I live in an apartment on the top floor. A few times now, I’ve received packages shipped by Purolator or a similar service. When I wasn’t home, the package was left in front of my door.
Since it’s happened more than once, I’m wondering if this is the usual practice or if I’m dealing with a very lazy and unprofessional deliveryman.
I live in a house and packages get left at my front door all the time. Not sure about apartments, tho…
The front door of your building, or the front door of your apartment? In my experience, packages were usually left inside the building, e.g. in the lobby.
Front door of my flat, not of the building.
Don’t a lot of packages get stolen that way?
Do they leave it on the doorstep when the value is below a certain amount (if they know the value)?
Very normal at my house. Unless signature is required they get left at the door.
Had that happen all the time for no-sig-required packages when I lived in an apartment. I started having packages sent to my workplace.
It still happens now, but I live in a house with an enclosed porch, so it’s ok.
That’s the norm at my house. Then again, I live out in the country near a town that is not unlike Mayberry.
The norm here, but I don’t live in an apartment. Generally FedEx/UPS guys here will always drop stuff off if the type of shipment service allows for it. Depending on what the customer (UPS/FedEx customer, so whoever it was who sent the package) selects when they pay for shipping they can require that it be delivered to a human being and not dropped at a door.
And yes, leaving the packages there allows for theft, and it certainly happens. Different apartment complexes have different environments though, I’ve lived in apartments before, some I’d have no fear of a package sitting in front of my door for a month. Others, I’d be wary of a package sitting there for one hour. Either way, UPS/FedEx delivery guys have no real requirement that I’m aware of to take the package back to their truck unless it’s one of those special shipment services that require they get a signature or require they give it to a person directly.
If it’s a no-signature required package, especially just a post-office delivered one, I would expect it to be left inside the locked vestibule where the mailboxes are. What would be unusual would be for the mail carrier to actually hoof it up four stories to leave it by my actual front door.
If it’s bigger than my mailbox, I have it delivered to work.
I live in an apartment with a secured building door and I prefer packages to be left at my unit door. And I say this as someone who has had parcels stolen (at a different apartment).
I guess you’re thinking an un-lazy, professional deliveryman would come back the next day or when you’re home. Deliverymen like that are why I get my stuff delivered to work. It’s annoying to have to rearrange your schedule on short notice just so you can waste time waiting for the guy to drop off something he could have left yesterday. It’s also sometimes impossible to accommodate, and you risk having things sent back to the sender.
In principle, this is true. In my experience, it’s ignored at residences. I’ve chosen to have items shipped to me with required signatures on two different occasions in two different states. Both times the item was left on my door step. The second time, the delivery person rang the door bell and left. By the time I made it to the door, I saw the truck pulling away and around the corner.
The first time was even worse. I had the good fortune to have been given a $2500 laptop which was being shipped from the factory. I was anxious to receive it, and when I got home from work it hadn’t arrived. It was indicated as out for delivery.
Two hours later, I noticed that the status had been updated to delivered. I stepped outside, and, sure enough, the package was on the step. In a box that indicated its contents and in plain view of our neighbor’s door. I had been sitting about ten feet from the door the entire time.
I checked later and found an electronic signature that looked nothing like mine.
A similar thing happened to me when I ordered a desktop from Gateway about 10 years ago. On the day it was being delivered, my wife and kids were out of town so I was concerned about who would sign for it. I tracked it online all day from work, and in the early afternoon the status changed to “delivered.” When I got home from work around 6:30pm, I pull up and there it is on my front porch: two big cow-printed boxes with the words “GATEWAY” on the side. The UPS driver had the decency of putting our welcome mat ON TOP of the boxes though, thus concealing the item from anyone driving by.
By coincidence my postal delivery person just rang my doorbell and handed me a package; had i not been at home, he would have placed it between the screen door and front door.
Similar experiences for me. Packages were left in front of unit door. After inquiring at work if it would be okay to have them delivered there I have since used my employers address as my ship to address.
I much prefer it when packages are left at my door. I live in an apartment building, in NYC. It is my first choice when I don’t answer the door. Second choice would be leaving it with a neighbor, as my neighbors are generally conscientious people and we make a point of tracking each other down if a package is left with another. But I can see how this would not be a good option for people with irresponsible or mean neighbors.
Ugh, the WORST is when they take it away with them if no one is home, and then I have to arrange for another delivery date or (the very worst) trek to some post office/UPS/FedEx shipment center to retrieve it.
As far as I can tell, ultimately it is at the discretion of the delivery guy. We must have one particular guy on the schedule (because it’s always with deliveries on the same day of the week) who WILL NOT leave a package, despite many notes pleading with him to leave the package. I’m sure he thinks this is the height of professionalism.
The worst we’ve had is a delivery person walking up to the door and putting a “delivery attempted” notice on the door. While I am 15 feet away from the door on the other side. No knocking, no ringing the bell. I guess he didn’t want to bother lifting the box out of the truck. Sure wish the dog had heard him and alerted me.
Hi MichaelEmouse,
For Purolator, if a shipment is sent with the No Signature Required service, packages should be left at the door. That being said, the drivers are expected to use their judgment and can decide, at their own discretion, if it’s safe for a package to be left. Apartment buildings for the most part are usually considered as too risky to leave a package and it’s brought back to the terminal.
Hope this helps and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the e-mail address listed below.
Best regards,
Jérémie
Social Media Coordinator / Customer Care Team
Coordonateur - Médias Sociaux / Équipe d’Assistance à la Clientèle
Purolator Inc.
E-mail / Courriel: customer.care@purolator.com ou/or assistance.clients@purolator.com
www.Purolator.com
Follow us on Twitter / Suivez-nous sur Twitter:
http://twitter.com/purolatorhelp
Well that was weird.
Back to the topic, packages are left next to my garage door. Very rarely at the actual front door. And I have been at home at the time.
Except the OP says they are being left at the door in an apartment building.
I still to this day do not understand delivery protocol in my neighborhood. For items that don’t require a signature, I have had packages left behind the post where they can’t be seen from the street, left in plain sight, or even left under the doormat when they were large, which to me is worse than in plain sight. Some, they randomly require you to go to the post office annex to pick up in person and show ID. When I had an antique gun, expensive camera, and computer delivered at my house, they were all left in plain sight. About every tenth book delivered from Amazon, however, they require us to randomly go to the annex and show ID. I have no idea why and they don’t appear to be marked or have any great value requiring this. They just leave a form in the mailbox telling you to come. I have also had them randomly leave packages with the neighbor next door. They’re a Korean couple, and the woman is a stay at home Mom, but they barely speak English and seem very put out by this. It’s also very strange to me that this ever happens as I might have a very bad relationship with the neighbor (I don’t, but how do they know that?) who could destroy or damage whatever the item was. I also wonder about the random placement at the front door. On occasion, a package is left at the edge of the lawn. Had this been a weekend where it sat for more than one day and we were out of town, said package would be soaked by a sprinkler, which would really suck if it was something electronic or a book. Luckily, that hasn’t happened to date, but I suspect it eventually will.