• Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    3 days ago

    Why do package delivery companies in the United States seem to just leave the package on the doorstep when the person isn’t home. That seems like such an obviously stupid thing to do.

    Pretty much everywhere else the package delivery companies would either take the product back with them and deliver it on another day or contact the person via the contact details they have and request a safe place to leave it. Most delivery companies will let you specify this when you make the order.

    Or if it’s not bin day they can just put it in the recycling bin.

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 days ago

      If it’s a phone I wouldn’t want it left on my porch. But literally anything else? Leave it there. I don’t want to go out of my way to pick up a USB cable that was ordered online.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        3 days ago

        But we don’t all have houses large enough where navigating it constitutes a chore.

    • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Many areas in the u.s. are spread out pretty far. If the office isn’t open when I get off of work then I can’t pick it up. There’s a lot of post offices, even small towns have one, so that’s not such a big deal. Amazon, FedEx, and UPS offices are few and far between. I couldn’t even tell you where I found pick up one of their packages in my area.

      • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 days ago

        Here in Germany, DHL and Amazon have their own parcel drop off lockers where they put your parcels in and send you a code to retrieve it. You then have several days to get it. And these stations are plenty in every city.

        • CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          This is a relatively new technology; we have this in the states as well. As the systems get cheaper, more intuitive, more well-understood, they’re rolling out to more places. I’ve seen one in a very small town, and there’s a number of them outside of middle-high class apartment complexes.

          • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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            2 days ago

            The first ones were built in 2001 here, they’re quite established. Problem is now that they sometimes are so full so that your parcel cannon be delivered to the one that you specified. Especially before Christmas it’s insane. Sometimes DHL will deliver to a Post office instead which is not near the place you wanted.

    • GHiLA@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      Why do package delivery companies in the United States seem to just leave the package on the doorstep when the person isn’t home. That seems like such an obviously stupid thing to do.

      Because no one forces them to.

    • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Because if the delivery requires you to sign for it, the delivery driver will just walk up to your house and slap a “we missed you” sticker on your door and get right back in his truck without even attempting to deliver it. If they even bother getting out of the truck at all that is.

      We don’t have enough PTO time to take entire days off from work just so we can be home for a delivery that doesn’t show up over and over.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I’ll tell you why. Time.

      I used to live two hours away from a UPS delivery hub. it could take weeks for me to get a delivery from UPS after I was supposed to get it.

      they used to not deliver packages unless you were there. I missed the first delivery, the next two times they never showed up and said they did.

      over two months later I finally had to drive two hours to the distribution hub and claim my package.

      I had no option of who to ship my package with. that was entirely left up to the seller.

      I now live 15 minutes away from the same distribution hub and it STILL takes a month extra to get my packages.

      this is why I tell every delivery service to just leave it at the door.

      our options suck, sellers refuse to use USPS because we have a corrupt bitch running it that’s running it into the ground, and I just don’t have the time to wait 3-4 times the shipping length for products I bought.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        Wow, you must live in the Bermuda Triangle or something. The latest I’ve had a package be delivered is like 2 days, and usually my packages get here early. It doesn’t matter if it’s USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, OnPoint (or whatever it’s called), or some other random carrier, I’ve never had a package stolen, lost, or significantly damaged. FedEx seems more likely to be a day or two late, Amazon, UPS, and USPS are usually a day early, and the others are less consistent.

        That said, I live pretty close to an Amazon warehouse, my USPS office seems to be a regional hub, and I’m just outside the area for the worst FedEx in the state. It’s probably because I’m just outside a larger metro area of a smaller state, but honestly, my delivery service rocks.