BROOMFIELD, Colo. — With Christmas just a few weeks away, Earl Hoffman hoped to put the finishing touches on his holiday decorations. But those plans are now delayed after a key component arrived on his front porch damaged.
"I picked up the package and it sounded like broken glass," Hoffman said.
Hoffman was expecting the arrival of a package containing incandescent Christmas light bulbs.
He said his home surveillance captured the package's arrival on Wednesday. The video shows a FedEx mail carrier throwing the box onto Hoffman's front porch.
"From about 10 to 15 feet away, threw the package. That explained why it got broken," he said.
Hoffman said nearly half of the lights inside the package were broken and had to be thrown away. He's not worried about the money but rather about the "principle" of the matter.
"It affects our bottom dollar, it affects timeliness," he said. "This was a time sensitive item and I have to reorder the item because I need the item."
The package toss Hoffman's doorbell camera captured is far from the first FedEx delivery to come under scrutiny.
In late November, authorities launched an investigation after discovering hundreds of FedEx packages were dumped in a ravine. In that case, the local sheriff said they believed a driver had abandoned packages there at least six times.
In another case, at the start of this month, about 20 or more packages were found dumped in the woods in Jemison, Alabama.
"We'e all paying the bill for sloppy handling," Hoffman said of the out-of-state situations.
In Hoffman's case, FedEx provided the statement below.
"The behavior depicted in the video is unacceptable and inconsistent with the professionalism FedEx Ground service providers demonstrate every day in safely and securely delivering millions of packages to our customers," the company said. "We are committed to treating our customers' shipments with the utmost care and will take the appropriate steps to address this matter."
Hoffman is now awaiting a new delivery.
"Hopefully, not to be thrown on my front door the next time," he said.
This story was originally published by CB Cotton on Scripps station KMGH in Denver.
