Unlocking surprises: Inside Brussels’ shop for lost Amazon parcels

A new solution to deal with the waste from excessive online shopping has emerged in Brussels: a store called Pile ou Face (Heads or Tails in French).

The shop is dedicated to selling lost Amazon parcels.

The name hints at the uncertainty of buying something without knowing what’s inside.

The Userstam family, who started the shop, got the idea when they realized that many parcels from Amazon weren’t reaching their intended recipients.

These undelivered packages were piling up with courier companies because of address mistakes or packages not being claimed.

To tackle this problem, they talked to Amazon and finally got a contract to start Pile ou Face.

“85 per cent of the parcels we sell are from Amazon,” said Arnaud Userstam.

The shop has become popular, with lots of sales.

They even had to order “at least 100,000 parcels” to keep up with demand, showing that there’s a consistent supply of undelivered items and people are interested in buying them.

Deciding how much to charge for the mystery items in these boxes was tricky.

So, the shop decided to use a pay-per-kilo model, similar to some second-hand clothing stores. Customers are encouraged to look at and shake the boxes to try to figure out what’s inside before buying.

The price is €16 per kilo.

This pricing method has let customers buy things like smartwatches, electronic gadgets, and even smartphones for much less than their normal prices.

The most valuable thing they’ve found so far was a Moncler jacket worth €1,500.