I’ve had the same issue with Fed Ex. A few years ago and not the holiday season, I had just gotten out of the hospital and needed medication that came in a hyperdermic and could not be gotten in a local pharmacy. It had to be delivered. I needed it for 6 weeks and the pharmacy would only delivery a 2 weeks’ supply at one time.
You guessed it. The Fed Ex guy rang the bell once and by the time I got down 3 flights of stairs, I was seeing his tail lights. He left it outside the door of a 3-story apartment building. At least he rang the bell. After the first time I called Fed Ex and explained the situation. They were leaving crucial (to me) and dangerous (to someone else if they used it) drugs outside unattended. Despite the huge sticker on the box for the next delivery that said NOT to leave the package unattended, the driver did it again for the next 2 deliveries. Good thing I’m not on this medication permanently.
It drives me crazy. Kids could have gotten a hold of this medication with dire consequences to them if they decided to experiment.
NEVER had any issues with UPS. The guy always rings the bell or comes directly to the door. If he doesn’t get an answer, he leaves the notice and I get online and pick up the package at the local consolidation center or he re-delivers. Yayyyyyy, UPS!!!
USPS and UPS leave packages on my front porch all the time. Nothing’s ever stolen. Depending on my mailman and if I have a dog or two out, they may leave a note to pick it up at the post office because of the dogs. My regular mail lady carries dog treats and pets all my dogs before leaving packages. The FedEx driver that stopped the other day was telling me how much she liked my dogs, and that she has german shepherds. I live in the country, and most people have dogs, and very little is stolen.
Wait…so basically she was saying that no one would steal something from the mail because that’s illegal…but isn’t stealing illegal no matter WHERE you steal from illegal? Not to mention…like that would stop a thief?
I’m an outlier, because I actually prefer that UPS/FedEx DON’T knock on my door unless they need to see me; I don’t want the interruption. But (1) I work at home, and they’re usually bringing me work that I’m expecting that day, (2) I’m usually home and right there to see them pull in, (3) like St. Germain, I live in the sticks, so the chance of theft is pretty low, (4) I have an enclosed front porch and standing orders to leave packages inside, so they’re not visible from the road, and (5) there are usually two noisy, suspicious dogs in my house, so nobody ever sneaks up on me from outside.
But I understand the frustration of the rest of you.
Or when they do NOT attempt that at all. Once I saw the mail truck coming, saw it leaving, went to the mail table (apartment building), got the “we tried to deliver” notice, called Mail to ask when could I come pick it up… turns out it wasn’t even in the delivery truck! My package was at the Post Office, I could come pick it up now.
As delivery attempts go, I found that one kind of interesting, but at least the lady at the Post Office had a good story: since those apartment buildings can be pretty confusing, some of the drivers just leave the notice rather than spend half an hour trying to locate someone who’s home and who can point them to the right apartment, in which there probably isn’t anybody anyway. Makes sense (a lot more than dropping the package on the table), but they may want to use a different kind of notice.
I’ve had similar stories in other places, but without the explanation. There’s a mailwoman my mother loves because if she has something too big for the mailbox, or which needs your signature, she will go up to the flat rather than drop a notice. Every other mailman in town just drops a notice in the mailbox.
In our neighborhood packages have gone walking so often that UPS will not drop-deliver unless it
fits inside the screen door
someone answers the door.
I don’t know if businesses shipping here get charged extra for that or not. Our front doors are basically on the sidewalk, what porches we have narrow and exposed. It gets frustrating sometimes actually. Even though I’ve never lost one myself, the usual phone call goes like this “I’m sorry sir ----- you have to be home, you have to pick it up at our distribution center, or you have to have it returned. You cannot just sign and leave the slip for us - you must physically be there.”
What I think is interesting is that on the UPS site, the “Proof of Delivery” link consists of the ship date, the delivery date, and a bit of other information that proves…nothing. The location even says “FRT PORCH”, as if they left it on my porch - unfortunately, I live in an apartment building, with no front porch in sight. Does saying they left it on a nonexistent porch really count as proof of delivery?
I guess I’ve been lucky so far. FedEx delivers a box of medicine for me once a month. They do the same thing, just drop it off and leave. The retail cost of it is around $1800. Amazing that they don’t send it signature required.
I rarely get anything from FedEx, but round here UPS doesn’t bother to knock/ring the doorbell or leave the package. They just come by and leave the “delivery attempt failed” notice and leave. Doesn’t matter that I’m home sitting there waiting for it, it would just be too much work if they actually had to deliver the package themselves instead of forcing me to go pick it up.
It was the first time I received a package via FedEx. I was tracking it online and noticed it said it was on the truck. At this point I was waiting for the bell to ring throughout the afternoon. Come several hours later I decide to check the site again and it said it was delivered and left at the door… the package was still there, luckily.
If you’re gonna bring it to the door, and not require a signature, at least have the courtesy to ring the doorbell to let us know to check the door. The truck is loud and all, but it isn’t the only truck on the road, and the doorbell or a few knocks is a bit louder anyway. It isn’t that much effort.
No, it means “Leave an “Attempted Delivery” notice” now. See next quote and response.
If they are going to just warehouse the packages until someone goes and picks up those packages, they shouldn’t advertise themselves as being delivery services, but as shipping and warehousing services. If I send something to my parents, I want it delivered to my parents’ house, I don’t want my 78 year old dad to have to come into town. My mother cannot drive. Usually my sister takes them on errands on the weekend, or after work, but she can’t pick stuff up during the week without taking time off of work.
And that is why god invented APARTMENT NUMBERS … I have lived in some very scummy places [13th Bay st, Norfolk … ] and never had an apartment that did not have numbers or a letter on the door.
My dog HATES the delivery guys…mainly, I think, because they do run up, drop the box, and run away. She must think they’re up to something. We always know when they’re here because she goes insane, growling and leaping at the window. Of course, out here in the boonies, no body would steal it, although there might be a raccoon sitting on it by the time I find it…
Quite honestly your beef, as you’ve probably realized by now, is not with FedEx but with the shipper. It is an option and you can request signature required on your deliverys.
That being said, I’ve had the same thing happen to me. In the two occassions, the next day the package was dropped off by a neighbor. The FedEx guy delivered to the wrong address.
Whenever either the USPS or UPS leaves a package on my front stoop, they always ring the doorbell and skedaddle. The UPS driver often picks up my welcome mat and drapes it over the package, which actually does a pretty fair job of camouflaging it when viewed from the street.
As far as I know, nothing’s ever gone missing, although on more than one occasion I’ve ordered something and then forgotten all about ordering it, which leads to a lovely Xmas-in-September (or whenever) feeling. I suppose one of those could have been stolen – how would I ever know?
Every time I hear a large truck pull up near my house I take a peek to see if it’s a UPS/Fed-Ex truck, and if so, if they have something for me. Most of the time it’s for my neighbor across the street, and it blows me away how little effort they put into letting you know they’ve dropped off a package.
<knock>
That’s the extent of it. Every time – they drop the package in front of the door, give give the door exactly one knock (and I’ve even seem them miss before – how you can try to knock on a door and miss is beyond me), and then sprint back to the truck. Ok, I get it – timetables, strict schedules, all that. But nobody, no how, is going to answer a door that gets one knock. That noise could’ve been anything. It takes quite literally one second to give a quick three or four knocks – fricking do it already.
One good thing about it is it brings the neighborhood a bit closer together. Since there’s no way my neighbor is going to realize he has a package at his door from that, I call him up and let him know it’s there.
Recently UPS left a large box on my front porch. Nobody would have been home at the time.
The package was not for me or for my tenant. The street address was not even remotely similar either, but it was for an adress about a block and a half away, and I was slightly acquainted with the person it was intended for. I called her and told her, and she called UPS and read them the riot act. They came back and picked it up, and got it to where it was supposed to go.
I live in an apartment complex where packages can be delivered to the office.
So Saturday, I’m sitting around all day, waiting for my speakers to arrive. 4:30 PM I check the door. Nothing. The tracking says FedEx has it on the truck and it should be delivered today.
A while goes by, no knock at the door, and 5:15 rolls around. Getting impatient and thinking I “may have heard something”, I open the door and there’s a “package delivered to office” slip on my door. Never received any kind of knock. The office closes at 5:00, I remember, but at least opens the next day (Sunday) at noon. I check the tracking online and what time was the package delivered? Why, 4:58 PM! :smack::mad:
I’ve told my annoying UPS story before, so I’ll save it.
But this thread reminds me of a truly clueless item delivery. A friend of a friend made her a sweater as a surprise gift. There was no particular gift giving occasion, it was just something nice she wanted to do. The friend was not at home when the FOAF dropped by unannounced to give her the sweater. So she decided to leave in the vestibule of the apartment building. Not packaged, not labelled, nothing.
She was later really pissed that friend never got it. Yes, she actually expected friend to notice a sweater on the vestibule floor and say “Oh, how nice! Mary knitted me a sweater! I must send a thank-you card!”