I visited an ‘unclaimed mail’ store that went viral after a TikTok user claimed to find unopened packages of Nike and Louis Vuitton goods. I won’t be going back

an “unclaimed mail” store in evansville, indiana recently went viral on tiktok.

I decided to check out the store for myself.

buying experience involved a lot of hunting and zero treasure.

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Today’s consumers and the clucking, machete-wielding pirates of popular folklore have one key trait in common: they both love treasure hunting. That premise is built into the design strategies of many major companies, including Costco, Target and TJ Maxx. but other retailers go one step further.

a viral tiktok video showed a store in evansville, indiana, with a business model completely centered on the premise of the “treasure hunt”. the store is even called a scavenger hunt. in the pictures, the store appears to be selling unclaimed mail, with numerous packages still bearing the intended mailing addresses. Tiktok user Addison Hearrin filmed herself rummaging through a number of unopened packages at the store, ultimately selecting five. She said that she obtained a number of Nike and Louis Vuitton products at a greatly reduced price. the informant’s attempts to reach heirrin were unsuccessful.

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Mail that cannot be delivered or returned is sent to the USPS Mail Recovery Center. According to the USPS website, the MRC will sometimes “auction held items” in lots. however, the united states postal service was unable to confirm that the treasure hunt is selling unclaimed mail.

“There is no way to tell from the video whether all packages in the store or packages purchased were handled by the United States Postal Service (USPS),” a USPS spokesperson told Insider in a statement. “other carriers (fedex and ups) have their own protocols when it comes to undeliverable items.”

For the inside story of the scavenger hunt, I decided to head to Evansville and check it out for myself.

As we got closer, we noticed several discount and thrift stores in Evansville. I later found out that treasure hunt owners also run several similar operations in the area.

After hours of driving, we finally arrived at a shopping center. treasure hunt’s window display was unassuming, and their price list was kindly posted in advance.

Inside, the store was pretty basic, with several aisles of wooden troughs. these structures contained everything from food to clothing to unclaimed packages.

True to its name, the store maintains a theme that would make any salty sea dog proud.

There was even a big screen depicting a battle between a kraken and a buccaneer. but as far as merchandise goes, what we found was more a handful of barnacles than a chest of gleaming gold coins.

but our timing may have been to blame. the store restocks its unopened packages every Friday. the weekend is the best time to go to the store, if you are looking for select products.

We arrived on a Wednesday. the leftovers were pretty meager, not to mention battered, broken, and trampled.

The eponymous scavenger hunt involves rummaging through these bins in search of desirable purchases.

I walked in expecting to see containers of product still packed, but more often than not I found loose items.

In fact, I only found a handful of products still packaged.

The few intact boxes had “refused”, “return to sender” and “no such number” written on them.

there were quite a few signs prohibiting buyers from opening packages…

… but apparently those exhortations had no effect. almost every package we found had been ripped in some way.

there were even loose reese’s chocolates in a container. that was a stomach-churning sight.

I asked a worker where the inventory came from and we heard several shoppers ask the same question. no one seemed to have any answers about where the inventory came from, which was strange.

When we got there, the mix was a wild jumble of junk. rummaging through the bins, I found a bra…

…a delta sigma theta crop top…

…whatever this piece of machinery is…

…a kit containing an Islamic prayer rug…

…a deer antler…

…some breeze pads…

…a small object that looked like an egg but wasn’t an egg…

…a toy car driver…

…a broken toy gun…

… and these dental veneers.

I found this item: a piece of cloth printed with the image of a young man. who is he? Why did he never receive this seemingly highly personalized product? what happened here?

I also felt guilty that I might be digging through the missing elements. Could a person be looking for your crop top from reeds, veneers, prayer rug, or something weird?

Frankly, I didn’t enjoy the shopping experience. I can see how a customer might enjoy browsing through the packages after a new replenishment. but the day I visited, it felt a bit like garbage diving.

other areas of the store were less chaotic. the walls of the store were lined with boxes containing beverages, for those looking to buy beverages in bulk. we ended up examining each of the product trays and examining the stacks of boxes around the edges.

However, that was not the end of our search. While on the scavenger hunt, we saw some intriguing brochures from a sister store, one that openly advertised its “lost mail, freight claims, and abandoned freight” inventory.

so we drove a few minutes to find a missing shipment, a shop with the same owner as treasure hunt.

the lost cargo had a much more spaced out and organized workshop.

this location had more high-end inventory…

…including these ralph lauren dresses. There was definitely less of a “scavenger hunt” aspect to the store, but it still promoted its reliance on “lost mail”.

Pretty soon, it was time to head home and unwrap the mystery shopping. On the viral tiktok, surprise purchases included louis vuitton merchandise. would we be so lucky?

The first item seemed to be some sort of rugged tablet case. good.

The second package, a large tube with two opaque taped ends, contained nothing! we had bought an empty cardboard cylinder. We pay for that with our money.

The third purchase was, in some ways, the most disconcerting. We looked up the return address and discovered that it was connected to a PO Box in Rosemead, California.

Online, that PO Box has been linked to several apparent scams. the wood content of the package did little to clear things up, though I’ve since been informed that it’s some sort of game.

It’s reckoned that when you shop at a store with a business model that looks suspiciously like a dumpster, you’re likely to take out some trash.

Still, I can see the appeal of the prospect of buried treasure for many clients. and found at least one cheap and fun trinket at the watering holes. It’s not every day you get to say you discovered the ark of the covenant in a store in Evansville, Indiana.

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