…because its the right thing to do.
The store gave the OP an extra wine.
Taken at their word, the OP never knew they had the extra wine, even though it was an open case.
The store can’t issue a label likely because they do not hold a license to ship wine or the wine is coming back into a state that does not allow inbound wine shipments.
The OP legally can’t ship either.
What is overlooked here is that the OP left the state with the extra bottle. Not really the store’s fault.
So returning it to a nearby Costco seems to be the likely solution, if the OP would do that.
After all this, it comes down to ethics. Can he keep it? Sure. Should he keep it? I wouldn’t, but that’s just me.
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I would buy the extra bottle but get the manager to give you a nice discount. Win/win. Think of it as a rare second chance to correct the error of your ways in only buying 2 to begin with! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
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Sure, ethically you should return it. But it’s just a bottle of wine. If it was a full case, I’ll go out of my way to get it back to them. But IMO for a single bottle it’s not worth an hour of my time going to Costco in person and it’s not worth the several hours of Costco employee time trying to coordinate returning a single bottle of wine to a specific store. Just write it off as a loss and move on.
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I seriously cannot even imagine how this would go down.
Take a bottle of wine back to a local Costco, try to explain the whole crazy situation, surrender the bottle with no refund…
I’m guessing that bottle would be “restocked“ right into that employee’s locker.
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Don’t forget standing in the return line for an hour before somebody helps you.
Yup, that’s why I think it would need to have multiple people there documenting everything. Pictures/names etc. Still has the potential for future mischief too. I think all the folks advocating a return do not grasp the insanity of a return line at a warehouse on a Saturday during holiday season, especially with an edge case like this.
My dog only likes two kinds of food, only available at Costco (that giant green bag kind, and the red cans, mixed together with the canned on the bottom so the kibble bits don’t get soggy) so being excommunicated would be very disruptive. If only for that reason, I think its best to avoid the risk of being expelled (and also likely forsaking whatever exec rewards/rebates have been accruing all year.
You can do the right thing by just paying for it too. If you can afford two bottles of $200 wine, you can afford three. Maybe ask for a discount for the hassle.
Sonoe Hirabayashi went out of her way to figure out a way to ship her wines to me even though I am not a CA local. The invoice had showed paid before I had paid. I made sure we figured out the problem before any wine was sent. Of course if I had said nothing I’d be an a*hole trying to get free wine. I’m in the camp of just returning it to your local Costco if it sells wine… or even if it doesn’t. They can be the ones that ship it back.
I find it funny that people are adding phantom return constraints.
An hour to get there.
An hour in line.
Now it’s a Saturday…
How do you know?
I’ve been to Costco on a Tuesday night with hardly anyone there.
How many hours are acceptable to correct Costco’s mistake? I know what my time is worth per hour and I wouldn’t be donating that to Costco. Their error, they can figure it out. I should add that if I was going anyway and the original store signed off on that method of return, that would be a different story.
Whether its 1 bottle of 50, that’s not really the point here. He ended up with a bottle that wasn’t his. The right thing to do is to give it back. In my mind, its not even a question
Not gonna lie. Kinda makes me sad that people have the attitude of ‘who cares. its not your fault so you should keep it’. Just not how I live my life but I guess to each their own 
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I wouldn’t return it to correct the store error, I would return it because it would give me peace of mind. What’s the price of that?
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Taking advantage of someone else’s mistake might be legal. But it’s not moral or ethical.
Take it back to the nearest Costco. How hard is that?
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As an aside , I’m surprised nobody (OP nor employee) checked inside the case to ensure it was the correct wine and quantity . Even with the OP being in a rush .
I like the ideas of trying to return it locally, and then if not some sort of charity option. I wouldn’t give Costco another penny .
Taking it to another store may make the OP feel better but it may not be helpful at all to the original store.
I think the onus is on the original store to come up with solutions and it’s up to the OP to both notify them (which he has), remain communicative and helpful (which he seems to be), and then to comply with whatever reasonable solution they provide.
Returning physically to the store or illegally shipping the bottle at his own expense are not reasonable solutions and he should not be judged harshly for rejecting them.
If the store can present a reasonable proposed solution, he should comply and in the meantime, store the bottle safely. But absent this, it is not a problem of his creation and I don’t see why he should be burdened with the obligation of figuring out how to fix it, in particular if the solution that he comes up with has the chance of being of negative value to the original store (eg by making it harder for them to solve the problem in another way).
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Oh boy. This has gone the way of one of the corkage threads. Opinions here there and everywhere.
Jack, guess its up to you to sort it out.
Just give a little whistle
I feel the same exact way. At least until they tell me I need to do an 18 hour drive.
I would call back and tell them that I am willing to drop it at the nearest store, and try to arrange to work it out that way. If they say no, and cannot provide a shipment method, well then that is on them at that point.
Not sure how many 3 bottle cases I’ve manhandled over the years, but I tend to think I’d be able to tell if a OWC had 3 bottles inside instead of 2. The bottle weight would be 50% greater than it should’ve been.
Easier said than done in the real world - I get - but curious if OP ever considered the sheer weight of the box to be “off”
So, how many hours of your time would YOU devote to returning the bottle? Will Costco pay you for your time that THEIR mistake costs you? The “right thing to do” is not as simple as you make it out to be. Your righteous dogmatism is taken to the point of ridiculousness.
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