I’m looking at ordering some stuff online and the place I’m going to order from only ships UPS. It’s not a big package, just a box of guitar strings, but the point is I’m not home to sign for a package and would have to take the day off. However, some folks at my office (very large office for that matter with a dedicated mail room, etc) have personal packages delivered to work. I’m on the fence if this is okay behavior or not.
On one hand, the cost, if any, to the company is minimal so the harm is negligible.
On the other hand, it just doesn’t seem that professional.
On the third hand (wait, where’d that come from?), others are doing it. And while argumentum ad populum isn’t a good defense, it seems to have set a precedent.
I always get my stuff delivered to work, although it’s not a large office so I just have to come and grab it from the receptionist. Unless your office has a stated policy against it, I don’t see why you wouldn’t.
I do this all the time, provided what’s being delivered is work appropriate (don’t do gun parts to work, you don’t have this issue). I wouldn’t try and run an Ebay business out of the office or anything, but the occaisonal here and there is no biggie, especially if you get packages related to work anyway.
I’ve done it occasionally; don’t think it’s an issue as long as you’re not (as someone mentioned above) trying to run an ebay business or something. There’s really no other convenient way to handle the whole UPS-knocks-on-the-door thing if you don’t live in a building with a concierge or something.
(ETA: I voted yes, that’s okay, with an implicit “within reason”; no hundred-pound boxes, no five-boxes-a-day).
Some companies prohibit this before Christmas to keep from getting overloaded. Most don’t care if it doesn’t cause problems with normal package handling. There can be a problem because a business can consider anything delivered to their address to belong to them. For something they didn’t pay for, I assume they don’t actually own it, but they could open the package. These same problems occur with mail, even if its marked as personal.
They didn’t have a problem with getting a package shipped to the last 2 places I worked. The ones before that would not have allowed it. You need to ask your place of work.
Yeah, at my wife’s office, hundred of packages go in and out of that place every day, so no one would care about a rare personal package.
At my office on the other hand, only one department does anything requiring any shipping and me getting a package would be really weird. If I had no other option, I might do it. They probably wouldn’t really care, but it would not be encouraged.
Just go ask the folks in your mailroom in a friendly way. There might be a policy, and they might have a preference.
I used to work at a large office building and had packages delivered there fairly often, as did most of my co-workers. Do be aware that if a package goes missing after it gets to your building, it can be hard to track down, and you’ll have no recourse with the shipper since the mailroom will have signed for it. For guitar strings I wouldn’t worry.
The only reason I wouldn’t have something personal shipped to work is that the shipping and receiving dock is so busy that it might take a day or two for me to receive the package. I could shorten that by going over there and looking for it, but they’re busy with business packages so it seems like it might interfere. So I have personal packages shipped to my home. Sometimes that means I need to go to the Fedex or UPS depots to pick them up. (Which is why I’m happy that Amazon seems to be using the USPS lately, since the post office is closest to home and is I can get there after work.)
But the OP needs to ask his office manager or someone else in charge just to make sure that it’s OK with them.
My company accepts that people are human and allows them reasonable use of supplies, equipment, etc.
Mailroom, deliveries, etc are included, but there is a bunch of language in agreements we sign that it must be within reason.
No one should feel bad to receive a few faxes one day when closing on a home purchase, and a delivery or two is normal. It actually improves morale and reduces staff shrinkage.
Fortunately, not all company decisions are rendered by accountants.
I had something sent to my office once - was living in a place where packages to home were not easily delivered (an apartment building in DC). The mailroom didn’t complain.
Then, of course, the vendor SOLD my address so I started getting crap catalogues at the office :mad:. Never did THAT again.
Of course, we have had electronics sent to my husband’s office; it was a small group of people and nobody cared, and it was safer / more reliable to do that, than to try to be home when FedEx or whomever might be thinking about delivering. I wouldn’t do that if the office setup mandated going through a mailroom - I don’t mind them handling small packages / envelopes but I don’t think they should be wrestling with a CPU.
It would not be a problem for me, or anyone in my office. As others have noted, it shouldn’t be an ebay business or anything, but otherwise no big deal. I know I’d much rather have my secretary spend two seconds signing for a package than have to manage without her for a whole day because she had to be home to sign for a package. Likewise, I would not want to burn a leave day just to sign for a package that may or may not actually be delivered as scheduled anyway.
I used to be able to do it all the time at the newspaper where I worked; then came 9/11. Anthrax scares. All kinds of scares. They started opening the mail off site. Personal mail forbidden. They’ve resumed opening the mail on site, but still no personal packages allowed. My current employer forbids it too. My husband does it all the time at his job.
I went to my mailroom guys and specifically asked, so they understood that I wasn’t taking them for granted. They are cool with it and I am appreciative.
This is something that I always assumed would be unprofessional, but discovered was commonplace when I started seeing Netflix envelopes appear in many co-workers mailboxes. No one raised a stink about it, and they’re obviously personal and come regularly. Out of ~60 cubbyholes there’d be a red envelope sticking out of 2-3 a day. I imagine most employers would be cool with a random package every once in a while, but it might be good to check with some co-workers to find what’s socially acceptable in your office.