Because your premises are flawed. Most people don’t live in apartments and most people who do live in apartments live in apartments live in low rise building. The mid and high rise apartments you seem to thinking of are rare outside of a few urban areas. Most people have actual outside doors.
Up until about a year and a half ago, I lived in a single family house with an actual outside door. However, I vastly preferred to get stuff delivered to my PO box, because stuff that didn’t require a signature would be dropped off on my front porch and there were some people (adults AND kids) who regarded such packages as gifts from the Random Item fairy. Stuff that DID require a signature…well, what would happen is that the delivery company would leave a note on my door, telling me that I had to traipse down to the center. No, the delivery person wasn’t going to do so much as ring the doorbell, s/he was just going to leave that note on the door. It made for faster runs.
So, since I was going to have to go down to company’s delivery center ANYWAY, I’d prefer to go to the PO, on my own hours, and pick up the package without having to stand in line and wait for 20 minutes.
Oh, and I moved into another single family house, but it’s in a neighborhood without the roaming opportunity thieves.
i think the package has to start out with that intended process, UPS or FedEx have a pricing and label to do that. so you would know from the start that the vendor uses that process or specify that form of delivery.
Think of it this way- they’re doing you a favor. The USPS delivers packages, whilst UPS and Fedex delivers notices, as** Lynn** sez.
Absolute: “*UPS will both allow you to use one of their retail locations as a shipping address” *well, yes, but they charge you about $8 to do so. On top of whever S&H you have already paid to the shipper. Same thing goes for delivering the package to a alternate address (except a neighbor).
Merchants and businesses use UPS and Fedex as they think those give superior customer service. Well, sort of. Those two give very good service to the shipper, but horrible “fuck you” service to the residential shipee.
Those businesses often refuse to ship USPS. I simply refuse to buy from them. It’s either USPS or I won’t deal with you.
Whether I’m wrong about the proportions are not, we are still talking about millions of people.
If you work from home, why couldn’t you just track the package and personally receive it on pretty much any day? The real problems come in for people who don’t work at home and are gone M-F 9-5 + commute (which is when the vast majority of packages arrive).
This. FedEx and UPS do deliver good service to the commercial customer, because they WANT the commercial shippees. A private individual isn’t as likely to get many shipments, so screw them.
I can actually believe that delivering to an alternate address might be out of scam concerns…you know, I steal someone’s CC#, and buy stuff and have it delivered to an address that’s not connected with the CC#. But I think that mostly the companies involved are betting that it’s worth $8 or so to you in order that you don’t have to make that trip to the delivery center.
Unless you are willing to sit out on your front porch, the chances are excellent that you’ll never know that the delivery person has stopped by your house to post a note. They usually don’t even bother to ring the doorbell. I happened to be outside, admiring my neighbor’s garden, when a UPS driver came by, skipped up to my door, left a note, and tried to skedaddle off. He gave me SUCH a look when I stopped him and insisted that he give me my package. How DARE I insist that he actually deliver a package, instead of a note!
I work from home in the sense that I don’t commute to an office, but I do not spend all of my days actually in my home. I take my laptop on the road, sometimes spending a day at this client or that client’s office.
One weekday out of five I’m away all day. I’m out for lunch. I’m out to go to the post office. I may not get in until 10, coming in from one girlfriend’s apartment or another.
I think the op has way too much free time. There are way more important issues in this world.
There are a few issues being ignored here.
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USPS Priority mail is lo-cost and easy to use for many businesses, but it has some very critical limits. It goes up exponentially compared to UPS and Fedex when the weight goes above 2-3 lbs. (The Flat Rate boxes are mostly a rip-off)
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Priority/Express Mail has size limitations. Larger boxes get balked at.
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While Parcel Post does not have as many limitations, it does require extra cost for tracking, etc. You also can’t order it on the USPS online service. You have to have a postage meter or some other service for that to work. Odds are you might have to take Parcel Post package to the Post Office for delivery - they won’t pick those up, typically.
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UPS and FedEx have much more detailed tracking. USPS just has delivery confirmation and not much else.
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While FedEx or UPS might contract USPS for final delivery in some locations, that does not mean it will allow the shipper to put in any address they please.
In a large or medium operating warehouse, even with all the added gimmicks it can be very hard to integrate the Post Office into a system. They just are not set up in the same manner as the industry-oriented UPS & Fedex.
And we’d love to hear your opinions about them, Ms. Jessica Parker.
Are alternatively stated a few percent of the population. I suspect most companies figure they aren’t enough additional revenue to justify the hassle. There are plenty of companies that offer USPS shipping for customers that want the service.
From some companies, I select the cheapest shipping option and it might turn out to be USPS or UPS depending on what I order.
This is what the pit is for. The only reason to say this shit is because you are an immoral shithead whose brain is too poorly formed to deal with people in general, and in which case I would suggest you leave this fucking message board.
I do know that I don’t remember your name, so there’s no fucking way you contributed anything of value to this board. Either start doing so or go away. You are the type of person who keeps me from recommending this messageboard to anyone.
And, believe me, the only reason I’m raining in my invective is because the only appropriate words for you are forbidden.
And thinking like that where you only decide on what’s good for you without thinking about the rest of society is an indication that you are net drain to society, and thus it is in our best interest to treat said companies disfavorably.
Personally I think doing mail order instead of driving to the store is good for society. UPS and USPS trucks drive down my street all the time anyway. I also think it makes good sense for society to mail stuff instead of driving across town. I live in walking distance of a post office.
Well, you see- on some days if the UPS dude is very busy, he may not make a delivery to your address that day. That happened to me once when I stayed home esp for that. Also, say he just walks up and you don’t hear him (maybe you can’t hear a knock in the bathroom or something, and he leaves a notice?
or on edit- what Lynn said. 
^ This.
I recently ordered something on line and gave my PO Box for delivery. Time was, that would mean either they mail it, or they say they can’t ship it. Either way, it’s not left on my front doorstep to be stolen or I’m not presented with multiple yellow slips saying YOU WEREN’T HOME!!! (No kidding, I know that)
Nooooo! THIS time they got my street address from the Post Office!
Man, I was PISSED! I had specified SEND US POSTAL SYSTEM ONLY when I ordered. I gave them a PO Box. The customer service reps answer? “But UPS is so much FASTER!”
Listen, you dork, I don’t need it fast. I need it to actually get to me. That is why I have a PO Box in the first place, as a secure place to get things sent to me. Why is it THAT hard to understand that I am not at home when UPS and FedEx deliver and no, not everyone can receive a package at work! (Yah, back when I drove a territory for a job, or worked at a different construction site every week, that was going to work out…:rolleyes: ) Telling me I can pick it up at the UPS center in another frickin’ city isn’t convenient, either!
I will not be doing business with them again if I can possibly help it.
Admittedly the UPS center is only about 10 mi from where I live. Last time I went there after hours to pick up a package, I spent about 1.5 fucking HOURS standing in line.
I asked and the UPS dude said that was a “little longer than usual, it’s usually no more than a hour”.
Fuck that shit.