Uhm...FedEX?

[Primer]

All these horror stories make me feel grateful that we have a wonderful UPS driver, and USPS carrier. FedEx is another story, though. Thank goodness only one business I ever order from requires them--but come to think of it--the last several orders from them have come via UPS.

Woohoo! I love my delivery guys!

[Mystic]

Maybe try a less passive aggressive approach?
Just put up a sign that says, "Please ring bell for deliveries!"

I had one guy I was delivering to who had a note on his door that said "please leave packages on porch"... which was on his porch... Go figure.

I didn't know that they were just leaving packages outside doors now. Before that package, I had always had to sign for it. I even had to sign for a freaking box of cookies that the car dealership had sent me. If I didn't answer the door, I'd always gotten a "Sorry we missed you" tag.

I think it would be because a lot of people wouldn't get their packages because most people are working when delivery people are out. Ours have always just left packages on our porch as long as I can remember unless I required signature for it by request (such as recording studio gear which I wouldn't even dream about leaving on my porch).

All these horror stories make me feel grateful that we have a wonderful UPS driver, and USPS carrier. FedEx is another story, though. Thank goodness only one business I ever order from requires them--but come to think of it--the last several orders from them have come via UPS.

Woohoo! I love my delivery guys!

Too true. We have some awesome delivery guys in our area. A lot of that probably has to do with the fact that they would never be able to get away with some of the things I read about that happen in cities around here. Well, that and they are just awesome people.

[Sapphire Silk]

There's a reason that any deliveries I need get shipped to my office. Not that I don't trust the delivery drivers. I don't really trust all my neighbors. Thankfully, I have an office where I can do that. Not everyone can.

A lot of people I work with used to have their packages shipped to work for that very reason. But the shipping department got overwhelmed, especially at Christmas, so the directive was put out: NO shipping of personal items to campus. If you get caught, it could mean your job.

My USPS carrier and the UPS carrier in my neighborhood are both wonderful. Most of my deliveries come from one or the other. I've had problems with FedEx in that when they miss me they're supposed to attempt redelivery, and never do: I always end up having to go to the hub.

Both the USPS and UPS carriers will bring my packages to the front porch, where I have a couple of lawn chairs. They usually put them there, and they're out of sight from casual observation.

DHL left a package very obviously leaning against the garage door where every tom dick and harry could see it. It's a wonder it didn't walk away.

[suburbandecay]

I've seen them mark packages as delivered, only to have them show up a few hours later. At the mall, the UPS driver would scan them all as deliverered when he took them off the truck. Often, I would have to complain about my "10am guaranteed" packages showing up late in the afternoon, only to find out that they were "delivered" at 9:00am.

I spent 6 years working for FedEx Express (that's an important distinction for employees) and I can tell you for a fact that would have had one of our drivers fired on the spot. They didn't play around with falsifying scans.

I always felt bad for the drivers ( I worked at an airport facility). The horror stories I heard....

[Catwoman2965]

I'm dealing witn a fed ex issue at work; we have daily fed ex packages to our regional offices. I send stuf every now and then to one, for filings that need to be hand-delivered. sent one on Thurs, and on friday, AFTER i left, my CW emailed me, asking for the tracking # as it never arrived.

of course i was gone, so i got it today, looked, and lo and behold, it says SHE signed for it, but that it was delivered to the receptionist in her bldg. I'm not sure of the set up; does reception normally take delivery, or do they call and she comes down? Either way, no package, as my CW asked reception, they had nothing, and she certainly did not sign for anything. and it says delivery failed, then 2 minutes later, that reception took delivery of it.

so then to SEE the actaul signature, you put in your accoutn no., and supposedly it pulls it up. well, i did that, and it says none currently available!!! so my guess is Fed Ex eitehr just left it, and reception lost it, or reception never saw it either.

and to make it worse, i explained it ALL to my boss, who then, 10 minutes later, comes over and says what happens when ou put in teh tracking #, and wanted to see! I told you dumbass! it SHOWS it was delivered, and she signed for it, but THAT IS NOT THE CASE. kill me now please.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I have so much stuff delivered by mail to my house that during the holiday, I put a huge red plastic storage tub on my porch (my porch is not covered) that says "Please place deliveries under tub. Thank you." This gives them a dry place to store boxes if I am not at home.

I fortunately do not have to worry about my neighbors stealing my stuff.

Sometimes, the carriers leave boxes in the cars if I leave them unlocked, with a note to that affect on the porch (if the tub is full or not out there).

If I am home and see them, I always thank them.

Simply saying "here is the doorbell" is not a call to action. They may not even realize who that note is aimed at. "Please ring for delivery" is an actual instruction, and unmistakably for them.

[Moon]

I'm glad I live in an apartment complex... If you're not home, they deliver to the complex office where I can pick up my package later. Note is left on the outer door of my building indicating where it is. I don't recall any unattended packages during the Christmas season, so they must still follow that policy.

I am reminded of an incident in 1999... I had ordered a computer by telephone. Due to a miscommunication with the sales rep, it first got sent to a small town in KENTUCKY that isn't even on most maps instead of a medium-sized city in MICHIGAN (they misheard the zip code and changed the second and fourth digits to a 1, did not verify the city that came up and I thought I had spoken clearly enough so it didn't occur to me to double-check either). I got a call around the time it was supposed to be delivered from the delivery service (forget if it was FedEx or DHL... don't think it was UPS) asking where it was SUPPOSED to go. I confirm the correct city and it gets sent along. No big deal so far, perfectly understandable and partially my fault... Also it was easily rectified and became a somewhat amusing anecdote.

Here's where the fun begins.... As I worked days at the time and knew I wasn't going to be home at the time they delivered, I had put on the notes to release to my neighbor (and listed his name specifically). One would think that this is merely giving him permission to sign for it in my absence. Well, they left the package in the UNSECURED hallway of our building! (House that had been converted to 4 apartments... we had the two downstairs units). Driver just LEFT IT THERE, and did not even attempt to knock on his door to ensure he was there to assume possession of it or that it would be safe. Luckily he was there and watching for it, as we lived right on the edge between a fairly nice neighborhood and the ghetto. Granted these were fairly big boxes, but leaving a thousand dollars of merchandise just sitting there? I didn't say "leave if no response", I said "release to Christopher Robin (not his real name, obviously)." If that is not the proper way to entrust an alternate contact with a package, how should I have noted it?

Note that this was NOT during Christmas... I bought it either with my tax return or student loan proceeds (don't recall which) so it was between February and May.

[Darkforge]

Well I've just found out about one of my orders placed before Christmas. It's kind of a minor suck withthe shop for being numpty's but i'll let it slide compared to the suck of the courier.

My other half ordered a present for me in late october (so plenty of time to go wrong) for me, it was apparently shipped on the first of November by Parcel Force (they are quite big here in the UK) but the company she ordered from failed to give her a tracking number at the time (minor suck, but it shouldn't really matter)

Anyway, come mid december no parcel, we contact the shop and get a tracking number that says it's already been delivered, so we contact parcel force and find out that the parcel for that tracking number was delivered, to another address to mine. We go back to the shop and it turns out they just made a typo and gave us the wrong tracking number.

We email the shop again for our tracking number and get given another one when they opened again after christmas (on the 17th Jan). So accordign to parcel force, it was picked up on the day of shipping, taken to the depot in my town (100yards form my house I might add), then taken down to another depot, then transported to BERLIN, GERMANY, then transported back to my town, and then to a different depot in Germany where it is currently situated. So after 2 and a half months I contacted Parcel force who insisted that the parcel was taking the "most direct route"

Yeah, that rep had to backtrack when I asked "So the most direct route from the depot in my town to the other end of the same street is via Germany, twice?"

At that the rep admited they had no idea whya and was putting a recall on it and that once it got to the depot they would keep it there until collection.

The latest look at the tracking shows it's now back in the correct country and as soon as it shows at my local depot I'm racing down there before it leaves for china.

You know the worst thing?

I still have no idea what the hell the present in this parcel is, for all I know I'm going through all this for a hideous reindeer jumper...

[computeraide]

Another DHL story...

We ordered some books from a company in the UK and received all of them except 1 book. Package 2 of 4 went missing in Cleveland or Cincinnati (can't remember which). I was told by the DHL representative to file a claim for the item. I filed it back in October.

And waited. And waited.

Tried to call DHL's claim department a month later. Got sent to voicemail. Left a voicemail. Waited some more.

Holidays came and went. Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. Finally got a warm body at the claims department when I called again in January. Was informed that the shipper had to file the claim, not me, and that it had to be done within 30 days of shipment. Claim was denied. So we got royally screwed and just decided to write it off since it was under $50 and a pain in the ass to continue pursuing.