seemed annoyed and said I should have just held onto it or brought it to their unit instead of making it harder for them to track it down. They also mentioned that the office had already closed by the time they got home, so now they had to wait until the next day to retrieve it. I apologized but explained that I didn’t feel comfortable keeping someone else’s delivery in my apartment, especially given the recent thefts. They left clearly irritated, and now I’m wondering if I was being overly cautious and created unnecessary inconvenience when I could have just helped directly. AITA for returning the package to the office instead of holding onto it?

13 thoughts on “AITA for returning a neighbor’s package instead of holding onto it?”
  1. NTA. You handled it exactly how management would want you to with all the thefts going on. Your neighbor being pissy about waiting one day is their problem, not yours.

  2. NTA

    Handing the parcel in to the building office where it gets logged is the sensible thing to do. Not only does it clear you of all responsibility for the parcel, it also means that there is a record if someone tries to sort out why these mistakes are happening.

  3. NTA

    He’d have to wait longer than the next day if the package was stolen. It was not his fault the package was misdelivered, BUT it is NOT your fault for doing the appropriate thing. He has every right to be disappointed he can’t get his package today, but he should be thanking you for protecting it as advised by management or even refusing delivery of the package forcing it to be returned to sender.

  4. Next time push the package to the top of the stairs and let it sit there until someone steals it or retrieves it. You went out of your way to secure the package and get it to the rightful owner. I would’ve said “your welcome” and slammed the door in their face.

  5. In my opinion this belongs in the Entitled subreddit, as you are NTA but the neighbor is an entitled AH.

  6. NTA

    He was probably stressed about a bunch of things and it spilled onto you 🫂 try to let it roll off you

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