Two important packages traveled the United Kingdom via FedEx recently, but one was arguably more replaceable and less important than the other. One package contained a Kindle headed for a residential address in Bristol, and the other contained part of a tumor bound for a hospital in London, about 120 miles away. The Amazon customer who found a tumor instead of an e-reader was understandably rather confused.

How does that kind of thing happen? Amazon hasn’t started selling tumors that we know of; the mixup happened somehow though FedEx, which shipped both packages.

The customer observed that the tracking numbers on the tumor package and on his Kindle package had some digits in common at the beginning and end, but that shouldn’t have been enough to cause a mixup.

“I haven’t opened the sealed box, which says exempt patient tissue, as it doesn’t belong to me,” the aspiring Kindle owner told the BBC. Since then, FedEx has stopped by to pick up the mystery tumor, but the Kindle hasn’t showed up yet. That’s okay: electronic devices are interchangeable and replaceable; medical samples aren’t necessarily.

Man orders Kindle and receives ‘tumour sample’ in courier mix-up [BBC]