UPS delivery problems

[BigB08822]

I have had problems recently with UPS. They will come to my door and drop off packages without knocking or ringing the doorbell. I usually appreciate that they drop off things because I always want my stuff right away and don't want to have to go get it myself or wait until the next day. However, it bothers me that they just drop and run because there are times when someone sends you a gift or what not and you aren't expecting it! I don't know about everyone else but we never use our front door because we come in through the garage. It is entirely possible that a package could sit on my porch for a week before I, or someone else, notices it. I know they drop and run because I can see them through my blinds or I hear something at the door and I go to look.

I bring this up because my cousin just posted on Facebook that they had a very expensive $500 valued package delivered today while they were gone. It was just dropped off according to UPS but, alas, it is no where to be found. UPS is claiming that their hands are clean but I worry because my cousin is young and I don't want them to screw her over. Can UPS really say "oh well" if there was no signature? They also called wherever they ordered the item from and they claimed they will do a 10 day driver investigation and if nothing comes up they will overnight a new one. That is promising, at least, but this seems like a huge hole in UPS policy. I worked for a logistics company delivering automobile parts. We were NEVER allowed to just leave something unless we had a very well written contract with the customer that said we had permission to leave parts and then it had to be in a specific place and once dropped we were not responsible.

Does this sound like UPS just hoping my cousin wont follow through or is this how it really works?

[aliona22]

It's not UPS policy; the person mailing the package has the option to release it for drop-off. If you want something to be delivered on signature only you have to ask the sender to specify.

[Anita18]

From my experience, UPS sucks. They always leave packages by the door, or if the box is small enough, throw it over the 9-ft fence into our backyard. They're just lucky we never buy anything fragile and they haven't broken anything! I always try to get USPS if I can, because at least they bother to knock.

Your cousin going to the seller is what I'd do. I imagine if they get enough complaints from customers, they'll have to have a talk with UPS themselves or switch carriers.

[ryanbfan]

USPS is amazing. UPS, however, is not.

UPS took over 2 weeks to deliver a DVD to me, and that would've been fine had they updated the tracker thing to at least let me know where my package is. They did update it eventually, but it was the day my package arrived so it was just like

I hate, hate, HATE UPS. I've never had a problem with them just leaving packages at my door but I'd be livid if a $500 package was left at my door and someone did indeed steal it or something else. That's just unacceptable.

And another thing I hate, which isn't necessarily the UPS' problem, but I hate it when someone sends me something package wise and they just smash it into my mailbox. I lived in a campus apartment in Denver and my friend mailed me a Mirai Nagasu autograph she got for me in a big envelope. My apartments just crammed it into my tiny mailbox. Luckily I checked my mail right after mail was delivered or it would've been ruined.

[Allen]

From my experience, UPS sucks. They always leave packages by the door, or if the box is small enough, throw it over the 9-ft fence into our backyard. They're just lucky we never buy anything fragile and they haven't broken anything! I always try to get USPS if I can, because at least they bother to knock.

When I was in grad school, the UPS driver wouldn't leave packages at my door if I didn't answer the door because he "didn't get good vibes off my neighbor" (I lived in a duplex). It actually got frustrating because he would never just leave my packages.

[barbk]

My UPS driver leaves the package and gives the doorbell a quick ring. Could you leave your UPS driver a note asking that he/she do the same?

My neighbor also uses her garage as pretty much the sole entry into her house, and we regularly call her to let her know that a package has been sitting outside her front door since yesterday.

[my little pony]

my UPS man knocks the door and waits for me to open it, I second barbk's suggestion to leave him a note

[victorskid]

I recently had a UPS delivery - it arrived a day later than expected and was just left outside the door. I was at home all day and I know that there was no doorbell rung. It was just lucky that I opened the front door and found the box there. The "hanger" for the door knob was actually hanging off a corner of the box!!

I had been checking their tracker and it was never updated until after the package was delivered. [The sender had not required a signature.]

[ArtisticFan]

My experience with UPS has been horrible. I ordered my textbooks once and they delivered them to the wrong house. I have a garage and the lady at the 800 number kept saying they had left it on the carport. I don't have a carport so that was clue number one. Thankfully my neighbor recognized my name and called me to say she had my package. However, UPS was less than helpful before the package was found - suggesting I visit all the houses in my neighborhood to see if they had my package. Mind you I live on several acres of land and there are maybe 10 houses along a four mile road. When the package was found, I called back to UPS to update them. The guy I got just said..."Cool, we told you we didn't lose it."

You could try leaving a note for them to ring the doorbell, but that hasn't worked in my experience. I've had them actually throw the package from the walkway up on the porch. God forbid I have something fragile, as the driver I usually get doesn't seem to read notes or warnings. I realize they are busy and want to get done with their routes. However, would it really be that hard to take the four steps toward my front door and place the package down instead of throwing it?

[numbers123]

I don't know if all that you say about UPS is actually UPS's fault. Yes they will leave packages at doorsteps without knocking or not getting a response. I assume that there were many people like me who found it very annoying to get home after the UPS distribution center closed to pick up a package. And not be able to pick it up until your next day off.
The delay in getting packages I believe has a great deal of responsibility to the sender. And the rate that you shipped at. And requiring a signature is based upon what the sender has stipulated.
You can leave a note to not leave packages, but the driver may not see it. I have a big sign that I use when my grandbabies are sleeping. It reads DO NOT MAKE ANY NOISE..well you get the idea. And they do follow those instructions.
I don't believe that the USPS or Fed Ex are any better than UPS.

[zhenya271]

My experience is the opposite of Anita18's and ryanbfan's, our UPS carrier/service is for the most part excellent and our USPS service sucks. If my husband wasn't stationed overseas and I didn't have to send things to a DPO address I would prefer to send everything UPS. Seems pretty much the only thing we get through USPS is junkmail. I do wish Amazon would use another carrier though. The mail carrier leaves mailboxes open and we've seen her throw packages up on peoples porches. Just the other day, I was supposed to pick up a package that I guess she didn't want to walk up my long drive to leave on the porch, because it didn't need to be signed for, turned out it was small enough to fit in the mailbox. I don't know what the deal was.

I did have one recent negative experience with UPS. I was waiting for some lipstick to be delivered and I knew it was coming because I was tracking it. I kept waiting and checking the tracking and then I finally noticed that it was updated to delivered status, but there was no package on my doorstep. Turned out it was at my neighbor's of course. I don't know how the carrier could have messed up, it was after the holidays and lots of deliveries, figured it was someone new that day.

[Karina1974]

I've never had any problems with UPS. The last two things I ordered actually came a day earlier than predicted, and I followed the tracking info, so I knew when my deliveries were on the truck. For the most valuable stuff, my present computer and my new Zune (Microsoft's answer to the iPod Touch), I had them shipped to my parents' house, because one of them is always home.

OTOH, my mail carrier is always leaving stuff in my mailbox that is meant for my landlord (whose office is the first floor of the building where I live). And right next to the mailboxes is the door to the 1st floor, with a mail slot right in the bottom. And then there was the carrier who used to leave my mailbox open EVERY TIME I had mail, even in the freaking pouring rain.

[ryanbfan]

I had been checking their tracker and it was never updated until after the package was delivered. [The sender had not required a signature.]

Same thing has happened to me numerous times. Why give us the number if you're not gonna update it?

[a56]

It really depends on the individual employee and how attentive he or she is. I've lived in apartments in three different cities. I've had packages stolen a couple of times (I order a *lot* of stuff online since I'm very lazy ) when they were dropped off by USPS or UPS. I've complained to both USPS and UPS - they don't take you seriously. A woman at the USPS customer service phone number insinuated that I was pretending like the package was stolen just so I could get two of the same item. She "took down" the complaint, but I never heard back. If it's lost or stolen, that's what it is, and there's really nothing they can do or are willing to do about it.

I've actually had relatively good experiences with UPS. However, my current USPS postal carrier lady actually delivered some packages to the wrong address three times within the past couple of months. Totally unacceptable to have that many mistakes within a short period of time. Mistakes are inevitable and will happen (and you really have to depend on the honesty of your neighbors if your mail or packages are delivered to them), but there's a certain point at which one gets very frustrated.

[mysticchic]

I hate my fedex driver. He rings the bell and runs. Even when I need to sign something.
There are people around Christmas that follow the trucks around and steal the packages that drivers leave. I would file a claim agaisnt them

[Auntie]

This Christmas I ordered a bunch of items fromTarget. The UPS tracker said the package was delivered but I never received it. I called Target and they immediately sent a replacement. Then a few days later, the package appeared, opened but intact, at my door!

It was a giant pain to return something that I had been refunded for but Target was great about everything.

My UPS man rings the bell and runs, which is fine with me. I never need to sign anything.

[Karina1974]

I've actually had relatively good experiences with UPS. However, my current USPS postal carrier lady actually delivered some packages to the wrong address three times within the past couple of months. Totally unacceptable to have that many mistakes within a short period of time. Mistakes are inevitable and will happen (and you really have to depend on the honesty of your neighbors if your mail or packages are delivered to them), but there's a certain point at which one gets very frustrated.

That's one good reason why unions should be abolished. When you've got union protection and it will take pulling teeth and nails to get rid of you, you will be more lax at your job. Same with tenure. Every single "perk" of a job, including the right to keep that job, should be based entirely on merit and job performance, not on how long a person has been with the company.

The carrier for my job (who just recently retired) was famous for getting the mail wrong. He even used to switch the route around so that he would end up at his own house (his house was on his route) at noontime so he could eat lunch at home. Carriers aren't supposed to be doing that. They would take him off the route and "punish" him with desk duty for a time, and then put him back out on the street again. He actually walked out only weeks before his retirement, because he got into a spat with management.

[ArtisticFan]

I will say my UPS driver is typically less scary than the USPS driver. My USPS driver thinks that he's a racecar driver. He has almost taken out our mailbox by driving so fast around the curve. If I don't have any mail coming to me that day, forget him picking something up from me even if that little red flag is up. Sometimes I just see a trail of dust behind him.

[Meredith]

There are many instances where I don't have an option to request that packages are/not left at my door or on my porch. The FedEx terminal is about 65 miles away from my home, and retrieving packages is such a pain. The local UPS terminal closes 1 hour before I return home from work and doesn't open until 3:00 p.m. At least the Post Office opens at 8:00 a.m. Still, if I have an option, I always ask that packages be delivered to my office, where they are logged in. That has worked nicely over the holidays.

[allezfred]

And requiring a signature is based upon what the sender has stipulated.

When you are sending valuable items and paying a premium for a courier service, surely it should not be too much to expect that a signature would be required at the other end on delivery. I don't think anyone would feel the need to stipulate something that should be standard practice and common sense.

When I shipped Olympic tickets to a friend last year with UPS, at no time was I made aware that a signature was not required for delivery when I was filling out the forms or placing the order. It was only when my friend contacted me to say the envelope had been dropped sticking out of her postbox at the bottom of her driveway that I found out that this was UPS company policy. If I'd known, I would have chosen another company or put them in the post.