Technology

It used to be that they would not leave packages unattended at a residence, they would leave a note on the door about an attempted delivery. I suppose with the rise of online shopping things had to change. I don't see American delivery companies bothering with trying to contact you/retrying deliveries, they just want to get out as many packages as possible... and there is a LOT they have to deliver in a day.

You do have a lot of choices in how you want your items delivered depending on the delivery company. Most of the have apps/websites where you can choose to have them hold the package, or deliver it to a specific location on property. By default packages will be left at the door.

Personally I have never had a problem with porch pirates, and if a package is expensive or important I will have the delivery company hold it and pick it up there.

Yeah, same up here in Norway. If I'm not home they will offer to leave the package at a collection point, or drop it off at my place of work. As far as I know, they're not allowed to just leave it at my door step and hope for the best.

The seller can mandate a signature. I've had to sign for valuables like laptops, phones and ammo. (That last one was to prove I'm American.)

When I had my phone delivered it was from a special courier, not the normal post. I had to show ID in order to accept the delivery.

(EU)

In Germany you have to give permission in the tracking menu to have them drop the package off somewhere else. I live in an apartment building so I usually tell them to drop it in the hallway of the building, since there's usually someone at home to at least open the door downstairs if I'm not at home. I've seen packages outside the front door only once here and it is not a place I'd ever choose.

Don't worry, it's shit in places in the EU as well. One delivery guy just left my whole apartment complex's packages, for thousands of households, in front of one apartment.

Really? Where at? Every phone delivery I’ve gotten via UPS does a ding, dong, dash (and sometimes not even ringing the bell). No I don’t have a release signed.

I have to either redirect it to UPS store (hard to do since it’s overnighted and I don’t want to pay an additional fee), or make sure I’m monitoring my camera for motion alerts all day.

I really do think UPS does a better job than FedEx overall, but I gotta say the last time UPS delivered a high ticket item to me, it was supposed to be signed for. The driver dropped it off, gave a knock on the door and immediately left. Did not wait, didn't leave a tag, didn't take it back. I reported it to them. I was across the country at the time and the original delivery estimate was supposed to be two days later, after my return home. It's possible Best buy was the one that fucked up and gave wrong info to UPS though.

In France you can have it delivered to a post office. To pick it up you’ll need to show a state id card as proof.

In Germany you have to show your ID card to get it, at least in theory.

At least in my area, theft really isn't a thing. I don't know anyone on my street who has had a package stolen, and I've ordered TVs, phones, consoles, etc, all of which could be pawned pretty easily.

So the security around these things really should take area into account. A densely populated area like NYC or SF would probably need more strict protections than a place like mine.

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.

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.

In Germany they give it to your neighbor. Kinda drives me crazy, especially for security hardware

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.

Not completely bricked, but they can be blacklisted from all carriers

It's a bit of a rock and a hard place for then. If you won't leave my package and I have to be there or go somewhere else to pick it up? I'm not ordering your shit.

It's in the article. Most of the time they don't, but in areas where theft is an issue they do. But I'm guessing they haven't caught on yet to change the signature policy.