Unordered, Unexpected, and Very Confusing
Ottawa residents have been getting a strange surprise on their doorsteps lately: vegetable deliveries from Walmart that nobody ordered. Not a full grocery haul, not a meal kit — just one or two lonely vegetables, showing up unannounced.
The phenomenon has left recipients baffled. Some have received a single head of broccoli. Others, a couple of zucchinis. The deliveries appear to be coming through Walmart's delivery service, yet the people receiving them insist they never placed an order — and in some cases, they don't even have a Walmart account.
So What's Going On?
The most likely explanation, according to consumer behaviour experts, is a practice sometimes called "brushing" — a scheme where third-party sellers send unsolicited packages to real addresses in order to post fake verified reviews on e-commerce platforms. By shipping an item to a real person at a real address, the seller can generate what looks like a legitimate fulfilled order and then write a glowing review under that person's account.
But brushing typically involves cheap, lightweight items — phone cases, keychains, seeds — not perishable produce. The vegetable angle adds a genuinely weird twist to an already strange story.
Another theory: these could be the result of glitches in Walmart's automated fulfillment or delivery routing systems, where test orders or mis-assigned deliveries end up at the wrong door. Given that the deliveries are small and seemingly random, a backend logistics error isn't out of the question.
What Should You Do If This Happens to You?
If you've been on the receiving end of one of these mystery veggie drops, consumer advocates suggest a few steps:
- Check your accounts: Log into any Walmart or delivery platform accounts and look for unauthorized activity or orders placed in your name.
- Change your passwords: If someone has access to your account, even just to place fake orders, it's worth securing it.
- Report it: Contact Walmart customer service and flag the delivery. You're not obligated to return unsolicited items under Canadian consumer law — but reporting the incident helps the company identify patterns.
- Don't ignore it: Even if the mystery veg feels harmless, unsolicited deliveries can be a sign that your personal information (name, address) is circulating somewhere it shouldn't be.
Ottawa Residents Left Holding the Zucchini
For now, the deliveries remain unexplained, and Walmart has not issued a public statement addressing the Ottawa incidents specifically. Local residents who've received the packages report feeling more amused than alarmed — though the novelty wears off quickly when you're on your third unsolicited delivery of a single carrot.
If nothing else, Ottawa's mystery veggie recipients are at least eating fresh. And in a city where the cost of groceries keeps climbing, some are finding the dark humour in it: free produce, no strings attached — unless, of course, those strings are attached to something a little more concerning.
Have you received an unordered delivery? Walmart's customer support line is available to report suspicious orders tied to your account.
Source: CBC Ottawa
