Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
I have some.
We get a lot of deliveries, to the point that we know many of the drivers by name. We leave a garage door open for deliveries whether we are home or not. However, that doesn't stop some delivery drivers from making boneheaded moves.
One driver left our nearly $200 order of Omaha Steaks by our mailbox — in July. They weren't stolen but the meats had begun to thaw, so I quickly ushered them into the freezer. Needless to say, when I got a hold of FedEx (wasn't easy), and explained what had happened, I wasn't offered any "We'll fix that." OTOH, it hasn't happened since.
Another time, we came home to find a note taped onto the garage door. It was a form saying that an attempt to deliver a package was made, but the house could not be located. Now, neutral observer doesn't cuss often, but when she does, it's usually aimed at Yours Truly. This time, however, we both lost it. We have two signs with our house number on them, one with an arrow. Anyway, we had to go to the mother ship (local distribution center) to get the package.
The latest was last week, which is what prompted me to write this post. Our middle daughter turned 31, and I was expecting her present to be delivered that day (the tracker said "out for delivery"). I heard neutral observer scream from downstairs, so I rushed down to see what happened. In her hands she held a crumpled up package, no doubt the present. "I backed over it by accident," she said; but with anger, not remorse. She proceeded to tell me the package was not placed between our cars, as usual. Instead, this delivery driver put the package directly behind neutral observer's right-rear tire. It wasn't visible when she got in on the driver's side and started backing out. Fortunately, there was zero damage to the contents, so the party proceeded without a hitch.
Do any of you all have a stupid delivery story?
Discussion (35)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Years ago, there was a delivery company called RPS. They were trying to compete with UPS but were pretty awful. Then FedEx acquired them and turned them into "FedEx Ground"; unfortunately the change of brand didn't help. In my experience, classic FedEx (the overnight service) is still very good, but FedEx Ground is terrible. I cringe when I see that something I ordered is being shipped using that service. I have multiple stories of packages going missing or being reported as delivered when they weren't.
I once ordered a new smartphone, which I was expecting the day before we were to leave for a long weekend out of town. I received a notification that the phone had been delivered, but it hadn't. I called FedEx, but it quickly became apparent that the customer-service person had no information other than the same tracking page I was looking at. They ended up reporting the package as lost, and told me someone would investigate and get back to me. I had hoped to take the new phone out of town with me, but we had to leave without it.
Then, when we got home on Sunday night, there was a box on the porch. The driver had apparently falsely reported the phone as delivered, but it was still in the truck; after I called and made trouble, he came back and delivered it. And it had been sitting on the porch, unattended, for three days.
Equally bad is the U.S. Postal Service, although it may just be that we have a lazy and incompetent carrier. He routinely crams oversized packages into our mailbox, even if he has to bend them to make them fit, just to avoid having to come up the driveway. On at least two occasions he has left "delivery attempted" slips in our mailbox despite the fact that we were home all day; it's less work for him to just pretend he tried to deliver the package and let us come to the post office to pick it up.
The problem with the delivery business is that those of us who receive deliveries have no say in which carrier gets chosen, so it's not like we can take our business elsewhere. We just have to hope for the best.
The new Atlanta area Palmetto Warehouse is just bonkers. I have tracked a package that was there, 50 miles from my house, off to Las Vegas, then off to North Carolina, then back to Palmetto then to me.
CONTRIBUTOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I sell Alaskan seafood, mostly at local farmers markets in the Austin, TX area. I also offer shipping. A couple years ago I had an order that was local-ish but it was a particularly busy week and I did not have time to deliver it. (The customer was in South Austin and we were in a suburb a couple towns north of Austin at the time.) I packed up the order and dropped it at the local FedEx for overnight delivery. That overnight delivery took, IIRC, five days to reach the customer. By the time it was delivered the frozen salmon was....no longer frozen. It was quite putrid by then. FedEx refused to refund or pay for the lost product even though I purchased insurance on the shipment. Total disaster. I have actually had multiple instances of overnight shipments taking three or more days to be delivered by FedEx.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
At least you've never returned a cat to an Amazon warehouse.
Back in the days when Pratt Hobbies was keeping me busy, I once got a big box from Canada via UPS that someone had rammed the tines of a forklift into the side. This is not healthy for cardboard tubes. UPS never paid up, and since then I have avoided using the United Parcel Smashing Service whenever possible.
I have been quite happy with Priority Mail, at least when I was in Virginia. When I moved back to my tiny western NY home town, I had to adjust to getting things to the PO in the morning so they could be sorted onto the noon truck, or they would spend the night here in Lyndonville. Still more convenient than UPS. I used to order stacks of the free Priority Mail boxes; not so much these days, but I still use them. I've only had one order get lost that I can remember. After seeing the pictures of those train cars busted open and the contents spread around at the rail yard near LA, I think I've been lucky.
You're seeing five of 35 comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.