We Are One of Those: FedEx Package Stolen From Front Door

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My son’s big present this year is a new laptop. Ivylad ordered it from NewEgg. We live too close to the post office to get our mail delivered at our house, so our address is a P.O. Box. FedEx was delivering the gift to our physical address.

Now, I’m off work this week. Tuesday I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning, but Ivylad didn’t come with me and we were home the rest of the day. The doorbell never rang.

Ivylad checked the tracking yesterday and they said the package was delivered on Tuesday. :mad:

We do not have it. Ivylad called FedEx and NewEgg, and there will be some back and forth in order to get this replaced. I suggested we get this delivered to my work for security purposes, but they said since it’s a replacement it has to go to the same address. We’re waiting for an e-mail confirmation and we’re going to request a signature delivery this time.

It most likely won’t arrive in time for Christmas, but at least they’re being decent about it. We’re going to stop by the sheriff substation in town to mention it. Maybe they can increase patrols in our neighborhood.

2

Heh. That happens on literally daily basis in the area we live in. We just have them leave the delivery slip rather than the package, at this point. Rather unfortunate, but what can you do?

3

I know FedEx and UPS are super busy this time of year and probably can’t spare the time for the driver to ring the bell, wait for it to be answered, hand over the package, and get a signature.

But I would think tech places like NewEgg would require signature for delivery, at least to protect themselves.

4

Signature delivery used to the be the norm. Now you have to ask for it.

5

They don’t even knock.

6

I haven’t had UPS or Fed Ex knock on the door since we moved to Texas six years ago. They drop the package on the doorstep and boogie. At least we live in a pretty safe neighborhood and the door is set back from the street a long way so haven’t lost anything yet. Where we lived in California if they had left it on the doorstep it would have been gone in 15 seconds so luckily they knocked and waited. I’m not sure what the rules are but I don’t think either service allows their drivers enough time to knock and wait at every address.

Sorry about the laptop,** ivylass**. I hope it gets there by xmas but at least it’s going to get there.

7

Just had the same thing happen to us. Except that my wife was home and it was the post office delivering two packages. One shoes, the other a tablet. She heard the mailman stop to drop them off and went down to get them a few minutes later only to find a single package at the door. Checked the delivery notifications and both tracking numbers said that both packages were delivered. Called Amazon to tell them the package did not arrive as tracking information noted. Amazon agreed to replace tablet free of charge but it would take two days to process new order.

A day and half later, the mailman arrives late in the evening and drops another package. My wife walks out before he gets a chance to leave to ask what happened to the previous missing package. Turns out he’s re-delivering it because he mis-delivered it to the same house address but different street two days prior.

8

I live in an apartment complex, and half the time, the FedEx / UPS people leave things in the hallway, in front of the apartment door.

When I was moving in, the movers would take all my boxes from point A to point B, then point B to point C, etc., leaving boxes unattended at times. Well, as I was unpacking, I noticed that my bookshelf was no longer full. I realized that someone must’ve taken one of the boxes.

When I was packing my apartment, the night before the movers were to come, I realized I needed to check the dishwasher, and sure enough, my former roommate never ran it, leaving a slew of dishes, plates, etc., with food caked on it. I had already packed the cleaning products, and didn’t have time to do them, so I decided I’d pack them as is, and wash them at my new place. Also, considering how heavy law school textbooks are, I would only put a few in each box, and supplement the remainder of the space with light objects.

So, yeah, I really hope the thief enjoyed their Rules of Civil Procedure and casserole dish of caked-on cheese potato casserole.

After hearing of a few people having things stolen, I make it a habit now of taking any packages left “vulnerable” to the front office and the management contacts the person to let them know they can pick it up.

At least they are working with you to rectify the situation. Hope your son isn’t too disappointed.

ETA: I’ve never heard of a post office not delivering things because you are too close to them. Is this a common thing?

9

I cannot adequately explain how much I love my Ring doorbell. The motion sensor starts the camera while they are still 20 feet away from my front door and records them as long as the sensor detects motion. I can even talk with the people at my door if I want, even when I’m not home. For $30/year, all the video and audio is stored remotely, so stealing the doorbell won’t erase the recording. And if the doorbell is stolen, Ring will not only replace it for free, they’ll come and install the new one.

There are other people making similar products now; I’d highly recommend getting one if you have a lot of packages delivered (and with Amazon’s popularity in the US, I reckon this is most of us).

10

I heard an interesting NPR article recently about UPS and delivery route optimization.

The new-and-improved delivery route planning software is so precise and thorough that an additional 60 seconds at a delivery stop can throw the whole route off. The current version of ORION can’t do a route replan, so the route plan is wrecked if the driver has to wait to hand-deliver too often on the route. Plenty of incentive to drop-and-dash, and it’s not the driver’s problem if the intended recipient can’t be bothered to rush down and retrieve their package before the vultures descend. :mad:

Overall, these delivery services work miracles, but the failures are as predictable as they are aggravating.

11

Either that or request that the package be held at the Fedex distribution center. They also offer an option of redirecting packages to Fedex Office (formerly Kinko’s) locations, or standalone Fedex shipping centers. But I think they may charge a few bucks for those options.

12

There was a story about this on the news recently.

One guy that kept getting boxes taken off his doorstep started putting boxes out there himself in the morning…full of dog shit. (And yes, it also got stolen)

13

Bwah-hah-hah!

Ivylass, so sorry you have to deal with this vexation, but happy that it sounds like it will work out in the end.

As Americans living abroad, we spend a few scattered weeks each year in the US, and we always have heaps of stuff delivered to us during our visits, as we stock up on stuff we can’t get in Indonesia.

I’ve been amazed at the cavalier attitude of Fed Ex/DHL/UPS delivery staff - they dump stuff on the doorstep and just assume it will be fine. Now, in our case it always has been, so far. But I’m shocked at how casually they leave expensive stuff at the door with no guarantee that the correct person will get it.

14

Did they burn his house the next night?

15

There was a story on the DC news this morning - neighbors spotted some guys in a pickup truck gathering packages from porches. They called the police who caught the thieves with something between 70-80 stolen packages in their truck. They’d come all the way from Baltimore to gather goodies.

The police then delivered the packages to the intended recipients or left a note telling where they could get their stuff. Yay for observant neighbors!

We’re in a safe area and you can’t see our porch from the road. Not that we order all that much stuff, but so far, nothing’s been pilfered.

16

These incidents must be rare. As the seller (Amazon, etc.) is able to replace the items and still be profitable.

17

Don’t you realize there is an alternative? Buy or build a parcel delivery box.

18

I can’t be as clever as I’d want to be with this, since it would involve editing your quote. Anyway, I thought you were going for “…alternative? Buy local and skip shipping.” Which is actually a cool idea, IMHO. Not always realistic, since no local outlet has the variety of an Amazon or eBay, but a nice idea in principle nonetheless… and fairly resistant to delivery-related grief.

19

Package theft is a particular problem in our area. Our postal carrier warned us about it day 1. We had to have a package actually stolen–before our very eyes–before we believed it (and yes, we got his license plate number). Now we mail packages at the post office and make a point of going out to meet the carrier every day.

20

Yeah, my neighborhood came with a Nosy Old Fart Neighbors Security System already installed.