House Numbers

I have got a sign saying Delivery Drivers: thank you, please help yourself to a snack and a drink.

I know a lot of them are really tight on time and the ones who I have seen either on the doorbell cam smiling as they walk off with a kitkat or the ones I speak to do appreciate it, even if not everyone wants to take something

edit to say I know this reply is over 2 years late, but better late than never 😆

Mine has a name, no number. It’s the absolute worst.
What the people who built the village were thinking I have no clue, must just like explaining their house location every single time they order anything.

I live on an estate at the junction of three roads. Delivery drivers looking for 123 Letsbeavenue or 123 Mainroad used to pick the first house numbered 123 they spotted - which is 123 Myroad. And not just delivery drivers - I had an irate woman turn up who was very cross that her friend didn’t come to the door .

I put a number and road name plate up and it’s mostly stopped except for an Ocado driver who fairly regularly deposits two crates of food on my doorstep before clocking the road name, then picks them up and takes them to (presumably) the correct address. I’ve never had an account with Ocado 🤷‍♀️

Offender

Yanbu

I’m an offended as it took me a couple of years to put a house number up after moving in. It’s on our bins though so people managed Not really intentional, just didn’t get round to it.

I am with you OP!

I keep bottles of water and kitkats in the porch for them to help themselves
Well I think that’s super cute, @KloppsTeeth, although honestly I think if I did that DP would probably just eat all the kitkats on his way out the door. Or the dogs would snaffle them during the in/out harnesses on/off scuffle when going for walks. How do you arrange it so the drivers know they can help themselves?

To be fair on the new build, if I was spending hundreds of thousands on an overpriced brand new house, I'd expect it to have a door number. They probably have noticed, but lots of people are at their financial limits buying a new build, often using help-to-buy (which just resulted in asking prices going up by the 20% the government will give you or whatever) and having to buy furniture, white goods etc if they are young and its their first home

Our house started off with just a name. At some point it was also given a number. We now have BOTH clearly displayed outside. Go us!!

In a similar vein we stayed in an old hotel in Scotland and all the rooms had names but no numbers. We were in 'Gairloch' and we spent ages going up and down convoluted stairs and corridors reading each name off the door until we found it.

I'm a community worker, and on the newer estates I visit, even a number doesn't work. They split up the seperate streets, scattered around the estate, so it could be number 20 of any of them. There has been a move towards those glass plates with the street and number on. I love those.

Nice work, sister!

Our estate has a really weird numbering system. My house didn't have a number displayed when I moved in. It took until I was pregnant and was told it was high risk and that I'd have to call an ambulance if I went into labour to make me finally get around to putting the number up as I thought what a nightmare it would be if the paramedics couldn't find me!

I don't think I've ever lived somewhere the numbers made sense.

Childhood home: our house was in double digits but opposite was in triple and there were roads with very similar names so constantly getting wrong post.

Next home: numbers count up on one side and then maybe down on the other? Hard to tell, mix of very very old houses and new flats.

Next home: flats, to find me you needed to work out floor number, block letter, flat group number and then flat letter 🥴 all from "Flat 16B". There was a map that was clear as mud and delivery drivers often got lost. The front entrance wasn't accessible by road either so they got more lost.

Current home: some houses have names, numbers make no sense. Mix of old and newer, newer houses make sense kinda if you ignore all the old buildings scattered among them and then there's some houses tucked far back you wouldn't know were there unless you knew and delivery people constantly assume that flat X means the council behemoth at the end. There's naff all signal so they can't call and ask for help so you just have to hope they either know or can read the instructions you left describing the house. Oh and then witching my building the numbers also don't make sense 🤦‍♀️

Our street is one of those with similarly named streets in the same estate, so we have a plaque on both the garden wall and on our house saying our house number and street name, as well as stickers on the bins that say number and street too

Working in the community, in an area that is often joked that the planners threw a load of numbers in the air and you got what landed in your garden, I love it when someone has the street name on as well, at least then I know I'm roughly where I should be. There are roads where one side of the road is one street name and over the road another. Nearby towns have the same street names in all of them. All of my colleagues have lost their car at least once after parking up to try to find a house.

I think sometimes neighbours do shrug and think, well next door is clearly marked 29 so we don't need to do anything. But yeh, is it 27, 31, 28 or 30.

I recently had a knock at the door and a delivery driver handed me a parcel to once he had gone I realised it was next doors but we often take in their parcels. A few minutes later there was another knock, the driver was there for the parcel. He had seen that the house the other side was 3 and presumed we were 5, rather than numbering in order. He realised when he then tried to deliver a parcel for 7 to number 5.

We need to get a better sign ( old owners named the house! ) however we are even more complicated as face into a street that isn’t our address ( I do add as much information as possible in delivery notes)

when I am Queen of The World, people who do not clearly number or name their houses will not be allowed to have stuff delivered, they will have to collect it from a random skip at random place. ....think Indiana Jones and the Ark of the Covenant in that warehouse.... that should bring everyone into line pretty smartly.

[quote TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]@Kloppsteeth

I am always super helpful to delivery drivers, I keep bottles of water and kitkats in the porch for them to help themselves

That's a bit miserly, I put out a full Indian takeaway (in a thermal bag) with six bottle non-alcoholic Kingfisher lager or a celebrity chef home box and a bottle of Chateau Lafite.

If I'm at home when they call I will give them a piggy-back back to their van (which DP will have quickly jet-washed).
[/quote]
And the winner is……@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles 😂

Our house only has a name, but it’s prominently displayed at the gate. I also don’t understand why people don’t have one out, I had to pick something up from someone recently and was trying to work it out from neighbouring houses, it was an estate from the eighties.

Some of the neighbours were just as bad, it ended up with me parking up and wandering up the road confused and trying to read hidden house numbers. It must be so annoying for delivery people.

@Kloppsteeth

I am always super helpful to delivery drivers, I keep bottles of water and kitkats in the porch for them to help themselves

That's a bit miserly, I put out a full Indian takeaway (in a thermal bag) with six bottle non-alcoholic Kingfisher lager or a celebrity chef home box and a bottle of Chateau Lafite.

If I'm at home when they call I will give them a piggy-back back to their van (which DP will have quickly jet-washed).

My local council was running a campaign about this recently on social media and the local paper, telling people to make sure they display one so emergency services can find them.

When we moved into this house there wasn't a number on it. Next door didn't have a number either.

First thing we did was buy a wee slate plate thing with the number on from Timpsons.

we used to live on a road like @CheeseCakeSunflowers with no numbers just names. It also had no street lighting whatsoever at night. If I was ever out the front putting the bins out, there would often be delivery drivers walking around with torches trying to read the names of houses. How they ever found anything I do not know. It was complete madness.

I watched one of those ambulance programmes the other day and almost every shout they were struggling to find the right house because of this issue - I know it sounds a bit dramatic but it could make the difference between life and death!

I live on a small estate where 20 houses were built 30 years ago in 2 short roads - all numbered logically. Our bit only has odd numbers as the original intention was to build across the road where the even numbers would be. However, the developer pulled out and there was a gap of 20 years before that land was built on - another 20 houses. But they built and numbered the houses in such a bizarre way so in spite of the new houses having numbers both by their front doors (which face into a different road to the street they're actually in) and their back gates - which back directly onto the road they are in, the even numbers they've been given do not tie up with the odd numbering of the original houses. Eg number 1 is opposite number 30. I once had a takeaway delivery driver trying to get in through my side gate looking for the even numbered house which he hoped to find between us and next door as he couldn't find the house he needed. If I had a £1 for everyone I directed to an even numbered house I'd have made a fortune over the years. So even numbered houses can be confusing!

We get lots of confused drivers as our house numbering is illogical (due to properties built at three different times).

Added confusion by unclear street names and the bollards put all over place so cars can't drive through the estate as a shortcut...