7 ms·

California Man in 4-Day Standoff with Abandoned Amazon Truck in Driveway

52 points by rahimiali 5y ago

sawmill-picture 5y ago
Well, Florida Man would have installed a Jacuzzi in the van, been forced to abandon it after it became infested with alligators, and then fired about a hundred rounds of 00 buck into it before offering it to pawnstars.
- dopidopHN 5y ago
  agreed. Florida man would have solved that issue really quick. California man is tame and boring.
op00to 5y ago
Can he … take it for a ride around the block? It’s clearly abandoned. He gave adequate notice. It should be his.
- cowvin 5y ago
  It sounds like it barely moves, so I'm guessing that's not an option. He doesn't have the pink slip so he can't really sell it or donate it properly. Maybe he should start charging Amazon rent for the parking spot.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    Amazon most likely does not own it, hence Amazon telling him to have it towed. The guy is being an idiot looking for publicity.
    - Apocryphon 5y ago
      He is raising donations for a food bank and appears to have received $200 so far from Amazon thanks to this media circus https://twitter.com/TheCaptainLou/status/1460773777164308482 https://twitter.com/TheCaptainLou/status/1460773777164308482
      - ckdarby 5y ago
        You can see his house in one of the pictures he has on his twitter, +$2M house. Instead of trying for this attention he could just donate and have had the vehicle towed. It's childish behavior for attention, just scroll down his feed and there are other examples like where he talks about breaking free a signed basketball from his dentist office.
      - ckdarby 5y ago
        You can see his house in one of the pictures he has on his twitter, +$2M house. Instead of trying for this attention he could just donate and have had the vehicle towed. It's childish behavior for attention, just scroll down his feed and there are other examples like where he talks about breaking free a signed basketball from his dentist office.
- willcipriano 5y ago
  Just walk around the bad part of town loudly proclaiming into your cell phone: "Oh no, Amazon left a brand new Sprinter van in my driveway at 123 Fake Street, it's unlocked and the keys are in it. That's 123 Fake Street, anyway I'll be gone all weekend."
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Only to find the contents of 123 Fake Street gone as well no doubt :D
- toast0 5y ago
  That's not how abandoned vehicles work in California. It's not yours because it's left on your property. Here's a 12 step program to get rid of an abandoned vehicle that's probably worth money (I'd recommend getting law enforcement to take it, so they or their contracted impound yard can go through the steps instead of you) https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbook/vehicle-industry-registration-procedures-manual-2/lien-sales-abandoned-abated-vehicles/vehicles-valued-over-4000-or-from-a-self-storage-facility/ https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbook/vehicle-industry-regi...
wyrm 5y ago
"I’m not going to have the vehicle towed. Amazon should be able to figure this out. So now it’s an act of defiance. I did not follow Amazon’s instructions to just call the cops and have it towed." There's a simple fix, and he didn't want to do it. Instead, he's whining on the Internet, blaming a company that doesn't own the vehicle and can't do anything about it, either.
- Teever 5y ago
  The simple fix you're describing is Amazon or whoever owns the truck abrogating their responsibilities and shuffling them off onto law enforcement and California Man. Amazon can damn well pay for that truck to be moved and not a single tax dollar should go towards moving it. This man is correct in publicly shaming Amazon for their inaction.
  - dmitriy_ko 5y ago
    When police tows a vehicle, owner has to pay for towing to get the vehicle back. If nobody picks up the vehicle then vehicle is auctioned off and proceeds cover the cost of towing and storage. So the only way tax dollars end up being used is if the vehicle is worth less then the cost of towing.
    - Teever 5y ago
      I think it's highly unlikely that towing is guaranteed to be a profit centre vs. a cost centre in police/city budgets but that's besides the point. There's an opportunity cost to using police for such a mundane activity that could trivially be solved by a responsible individual. Every moment that a police officer spends on this trivial issue is one that they can't spend on a non-trivial issue. I would much rather see law enforcement do law enforcement and Amazon be responsible citizens in our society. Imagine I was your neighbour and I left junker vehicles all over your property and when questioned about it by you my response was "yeah just call the cops and get it towed or something man." Don't make excuses for Amazon and blame the victim in this situation. This kind of behaviour doesn't fly when it's an individual and it sure doesn't fly when it's an organization with the resources of Amazon.
walrus01 5y ago
put it into neutral and push it into the public street, off your property line, then call the traffic cops. not your problem anymore.
democracy 5y ago
Looks like the guy is enjoying the story )))
CogitoCogito 5y ago
Why he doesn't he just call a towing company? Then Amazon can sort things out there with a company whose job it is to hold cars until their owners sort such things out.
cyounkins 5y ago
Who pays to have a car towed by a tow-trucking company? I'm thinking mainly of business parking. Does the business pay? I assume the vehicle owner has to pay?
dehrmann 5y ago
Is it even owned by Amazon? If not, complaining to Amazon would be a bit like complaining to them if UPS left a truck in a driveway. That, and if they don't own it, they don't really have the authority to tow a contractor's van.
- hermes8329 5y ago
  If it has a gigantic Amazon logo on it and delivers Amazon orders I wouldn't care that is some subcontractor. The blame falls on amazon
  - dehrmann 5y ago
    This truck had no logos.
- solarkraft 5y ago
  It’s a contractor’s. If it was a UPS branded truck they could reach out to UPS. In this case the only thing they seem to know is that the vehicle is in operation for Amazon. So they naturally must reach out to them. And Amazon should at the very least be able to tell which contractors they use in the area, or rather even which contractor delivered a specific package.
aimor 5y ago
Can't believe how many people want Lou to have the van impounded. The Amazon name is so big and so impersonal, anything and everything associated with it is expected to be taken care of by the System right away. This is our culture. Lou at least got a chance to talk to the driver, but other than that it seems whoever owns the van hasn't thought to keep Lou informed about what's going on. Lou doesn't even know who owns the van, with the only lead being the Amazon association. And nobody at Amazon seems capable of connecting the two sides together. This is how we operate today, it's kind of terrible. If I were Lou I'd at least leave a note on the windshield asking the owner to call him. Edit: This happened a week ago, and is resolved. Great Twitter posts, and he did leave a note: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEVzOvJVkAAOTq2?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEVzOvJVkAAOTq2?format=jpg&name=...
- Cerium 5y ago
  Clearly the California man is following: HEURISTIC #1 When in doubt, chose the adventure. (Credit: Nietzsche) [1] [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29297594 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29297594
hcrean 5y ago
Clamp it, charge the statutory maximum for parking on private property; then after a relatively short period of time you can start the claim for ownership on the grounds of abandonment. (There is some DMV paperwork involved). That van is worth something if repaired, airflow on a sprinter is normally something you can do yourself. If not there is a whole lot of scrap metal sitting there...
aaron695 5y ago
Amazon don't own the truck. Maybe the owner is a cunt. Or maybe life is just hard for them at the moment. They deliver packages for Amazon, it can't be great. Or maybe they have mental issues. You know how everyone tweets about mental issues are like any sickness until they read about the 'huge' inconvenience of a car near/in someones driveway. Dude seems cool, moved the truck and didn't screw over the owner because hurting people by default I guess isn't in everyone's DNA.
peanut_worm 5y ago
Oops someone left the van in neutral and it rolled in to a ditch :(
Txoko 5y ago
Call the bomb squad!

52 points by rahimiali 5y ago

Well, Florida Man would have installed a Jacuzzi in the van, been forced to abandon it after it became infested with alligators, and then fired about a hundred rounds of 00 buck into it before offering it to pawnstars.

dopidopHN 5y ago
agreed. Florida man would have solved that issue really quick. California man is tame and boring.

op00to 5y ago

Can he … take it for a ride around the block? It’s clearly abandoned. He gave adequate notice. It should be his.

cowvin 5y ago
It sounds like it barely moves, so I'm guessing that's not an option. He doesn't have the pink slip so he can't really sell it or donate it properly. Maybe he should start charging Amazon rent for the parking spot.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  Amazon most likely does not own it, hence Amazon telling him to have it towed. The guy is being an idiot looking for publicity.
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    He is raising donations for a food bank and appears to have received $200 so far from Amazon thanks to this media circus https://twitter.com/TheCaptainLou/status/1460773777164308482 https://twitter.com/TheCaptainLou/status/1460773777164308482
    - ckdarby 5y ago
      You can see his house in one of the pictures he has on his twitter, +$2M house. Instead of trying for this attention he could just donate and have had the vehicle towed. It's childish behavior for attention, just scroll down his feed and there are other examples like where he talks about breaking free a signed basketball from his dentist office.
    - ckdarby 5y ago
      You can see his house in one of the pictures he has on his twitter, +$2M house. Instead of trying for this attention he could just donate and have had the vehicle towed. It's childish behavior for attention, just scroll down his feed and there are other examples like where he talks about breaking free a signed basketball from his dentist office.
willcipriano 5y ago
Just walk around the bad part of town loudly proclaiming into your cell phone: "Oh no, Amazon left a brand new Sprinter van in my driveway at 123 Fake Street, it's unlocked and the keys are in it. That's 123 Fake Street, anyway I'll be gone all weekend."
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Only to find the contents of 123 Fake Street gone as well no doubt :D
toast0 5y ago
That's not how abandoned vehicles work in California. It's not yours because it's left on your property. Here's a 12 step program to get rid of an abandoned vehicle that's probably worth money (I'd recommend getting law enforcement to take it, so they or their contracted impound yard can go through the steps instead of you) https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbook/vehicle-industry-registration-procedures-manual-2/lien-sales-abandoned-abated-vehicles/vehicles-valued-over-4000-or-from-a-self-storage-facility/ https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbook/vehicle-industry-regi...

wyrm 5y ago

"I’m not going to have the vehicle towed. Amazon should be able to figure this out. So now it’s an act of defiance. I did not follow Amazon’s instructions to just call the cops and have it towed." There's a simple fix, and he didn't want to do it. Instead, he's whining on the Internet, blaming a company that doesn't own the vehicle and can't do anything about it, either.

Teever 5y ago
The simple fix you're describing is Amazon or whoever owns the truck abrogating their responsibilities and shuffling them off onto law enforcement and California Man. Amazon can damn well pay for that truck to be moved and not a single tax dollar should go towards moving it. This man is correct in publicly shaming Amazon for their inaction.
- dmitriy_ko 5y ago
  When police tows a vehicle, owner has to pay for towing to get the vehicle back. If nobody picks up the vehicle then vehicle is auctioned off and proceeds cover the cost of towing and storage. So the only way tax dollars end up being used is if the vehicle is worth less then the cost of towing.
  - Teever 5y ago
    I think it's highly unlikely that towing is guaranteed to be a profit centre vs. a cost centre in police/city budgets but that's besides the point. There's an opportunity cost to using police for such a mundane activity that could trivially be solved by a responsible individual. Every moment that a police officer spends on this trivial issue is one that they can't spend on a non-trivial issue. I would much rather see law enforcement do law enforcement and Amazon be responsible citizens in our society. Imagine I was your neighbour and I left junker vehicles all over your property and when questioned about it by you my response was "yeah just call the cops and get it towed or something man." Don't make excuses for Amazon and blame the victim in this situation. This kind of behaviour doesn't fly when it's an individual and it sure doesn't fly when it's an organization with the resources of Amazon.

walrus01 5y ago

put it into neutral and push it into the public street, off your property line, then call the traffic cops. not your problem anymore.

democracy 5y ago

Looks like the guy is enjoying the story )))

CogitoCogito 5y ago

Why he doesn't he just call a towing company? Then Amazon can sort things out there with a company whose job it is to hold cars until their owners sort such things out.

cyounkins 5y ago

Who pays to have a car towed by a tow-trucking company? I'm thinking mainly of business parking. Does the business pay? I assume the vehicle owner has to pay?

dehrmann 5y ago

Is it even owned by Amazon? If not, complaining to Amazon would be a bit like complaining to them if UPS left a truck in a driveway. That, and if they don't own it, they don't really have the authority to tow a contractor's van.

hermes8329 5y ago
If it has a gigantic Amazon logo on it and delivers Amazon orders I wouldn't care that is some subcontractor. The blame falls on amazon
- dehrmann 5y ago
  This truck had no logos.
solarkraft 5y ago
It’s a contractor’s. If it was a UPS branded truck they could reach out to UPS. In this case the only thing they seem to know is that the vehicle is in operation for Amazon. So they naturally must reach out to them. And Amazon should at the very least be able to tell which contractors they use in the area, or rather even which contractor delivered a specific package.

aimor 5y ago

Can't believe how many people want Lou to have the van impounded. The Amazon name is so big and so impersonal, anything and everything associated with it is expected to be taken care of by the System right away. This is our culture. Lou at least got a chance to talk to the driver, but other than that it seems whoever owns the van hasn't thought to keep Lou informed about what's going on. Lou doesn't even know who owns the van, with the only lead being the Amazon association. And nobody at Amazon seems capable of connecting the two sides together. This is how we operate today, it's kind of terrible. If I were Lou I'd at least leave a note on the windshield asking the owner to call him. Edit: This happened a week ago, and is resolved. Great Twitter posts, and he did leave a note: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEVzOvJVkAAOTq2?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEVzOvJVkAAOTq2?format=jpg&name=...

Cerium 5y ago
Clearly the California man is following: HEURISTIC #1 When in doubt, chose the adventure. (Credit: Nietzsche) [1] [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29297594 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29297594

hcrean 5y ago

Clamp it, charge the statutory maximum for parking on private property; then after a relatively short period of time you can start the claim for ownership on the grounds of abandonment. (There is some DMV paperwork involved). That van is worth something if repaired, airflow on a sprinter is normally something you can do yourself. If not there is a whole lot of scrap metal sitting there...

aaron695 5y ago

Amazon don't own the truck. Maybe the owner is a cunt. Or maybe life is just hard for them at the moment. They deliver packages for Amazon, it can't be great. Or maybe they have mental issues. You know how everyone tweets about mental issues are like any sickness until they read about the 'huge' inconvenience of a car near/in someones driveway. Dude seems cool, moved the truck and didn't screw over the owner because hurting people by default I guess isn't in everyone's DNA.

peanut_worm 5y ago

Oops someone left the van in neutral and it rolled in to a ditch :(

Txoko 5y ago

Call the bomb squad!