The phenomenon of “surprise packages” comes to Poitiers

It is a famous incident Thanks to social networks. Strangers unpack packages bought by weight without knowing what they contain. These are lost packages, never delivered to their owners and never claimed. The first sale was in Poitiers, we attended one of them.

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This Friday, February 23, 2024, at noon, is the launch of the Mobile Event Store at Crescent. The store organizes sales like no other. Inside, on the table, on the floor, hundreds of packages. They come in all sizes, all shapes. Some are hard, others are soft. It’s hard to know what’s out there. In total, a ton of packages are for sale.

Quickly, the first customers arrived. Many people have seen videos on Instagram or TikTok and are eager to try it out for themselves. It is between “Santa Claus” and “the lottery” that they believe. “It’s like when you buy a scratch card game ticket, except sometimes you have zero euros, then whatever happens, you have something”

Aurelie, who organized the sale, explains.

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Among the first customers, are Menon and Yanis. “It has a fun side” says the hopeful girl “Find Rare Pearls at Low Prices”. For this Yannis watched many videos to get the right technique. “You have to touch it a little, see if it makes a sound, if it’s a box or if it’s soft” Details of the young man who adds “We hope to feel something better. But unfortunately, we will know only at the moment of discovery”.

Some packages come from far away: Germany, Austria, Hungary … “These are packages where people couldn’t be delivered for various reasons. Wrong places or they never went to pick them up.”

Aurelie explains. She buys them from a wholesaler and resells them for just under 3 euros per 100 grams. The calculation is simple: lucky people can hope to find a smartphone for only ten euros. Even the first customer in this sale paid 50 euros for a package containing a computer estimated at… 250 euros!

We find Menon and Yannick unpacking outside the store: “We’re like kids, we can’t wait to go home!” Manon says. The couple spent about thirty euros for 9 packages. Inside: jewelry, phone cases, small interior decorations or even… a baby outfit. Even if they are a little disappointed, Menon and Yannick put up a brave face against bad luck and hesitate to come back for the weekend to try their luck again.

Sale at Half Moon while stocks last. Another sale is also planned in South Poitiers.