Your worms died in shipment, probably as they sat outside at your home.

The package and contents should have no discernible smell. Upon opening it, you should have seen what was obviously a thick ball of worms inside whatever bedding they were packed in.

Here is a link that might be useful: This is what my worms looked like when I unpacked them:

I don't think 1/2 hour would do it. I am guessing they were hot and dry the whole way. I would contact the company you bought from (I am guessing Uncle Jim's, with the comment about watering them) and tell them what you received, and get a refund.
Here is a page with some worm suppliers in the Boston/Cambridge area, but if that is not where you are, you can google for local suppliers.

I am so sorry to hear about your worms! Hopefully you can get started soon!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Boston Worms

Composting worms are available at:
http://www.findworms.com/
http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormsupl79.html
http://vermicomposters.ning.com/forum/topics/worm-suppliers
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/vermicomposting/vermiculture/resource.html
Find a local supplier and go get them.

What a total bummer!! It is quite a heatwave we're having so that must not be a good time for shipping worms. Thanks for all the great info and links. I'll call Uncle Jim's today- I hope they give me a refund and I can get some locally. The Cape Cod worm farm isn't terribly far.

I strongly recommend working with a worm merchant who requires you to either be home at the time of delivery, or if you can't be home, requires that the box be held at the post office for pick-up. This kind of policy indicates that the seller takes the health and well being of the worms seriously. Personally, I was very satisfied with my purchase from redwormcomposting.com -- Bentley (the guy who runs it) is super helpful and diligent in his business practices.

dissatisfaction with uncle jim's? huge surprise.

Thanks everyone, I am being sent another shipment next week and while that's not my choice now that I realize I should have been looking more locally, I just have to go with it since all they guarantee is live worms, right? Or could I demand a refund? I'd much rather drive to the cape than make poor worms take such an awful journey again.
I'm really bummed because I had planned to leave a cooler outside if I was not to be home, but when I checked UPS tracking on tuesday it said all they had was shipping info, but no goods yet, but thursday night it showed up. I fell terrible!

Yikes! I thought it was just my shipment YESTERDAY from Uncle Jim's that was subpar. Probably 3/4 of the worms were ok, but the rest were terribly snarled in the webbing, and each other in the webbing, in the fabric bag. Sadly those didn't make it. I sent an email to the company this morning but I have not heard anything back. I too notice an odor in that new little bin. My big established bin ... no smell at all. I'm thinking they were packed in the bag several days prior to shipping. My mailman made a special mail delivery with the box early in the morning just to deliver the "live goods." I immediately put it in a small office refidgerator. He made the regular mail delivery a few hours later. (Small town.)

Update: I did just check my new worms again and the bin doesn't have much of an odor anymore and the worms that did make it are quite healthy and active.

Bluelake, I do hate that webbing that some people ship in! The number of dead worms caught in it is pitiful! Especially if you follow the shipper (Uncle Jim's) advice and put water on the worms before extricating all you can. They puff up to full size while still caught and quickly die.

Well, I didn't follow those instructions, thankfully. I emptyed the fabric bag and then watered the worms. The bin does still have an odor which I'm 99.9% sure is from dead worms. The worms are eating, but I won't order from them again. There no sense in shipping worms in something that kills them, no matter how cute it is.