This made for interesting reading:

Under the terms of trade with our major business customers, if the mail is not delivered then it will be securely disposed of unless a return address is included on the envelope. This has been the practice for many years. The mail which cannot be delivered or returned is stored for up to four months. If an item is not claimed, it is put out to auction. All the

proceeds, minus a market rate commission for the auction house,

are used to partially pay the considerable cost involved in seeking

to reunite customers with their items.

However, if an item is not claimed, and we

can find no address to which to return it,

and the item has some value, we put it out

to auction

It would seem that in the OP’s case it would be worth asking what that money will then go towards as no effort was made to contact the OP in the first instance.

As RM are subject to FOI (as I understand it) it might be worth asking:

➡ How many items they confiscate in the manner annually

➡ What the amount is they receive back from the auction house?

Good on Mojo.