It has for me with UPS, after I lost a $200 laptop battery to thieves in my apt bldg. in Chicago. The USPS never left anything unattended, so the hassle was going to the local PO to get the package and they were just a couple of blocks away.
I dunno about my current sitch. Here in rural KY they just leave the package on your porch, but I’ve missed packages because well-meaning neighbors see it and take it home with them, then tell me the next time they see me - whenever that is. It’d almost be less annoying if the packages were stolen.
At least here they knock or ring the bell - in Chicago I’d get a text/e-mail that I missed a delivery, though I was sitting in my living room.
How about Amazon just delivers to the secure location at Chimer’s residence (the apartment office)? Why have to deal with an extra stop when there is a perfectly workable solution?
Some apartment building managers don’t want to be in the business of accepting packages for tenants. Liability for one, and also a lack of space. Plus I know my building manager is often not in the office.
If you read the rest of the thread, Chimera said that everything else that’s delivered by other retailers is left in the office and isn’t a problem. So in this case, the building manager is clearly fine with being the drop-off point for packages. The fault is with Amazon (and/or the delivery company but it’s still ultimately Amazon’s fault).
I lived for 6 months at an apartment complex with a similar arrangement. All packages were delivered to the main office. If they weren’t I’m sure I’d have lost items through theft.
I’ve had problems with Amazon orders before. Generally with shipments where they said my address was incorrect. Which is laughable because I probably order at least one item a month through Amazon, probably more, and almost never have problems. Which tells me that those orders are probably this system where an amateur delivery person tries to drop things off and screws up because they have no idea what they’re doing.
I’ll say that every single time I had the situation resolved happily by contacting Amazon directly. A phone call works or doing the online chat. No waiting for a response because you’re having an immediate conversation. Don’t do the “report a problem” because that just sends an email that they’ll take forever to get to.
It depends on where you live. Sometimes packages are delivered to the office, sometimes they are left in the lobby, sometimes they are on your front porch, sometimes they’re in a “cluster box” down the street.
I’ve never heard of a change in the delivery fee based on that.
I’ve lived in apartments where the driver just stuck an infonotice in the front hall and left without even attempting to knock on my door (in a 6 unit condo style apartment. He would have had to walk less than 30 feet.
It seems to be different in different places, on UPS . com, I’m finding this " Will UPS deliver my package if I am not at home? ///
Shipments that do not require a signature can be left in a safe place at the driver’s discretion,<snip> with a neighbor or leasing office (which would be noted in a yellow UPS InfoNotice® left by the driver).
Also, while I’m not sure if it would work in this situation, the OP could try playing around with UPS mychoice.
I’ll bet they do, I’ll bet the policy is that they accept packages. At all the apartments I’ve lived at, that was actually a perk, it meant being able to get your stuff that day instead of who knows when (or it being left who knows where or missing it totally and having it sent back).
If you’re driving at asking for a refund from the processor, that’s no different than disputing the charge with your credit card. But still, start with the seller. It’s going to be, by far, the fastest way to get anything done.
In the end, IME, what it comes down to is, policy or not, the drivers all sort of do their own thing, but something they all pay attention to is how fast they’re moving. Based one some driver’s I’ve talked to (I have a daily pick up at my store) and the documentaries I’ve seen, speed seems to be the most important thing to them. There’s a reason you see youtube videos of UPS guys lobbing packages out the window. In fact, my favorite WTF story is when a driver had to drop up about 30 (good sized) boxes at my store and decided a good place for them was directly inside the back door. I could not convince him to move them or explain to him why blocking the door wasn’t a good idea. When I threatened to call his boss (I had the local number) and report him to whoever answered at the 800 number he told me to I should go ahead. He seemed pretty sure this was kosher. Funny thing was A)He showed back up about 10 minutes later to move them so he clearly got in trouble for it and I never saw him again and B)one of the people that I spoke to asked for the camera footage to see how stupid it actually was and when I pulled it I found that it was blocking the back door so badly he actually had to climb over his 4 or 5 foot stack to get back out…and still stood by it being okay.
Final thought: a nice touch for landlords would be to text tennets when they have a package waiting way when they get a text that says “Hi joey, you have something from UPS in the office, we close at 5 tonight and open at tomorrow morning” you could grab it on your way home instead of getting all the way back up to your apartment just to have to walk back to the office.
It might be worth pointing out that the service is only available in a little over 50 cities. There are in the neighborhood of 20,000 cities in the US.
Yes, but some cities are near others, even right next to them.
And, we don’t know where Chimera lives. It could be that he lives in one of the 50+ cities that have Amazon lockers or in a city adjacent to one that does; we don’t know. That’s why we asked.
I recently had occasion to receive a couple of checks via FedEx courier. They told me that a signature would be required and I would need to be home to meet the courier. As a matter of fact they were for quite a lot of money, more than I had ever received, or ever will again receive at one time. You could justly say this was the most important FedEx delivery I’ve ever had.
So I’d been watching the tracking, and when it came close to the “at-the-latest-by” designated time, I decided to go down and wait for the driver. I almost bumped into him coming out of the elevator on the first floor, holding an envelope.
Is that for <my name>? I asked.
He answered in the affirmative.
You need a signature?
He nodded and handed me the little electronic gadget.
I signed.
He gave me my envelope.
And then he went his way without having verified I was who I said I was!
Most restricted delivery shipments also allow for delivery to an agent. Unless this was sent with an “addressee only, no exceptions” service I’m not familiar with, that sounds perfectly acceptable to me.
If you had said “Whose that for?” instead of “Is that for [name]”, I’d agree with you, but I see no problem as this was done.
Heck, even process servers don’t check IDs.
That said, I did get a few alcohol shipments from UPS that didn’t involve ID checks, even though the box, the service, and the law expressly require them (not for identity, but age). That surprised me.
[Regardless of whether of not the shipper knew this]
All that’s needed when UPS or FedEx requires a signature is a signature, that’s it. Anyone at all can sign for it. It’s not to make sure the named recipient gets it, it’s just a proof of delivery. If a shipper wants to make sure the person who’s name is listed is the only person that can accept the package they need to set use the Hold For Pick Up option. You’ll get a door tag and have to go to FedEx/UPS and pick it up there, where they’ll require a photo ID that matches the name on the label.
At least with UPS, requesting a signature is pretty expensive 4 or 5 bucks. Holding at the UPS depot is free, but I’m sure people would throw a fit about that.
Do you have a cite for that? I live in a village of 40,000, and there at least two Amazon locker locations that I’m aware of. (A grocery store and a gas station)
A cite for what? If you’re disputing Doug’s claim that Amazon has lockers in 50+ cities, you’d have to take it up with Amazon, that’s a nearly direct quote from the wiki article that was included in what quoted and it comes (linked) right from Amazon’s page about the lockers, with a map showing dots on the cities with lockers.
If you have a problem with something else, you’ll have to be more specific.