A couple times when I had a signature required package, I'll catch the UPS guy walking up to the door without the package but with the "Delivery Attempt Made" sticker in his hand. Today I missed it -- he didn't knock (and if he did, he tapped) and I missed the delivery. I called customer service and am waiting for the local UPS center to call back. Again, this has happened several times before.

I'll add that the other two times I can recall it happening was on a Friday.

One time -- and this was with FedEx -- they told me they would deliver it on Saturday "at no extra charge". Screw you; of course it's no extra charge, it was your fsck up.

Just a rant. Ironically I wish I had a local UPS Store around here so I could just get a box there for package delivery.

[EDIT] Just talked to local dispatch; they told me the driver would attempt another delivery today; time frame between right now and 7 PM.

[ADDED] Apparently I'm not alone: [www.consumeraffairs.com]

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2012 01:16PM by Zoidberg.

If he's gonna go to the effort of actually putting the sticker on the door, why not just bring the box along? Doesn't make sense.

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mikebw
If he's gonna go to the effort of actually putting the sticker on the door, why not just bring the box along? Doesn't make sense.

Sure it does; I live and work in a residential neighborhood. My regular driver knows I work here, the occasional shift-change drivers don't. It's often assumed no one is home during the day, so time is saved by just walking up with the sticker.

Look, I'm not slamming them w/o prior "evidence"; this has happened before to me personally and to a couple of people in the neighborhood.

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I have taken to placing a signed, dated note on my front door on days when I'm expecting packages, and especially those that require signatures. I know there's a risk of identity & package theft, but I live in a great neighborhood and haven't had any trouble thus far with packages disappearing.

I have had 2 terrible confrontations with UPS regarding 2 separate gaffes on their part and, sadly, in both cases it took a lot of F-bombs to get them to realize how angry I was and try to help me. That's not the way I like to do business, and I really don't like csr's who drive you to that point before they decide to help you. D- for UPS in that regard.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2012 01:29PM by $tevie.

Our regular driver is great.
One or two subs are great, too.

But there's one guy ( and why he still works there I don't know) is a complete a hole.
He has asked me and the other tenant in the building to come get the packages out of his truck.
The guy next door called the 800 complaint number and the local UPS terminal to complain and the guy has come back the next day and yelled and screamed at him for calling the 800 number and complaining. Unbelievable.

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billb
Our regular driver is great.
One or two subs are great, too.

But there's one guy ( and why he still works there I don't know) is a complete a hole.
He has asked me and the other tenant in the building to come get the packages out of his truck.
The guy next door called the 800 complaint number and the local UPS terminal to complain and the guy has come back the next day and yelled and screamed at him for calling the 800 number and complaining. Unbelievable.

videotape your next interaction with him, post on youtube.

I finally found the place on their website to enroll in what they call "MyUPS" and after several attempts succeeded in registering. Once you do that you can do electronic signature on their web site even for packages with signature required and they will just leave it at the door. My neighborhood is relatively safe and we both work at home so it works for us.

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tortoise
I finally found the place on their website to enroll in what they call "MyUPS" and after several attempts succeeded in registering. Once you do that you can do electronic signature on their web site even for packages with signature required and they will just leave it at the door. My neighborhood is relatively safe and we both work at home so it works for us.

I found this recently, as well, and it worked great for a package last week. I've been in the habit of just adding a day to my expected delivery date just because I know I won't be home and can't sign a release for it. But now that they let you do it online, it is great.

That said, I think many packages from Amazon (and all from Apple) require that someone signs in person for the package. I understand the reason for that, but if I'm willing to take the risk, I'd like to be allowed to do it.

A couple times when I had a signature required package, I'll catch the UPS guy walking up to the door without the package but with the "Delivery Attempt Made" sticker in his hand.

Standard Operating Procedure for our regular guy. He doesn't attempt to deliver anything. There is a business in one of buildings on our block whose proprietor will sign for our packages. The UPS guy dumps them all there without attempting to see if anyone is home, and sticks notices on the outside door of the relevant buildings.

He makes an exception for my kitty litter shipment (25 and/or 40-lb. bags), but only to leave it in the hall at the bottom of the stairs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2012 02:06PM by ka jowct.

Delivery was just made. The guy apparently was not happy; so I guess my complaint filtered through to him via the dispatcher. I honestly don't like getting people in trouble at work but I'm just tired of this low level of customer service. And UPS is so uneven with it -- sometimes it's stellar, sometimes it just fscking sucks. Depends on the delivery guy I get that day.

FWIW, again, I only happened to be near the front door -- if he knocked, he tapped. The bell wasn't rung (and I just tested it).

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You didn't get him in trouble, Zoid - he got himself into trouble.

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It is what it is.

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ka jowct
A couple times when I had a signature required package, I'll catch the UPS guy walking up to the door without the package but with the "Delivery Attempt Made" sticker in his hand.

Standard Operating Procedure for our regular guy.

This was SOP for our (former) postal carrier. She didn't even bother to carry the packages, just the "Sorry you weren't home" stickers. I think I told the story before about the time my husband left the house to go out and she stumbled into the living room because she was surreptitiously applying the sticker to our front door just as he pulled it open. The really aggravating part was her stickers always claimed it was the third attempt, thereby relieving herself of ever having to hump packages around.

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N-OS X-tasy!
You didn't get him in trouble, Zoid - he got himself into trouble.

Yeah. How DARE someone get in trouble for not actually doing the job they are paid to do.

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If UPS prices were half what they are I'd still expect at least a try.

UPS is my carrier of last choice. They blow chunks & suck moosecock.

USPS Priority Mail is my first choice with FedEx second, way behind USPS.

Our local UPS driver is a nice guy, very energetic, does a good job. Ditto the USPS folks. Fed Ex and Fed Ex Ground are pretty good as well.. Maybe you need to move to NE Ohio ?

I guess I'm spoiled.

Now the Cable TV people and the other utility companies ? Meh.

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testcase
UPS is my carrier of last choice. They blow chunks & suck moosecock.

I just had to quote this for hilarity/emphasis.

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trisho.
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Official Card-Carrying Mother Earthin' Sl*t.

Whenever I learn my package is to be sent via UPS, I die a little inside.

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Our old postman and UPS guys were great. I have had the exact problem you are dealing with. I had to call ad complain when waiting on an important check. They don't even knock or ring doorbell. With help of dispatch, I had to chase a non english speaking driver down while attempting to talk to him by his cell phone. He was un cooperative and would not meet me in the local shopping center...he kept moving, even when I told him I was a block from him. Pouring rain. I was pissed. He said "don't get me in trouble" Huh??? I said to him, "Don't you think people want to get their deliveries on time? That the packages might be important? Why are we using UPS, if they are not? This guy is now my regular driver. Great.


Now I leave a BIG note on the door, that I am home and to knock or leave the package. They don't even give you time to walk thru your condo to the door. I have had to run down the sidewalk after them.


Made me so nervous when I was getting my MBP and iPad, in 2 different shipments. Their online my UPS was not reliable or accurate.


The USPS is even worse. They break everything.

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N-OS X-tasy!
You didn't get him in trouble, Zoid - he got himself into trouble.

Yep. Professionals make mistakes too, but they know how to fix them.

Amateurs make mistakes and get upset when they have to figure out how to fix them.

I have the best UPS guy on the planet. He's like the stereotyped butcher or milkman from the 1960s family-oriented sitcom. I always give him something at holiday time even if I have to work to catch up with him. I see him all around the neighborhood most days. It's like a little piece of Mayberry in the ghetto.
My current mail carrier sucks, and is also of the variety that will seek vengeance with impunity if you go over her head with a problem. But for the most part if a package is sent USPS, I'll get it. I used to receive no notice at all from the carrier, though, and then the first I'd learn of a package was the notice from the station that they'd only hold it another week or whatever.
Calling the 800 number with USPS complaints is absolutely essential if you're having service problems-- they're logged and tallied and managerial heads do roll based on how your station ranks in complaints.
My experience with FedEx is exactly as described in the OP, but when my regular UPS guy is off service immediately descends to the same hell.
It's all in the luck of the draw, is the moral of my story. If you do have a good carrier/delivery person, do what you can to get positive feedback to the right place.

I will say the UPS phone customer service is pretty darn good and seeks to solve issues quickly. No such thing at USPS.


I miss my Mailman Tim - It was like Mayberry.

I'd give my left something to have a MailBoxes Etc again around here. There's a UPS Store buyout version in the next town, which is about 20 miles each way. Not bad but not a daily commute I'd want to add to my gas bill.

I read that the USPS is moving towards package acceptance for POB addresses from "competition delivery services" but my PO is way down on the list of those that will accept it. Looking forward to it; my USPS location (Alexander AR) is terrific.

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This was SOP for our (former) postal carrier. She didn't even bother to carry the packages, just the "Sorry you weren't home" stickers. I think I told the story before about the time my husband left the house to go out and she stumbled into the living room because she was surreptitiously applying the sticker to our front door just as he pulled it open. The really aggravating part was her stickers always claimed it was the third attempt, thereby relieving herself of ever having to hump packages around.

That has gone on here with the USPS for years. It's somewhat understandable, given the capacity of the little mail carts they push around the route. But annoying anyway, especially because they often weren't even leaving notice of faux-attempted-delivery. Once I got a notice after the package had been sitting at the PO branch for 3 weeks.

Lately they have been better about delivering packages, because the packages are not being delivered by the regular carriers. They're coming on trucks. And they are now willing to leave them for us in the same local business where UPS and Fedex leave packages for us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2012 11:28AM by ka jowct.

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decocritter
I will say the UPS phone customer service is pretty darn good and seeks to solve issues quickly. No such thing at USPS.

I have had drastically different experience with UPS customer service.

Me, too.

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