By Alanna Rizza
The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) has been receiving mysterious packages from an unknown sender containing an assortment of electronics and toys—including dildos and vibrators.
RSU president Susanne Nyaga said Amazon started shipping the packages to the student union office just after orientation week in September 2017. She said the first package contained wireless headphones, a Wi-Fi range extender and a tiny toy tank. There was no information on the package indicating who the purchaser was. Nyaga said she thought it was strange and that the box must have been sent by mistake.
A dildo that was in a package sent to the RSU Photo: Camilla Kukulski
But then more packages started arriving to the RSU. At first, it was one package a week, then it became two per week, and at one point six packages were sent in one shipment. In the packages were an array of electronic items like earphones, chargers, wires of all sorts and even keychains. The most recent boxes, which the RSU received a week ago, contained several dildos and vibrators.
RSU vice-president equity Camryn Harlick said he saw one of the boxes that contained dildos get opened and was “shocked” at how expensive and high-quality they were. “One was like a mint greenish multi-setting vibrator with like a rose gold end and it was so bougie,” he said. The other dildo came outfitted in a pastel pink skin with a rose gold tip.
The Eyeopener obtained one of the dildos. It appears to match a model by Libo, sold online for about $25.
Now, at least 30 packages ranging in size and shape clutter the student union office—including a corner of RSU general manager Sid Naidu’s office.
“Soon enough these boxes are going to keep piling up in my office and it will become a fire hazard,” said Naidu, half joking.
After the first few boxes arrived at the RSU office in the Student Campus Centre, Nyaga and Naidu contacted Amazon to find out who the sender was. Amazon told them it was a privacy issue to reveal that information. Amazon also refused to take the packages back since the RSU was not their original purchaser.
According to Amazon’s return policy on items a receiver didn’t purchase, they can return the package by using the order number that is usually on the box. However, if the item is purchased from a third-party seller, the original purchaser must be the one to return it.
Nyaga and Naidu have since been trying to confirm that no current or former RSU employee is purchasing the items and having them sent to the office. They confirmed that no one is purchasing the items using the student union’s money after checking RSU bank account statements.
“If this is a prank—good job it happened. This is a lot of money you’re investing into a prank”
Naidu said he filed a report with Ryerson security last semester and asked the university’s shipping and handling department if they knew who the sender was—but he hasn’t heard anything back.
Ryerson security did not respond to these reports in time for publication.
Nyaga and Naidu said that since they are always busy managing the student union, they cannot make the packages a priority. They haven’t bothered to estimate the amount of money spent on the items, but they have had to come up with an “action plan” on how to deal with the boxes being sent in higher frequency.
Some of the packages pile up in the RSU. Photo: Alanna Rizza
Their next course of action is to give the items away to charity. Most of the items and boxes have already been re-sealed and packaged.
Nyaga said she doesn’t know if this is a prank or if someone has just seriously gotten their own address wrong.
“If this is a prank—good job it happened. This is a lot of money you’re investing into a prank,” she said. “At this point I have no idea what this could be, it’s like a never-ending prank and someone just has all this money. I just have no idea what the source of this is at all.”
Nyaga said she encourages the sender of the packages to come to the RSU office located on the third floor of the Ryerson Student Centre and collect them.
“Do you want your Amazon boxes back? Because we’re good, we don’t want them.”
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