It baffles me that "delivering" packages like this is a standard practice over there. I'm in the EU, and if I'm not home by the time the delivery is attempted, the company would call and ask when is a good time to try again, or would leave the thing to be collected at an office.
It used to be that they would not leave packages unattended at a residence, they would leave a note on the door about an attempted delivery. I suppose with the rise of online shopping things had to change. I don't see American delivery companies bothering with trying to contact you/retrying deliveries, they just want to get out as many packages as possible... and there is a LOT they have to deliver in a day.
You do have a lot of choices in how you want your items delivered depending on the delivery company. Most of the have apps/websites where you can choose to have them hold the package, or deliver it to a specific location on property. By default packages will be left at the door.
Personally I have never had a problem with porch pirates, and if a package is expensive or important I will have the delivery company hold it and pick it up there.
Yeah, same up here in Norway. If I'm not home they will offer to leave the package at a collection point, or drop it off at my place of work. As far as I know, they're not allowed to just leave it at my door step and hope for the best.
So it's possibly cheaper for the seller not to require a signature (since it's an extra service), but it's no biggie if the package gets stolen? Seems logical...
The other thing that's quite common is to require proof of delivery. Always fun because now the delivery driver has to take an awkward photo of me holding the box.
In Germany you have to give permission in the tracking menu to have them drop the package off somewhere else. I live in an apartment building so I usually tell them to drop it in the hallway of the building, since there's usually someone at home to at least open the door downstairs if I'm not at home. I've seen packages outside the front door only once here and it is not a place I'd ever choose.
Don't worry, it's shit in places in the EU as well. One delivery guy just left my whole apartment complex's packages, for thousands of households, in front of one apartment.
Well — Amazon has made package delivery such a common thing that few people would have the time to be around during package delivery hours because they are at work. Few people can go home from work just to wait for a package.
TL;DR: if something not from Amazon is delivered by Amazon Spain, it's a PITA and the recipient has no control over delivery.
I recently had one delivery sub-contracted to Amazon Spain, it was a nightmare. I was not able to choose a different date (only the original delivery company could, but they didn't answer me at all), not able to choose a pick up point (for the same reason), not able to correct the address that was slightly messed up. They emailed me that the parcel is up for delivery in 10 days, and delivered it next day after the email, probably 1 and 10 are close enough.
It's a lucky thing they even called me, I was away for several more days and couldn't receive the parcel. The support said they will usually make three delivery attempts and then send back, but that they may do more or less attempts. Also they responded that I should give the seller some time to respond to my inquiry about moving delivery date, but they will continue to try to deliver and maybe fail and send back.
By the way, the original delivery company never replied at all, if I were unable to finally catch a delivery I would be out of luck. Also, the delivery window is 10 AM to 10 PM, no details, just wait and hope
It's not really a lot of hoops to jump through, and this seems to be standard practice by DHL, UPS, FedEx and others, over here.
I actually appreciate getting the options on delivery day. E.g. I usually get to choose what collection point they leave the package at (so I can pick a spot I pass by going home from work or whatever), or if I want them to come back the next day, or have it dropped off at my office (not always an option, kinda seems to depend on how stressful a day the driver is having).
I certainly prefer it to risk having the package stolen, then reporting, waiting for a new delivery..
Of course, if the package is large, heavy or otherwise unwieldy it might be a pain not having it delivered directly to the door, but if I'm expecting such a thing I try to be home to accept delivery.
Welcome to the rest of the world mate. This issue here is another "no way to prevent this, says only nation where this happens" as The Onion would say.
We UPS drivers at least get signatures for the damn things. Who would have thought the delivery drivers getting paid shitty wages would be working with thieves to augment their wages lmao
Really? Where at? Every phone delivery I’ve gotten via UPS does a ding, dong, dash (and sometimes not even ringing the bell). No I don’t have a release signed.
I have to either redirect it to UPS store (hard to do since it’s overnighted and I don’t want to pay an additional fee), or make sure I’m monitoring my camera for motion alerts all day.
FedEx too, even for packages marked signature required I've waited at home for them and the driver leaves the package and rushes off before I can even get to the door.
I really do think UPS does a better job than FedEx overall, but I gotta say the last time UPS delivered a high ticket item to me, it was supposed to be signed for. The driver dropped it off, gave a knock on the door and immediately left. Did not wait, didn't leave a tag, didn't take it back. I reported it to them. I was across the country at the time and the original delivery estimate was supposed to be two days later, after my return home. It's possible Best buy was the one that fucked up and gave wrong info to UPS though.
FedEx pointed out that shippers of high-value goods "can request Hold at Location or Direct Signature Required services, or redirect a package to FedEx Office”
Can’t tell you how many times FedEx has just completely ignored the direct signature required part. If it’s not something like alcohol where the government will crack down on them then they don’t care.
You can look up the signature for the package on their app. I can’t sign my name in Times New Roman…so clearly I didn’t sign for that. If I do sign for it then it’s an image of my actual signature.
They also have a bad habit of delivering stuff to my neighbor without ever setting foot on my property because apparently they can’t read house numbers…FedEx is terrible in my area.
I ship quite a few things and I only use USPS and UPS. I also use pirate ship, which only has those two anyway, but I won't use FedEx for a number of reasons.
Had a delivery dude in the process of doing so when i opened the door, yada yada yada dude seemed like a meth head and i could barely understand him. Said whatever signed then took my package while he ran back to the van like i was gonna call the cops on him.
I've gone to just having stuff delivered to a place for pick up. It's just so mush easier in the long run. As a bonus it forces to actually walk around my neighborhood.
At least in my area, theft really isn't a thing. I don't know anyone on my street who has had a package stolen, and I've ordered TVs, phones, consoles, etc, all of which could be pawned pretty easily.
So the security around these things really should take area into account. A densely populated area like NYC or SF would probably need more strict protections than a place like mine.
I think at lot has to do with the company. Like Amazon don’t care as they make so much it’s just not worth waiting around for PINs or signatures as it’ll cost them more than lost stock. Plus they probably have some insurance.
Why do package delivery companies in the United States seem to just leave the package on the doorstep when the person isn't home. That seems like such an obviously stupid thing to do.
Pretty much everywhere else the package delivery companies would either take the product back with them and deliver it on another day or contact the person via the contact details they have and request a safe place to leave it. Most delivery companies will let you specify this when you make the order.
Or if it's not bin day they can just put it in the recycling bin.
Because if the delivery requires you to sign for it, the delivery driver will just walk up to your house and slap a “we missed you” sticker on your door and get right back in his truck without even attempting to deliver it. If they even bother getting out of the truck at all that is.
We don’t have enough PTO time to take entire days off from work just so we can be home for a delivery that doesn’t show up over and over.
I used to live two hours away from a UPS delivery hub. it could take weeks for me to get a delivery from UPS after I was supposed to get it.
they used to not deliver packages unless you were there. I missed the first delivery, the next two times they never showed up and said they did.
over two months later I finally had to drive two hours to the distribution hub and claim my package.
I had no option of who to ship my package with. that was entirely left up to the seller.
I now live 15 minutes away from the same distribution hub and it STILL takes a month extra to get my packages.
this is why I tell every delivery service to just leave it at the door.
our options suck, sellers refuse to use USPS because we have a corrupt bitch running it that's running it into the ground, and I just don't have the time to wait 3-4 times the shipping length for products I bought.
Wow, you must live in the Bermuda Triangle or something. The latest I've had a package be delivered is like 2 days, and usually my packages get here early. It doesn't matter if it's USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, OnPoint (or whatever it's called), or some other random carrier, I've never had a package stolen, lost, or significantly damaged. FedEx seems more likely to be a day or two late, Amazon, UPS, and USPS are usually a day early, and the others are less consistent.
That said, I live pretty close to an Amazon warehouse, my USPS office seems to be a regional hub, and I'm just outside the area for the worst FedEx in the state. It's probably because I'm just outside a larger metro area of a smaller state, but honestly, my delivery service rocks.
Why do package delivery companies in the United States seem to just leave the package on the doorstep when the person isn't home. That seems like such an obviously stupid thing to do.
Many areas in the u.s. are spread out pretty far. If the office isn't open when I get off of work then I can't pick it up. There's a lot of post offices, even small towns have one, so that's not such a big deal. Amazon, FedEx, and UPS offices are few and far between. I couldn't even tell you where I found pick up one of their packages in my area.
Here in Germany, DHL and Amazon have their own parcel drop off lockers where they put your parcels in and send you a code to retrieve it. You then have several days to get it. And these stations are plenty in every city.
With varying degrees of success, you can create accounts with the delivery companies & specify what you want done with your pkg. Deliver to any address you like, or hold at facility or an access point. This is your best option, to dig a little deeper, take some time & really take control of how you want your deliveries. As best you can. 🙂
With most US residential pkgs, it is left because it's easy & economical. A third to half of the time, it's cheap bullshit. Theft or loss is often not a big enough problem to warrant not delivering the first time.
Calling every person that doesnt receive their pkg in person is patently ridiculous. Full-time drivers have anywhere from 130 stops to 300+ stops. Let's say 2/3 don't accept the pkg in person (it's more than 2/3); that is 86-200+ phone calls or 86-200+ stops' worth of pkgs, per driver, to be recycled back through facility.
The first time most residential pkgs are attempted delivery, the shipping company makes like 5-10¢ on that pkg. Say it goes back to facility, to be delivered tomorrow, as you said. That very low value pkg, to be recycled back into the system & taking up space, to be processed & put on a truck for delivery the next day, to be delivered for basically no profit/breakeven. Awesome 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻. Let's say 2nd attempt is unsuccessful, and we can't just leave the package on the doorstep when the person isn't home because that's such an obviously stupid thing to do. Driver starts swearing, sticks another notice on the door, 5+ people handle the pkg again...you know the deal...and the 3rd day it is delivered at a loss or, if failed, is held at facility for customer pickup. The company has lost money, and on some cheap foreign-made t-shirts from Kohl's, no less.
In short: they're doing the best they can, every single day, by the numbers. 🙂 Looking at the big picture, it works pretty well! Except for Amazon, they suck, but everybody keeps giving them money so basically they can fail up forever until that changes.
Hope this sheds some light on how logistics work behind the scenes. Leave some snacks, drinks out for your delivery drivers! The real-life Santas!
If it’s a phone I wouldn’t want it left on my porch. But literally anything else? Leave it there. I don’t want to go out of my way to pick up a USB cable that was ordered online.
The US isn't as bad as some Americans. In Ecuador it's literally illegal for any business to sell used phones. The reason is to discourage phone theft.
I'm about to take all your shit out of economic desperation...it'd be one thing if we didn't have literal free food everywhere and free shelter may not be what you like but it's there plus we give fucking smartphones away for free in the USA.
It's a bit of a rock and a hard place for then. If you won't leave my package and I have to be there or go somewhere else to pick it up? I'm not ordering your shit.
Big steel box with a one-way door and keyed access anchored into concrete next to your door, with a sign saying to drop packages into it. That's what I've started seeing some people do. Basically, a personal mail deposit box.
I've seen seasonal properties with one-way mail chutes. Looks like a mailbox, but with a deep, locking mail storage container. The lock is a deterrent as well as obscuring how many weeks of mail any one home has. Of course that would only work for small packages (like phones), but it's better than nothing!
Generally, phone delivery requires the residents signature at the time of delivery. At least that has been the case with T-Mobile and Verizon in my experience. Does AT&T not require signature?
It's in the article. Most of the time they don't, but in areas where theft is an issue they do. But I'm guessing they haven't caught on yet to change the signature policy.
This just happened to a friend of mine on Wednesday. Had a new phone from AT&T delivered, and was almost immediately taken from their porch. Their doorbell camera caught both the delivery and the theft.
I wonder if this is similar to when weev & Goatse Security "hacked" AT&T by discovering that their website for managing iPad accounts was so poorly designed that you could just change the account number in the website's URL to access other people's accounts.