Murphy's Law and me kicking myself

[dbvirago]

I never use UPS if I have a viable alternative. I've been at home 20 feet from the door, hear the doorbell ring, and by the time I open the door, the truck is gone and the package is laying on the sidewalk in full view of the street. They don't care if you are home, whether the package is hidden from view or protected from the weather. May as well use the postal service.

 

[frommrstomommy]

have you looked for it in weird places? lol they hide my boxes behind trash cans and such all the time. also, not sure of your housing/address situation but we live in military housing and our unit number goes on line two whenever i get stuff from ups and the label never shows our unit so they have to like guess. ive had stuff delivered to neighbors many times.

 

[Tony S]

I always have things delivered with a request that it has to be signed for, no leaving it on the door step. Either I get it or my neighbor signs for it, but then we've had the same UPS and FedEx delivery folks for over 10 years so they know us.

 

[bratkinson]

Unfortunately, there are a number of unscroupulous individuals looking for 'easy/quick money' and they simply follow a delivery truck and wait for a delivery to a semi-obscure residence. On the other side of the coin, there are people who willingly commit fraud and claim their package was not delivered and demand a replacement. I'm sure that UPS and Fedex have dealt with all kinds.

But on the other side of the coin, there are less than completely honest delivery drivers. The UPS driver I assisted on most days of the 3+ weeks I was a driver helper groaned every time I brought the box back to the truck and left a tag when nobody answered the doorbell. A driver I spent one day with insisted after I brought back the first box that all other signature required packages be delivered and I simply scribble unintelligibly some fake signature. At Fedex, the driver I trained with for a week would take the package back and leave a tag the first day, but scribble something and leave it and a tag the second day. Of note is that Fedex (and I think UPS, too) have removed the option on the door tag for the person to sign the tag and leave it on the door the next day. A thief could easily see the tag the first day, take it, and put it back the 2nd day with a fake signature and the driver would leave the package, oblivious to the fact the 'real' person didn't sign the tag, and the package would be gone shortly thereafter.

Bottom line, although 'signature required' is a good method to assure successful delivery, there are sometimes failures. Safest bet...make sure someone is home to receive the package...or, have it delivered to your workplace.