Last week I ordered something VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. And the merchant just sent me an e-mail telling me it's been shipped and giving me the TRACKING NUMBER.
It doesn't matter whose tracking number it is--UPS's or FEDEX's--it means I'll spend the next week or so playing DOOR NOTICE TAG with the shipper.
They will not leave it at my condo without my signature (or somebody else's). And since most of us are gainfully employed at other locations during the hours when the good folks from Brown or Purple&Black are out delivering, this means we don't get our packages!
I am kicking myself here for not making a point of requesting that the merchant send this VERY IMPORTANT item via the USPS. That's right....good old Mr/Ms ZIP, courier for the US Snail.
The USPS ALWAYS leaves stuff eiher right in my mailbox or inside my outer door. ALWAYS. They have KEYS to get in our building! And they have COMMON SENSE.
It's not that the delivery folks from Brown or Purple&Black don't have common sense. What they especially DON'T have is keys to my condo, so THEIR HANDS ARE TIED.
If they want to keep their jobs, they jolly well have to get a signature on their little signature doohickey before they leave anything at my place. And since they can't get in, they can't get a signature. So what they do leave is one of those dreaded little door notices.
The door notices tell you that the delivery company TRIED to deliver your package, but you were not at home! (Gee....)
They say they will come back tomorrow sometime in one of two six-hour periods--when you will not be at home, either.
Unless the merchant has checked the little box that says no signature is required, you'll get ANOTHER door notice tomorrow. And so on.
Your choice is to stay home to wait for the delivery or find someone who will take it for you. And you will have to call your doctor to ask for a stronger pill for your high blood pressure.
So...If you are a merchant that sells VERY IMPORTANT THINGS, maybe you should try USPS. The postage charges are way less than those of UPS or FEDEX.
Best of all, the people to whom you are sending the package can count on having it delivered, even if they live in an apartment house or a condo building.
Try it sometime. I hear they'll even come pick up your package now, just like you-know-who!!
Bloody 'bout time!
Oh hell! If I've hollered at them once, I've hollered at them 1,000 times. I through what an old friend calls a "hillbilly fit" when I discovered that DHL (or is it DLH?) had been to my house twice without leaving a note that they had been here with MY NEW COMPUTER. I was screaming when they offered to leave it on my front porch. I finally raised enough hell that they delivered it on a Saturday (we can't do that Ms. Dennison). It's just one of many reasons I'm done doing business with Dell. My blood pressure doesn't need the crap.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteEveryone complains about the good old USPS but I think it's the best buy in the World.They are fast, dependable and cheap...
Just imagine writing a letter to your friend in California and you step outside of your home in Pennsylvania and put that letter in a little box and put the red flag up.
Next thing you know the mail truck is outside and the mailperson is taking that letter. Now it will be flown 3,000 miles and given to another mailperson in San Francisco,who will walk it to your friend's door and slip it through her mail slot.
All this for 41 cents!!!!! You can't buy a pack of M&Ms for 41 cents.
From now on, insist on the USPS if you know you will not be at home.
I like UPS and Fed Ex, but only if I expect to be at home when it is delivered.....
Ya know, there's no reason that FedEx can't also have a key to your condo. Talk to someone on your Board and tell them that you want FedEx to be able to get in. In my condo, all of the delivery peeps have a code to get in. It makes life so much simpler!
ReplyDeletekay: i know what you mean about the blood pressure. i usually ask them to deliver it to my office, but sometimes i FORGET and then i have a little snit when i see one of those freaking yellow delivery notices. not good. i shud meditate or something.
ReplyDeletenancy: thanks!! you said it all. the USPS p.o. has become a friendlier place than it was, say, five years ago. most of the clerks with major attitude have retired or moved somewhere else. you're so right...it's one of the GREAT bargains in the world. heck, i remember when they used to deliver mail on christmas day back in wwII just in case somebody's loved one in the service had sent them a card. god bless em, i say.
anonymous: everybody and their dog seems to have a key to the buildings around here, but NOT the non-USPS delivery peeps. i certainly shall ask the condo management folks. they'll take care of that as soon as they get around to...ah...all that other stuff.
AND, alternatively, you can sign with Fed Ex leaving them permission to leave stuff outside your apt. door. They will do it!
ReplyDeleteBut great post. Love yer writin'
anonymous:
ReplyDeletedon't think my fellow condo dwellers and i have not tried signing our permission to federalex. they are ESPECIALLY dismissive of this around here. they really have us by the short hairs. i'm going to have to take my toprol now....
thanks fr ur comments, btw. you seem like an intelligent person. most of the people who comment here are either my relatives or a select few friends--not that they are not all highly intelligent, scholars and captains of whatever--but gee...i think you are my first totally random commenter!