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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if you are a couple who both work long hours every day, you should have parcels delivered to your work address rather than home and rely on neighbours constantly taking in parcels!

242 replies

Mintyy · 01/10/2014 18:17

Well?

OP posts:
TattyDevine · 01/10/2014 19:37

Its not technically your neighbours fault that the driver chooses to bother you, though a sign saying don't bother the neighbours might help, its no guarantee.

If you want to stop getting hassled, a little sticker on your window/door would solve it. No, perhaps you shouldn't have to technically but its not really a biggie.

I used to have quite a few things that really could have gone through my letterbox being delivered to neighbours (you don't always know when someone is going to use Recorded for instance) and one neighbour in particular took several items in a period of a few weeks so I put a card and some choccies through her door to say thanks and I think gestures like that can go a long way to smooth things over.

On the flipside its now me who is often home and I take plenty of parcels in at Xmas and I really don't mind so its swings and roundabouts.

I can understand the irritation if you are working from home - in which case you probably have a "no cold callers" sign anyway, add another sticker? I found I was a real sitting duck for cold callers when I became a non-worker and that bothered me a great deal more. Somehow they always ended up knocking when I was draining pasta or trying to bath a baby, and my children got to an age where they would go and fling the door open and if I locked it they would hang off it and it wasn't terribly feasible to simply ignore them.

I like being neighbourly though - doesn't mean you should feel obliged to.

Venticoffeecup · 01/10/2014 19:37

I like it when delivery companies give me the option to say that I don't want parcels delivered to my neighbours. I don't like to impose.

Once I ordered a load of baby stuff, stair gates and the like. I was told it would take a minimum of 5 days to arrive but for some reason it arrived the day after I ordered it. We were away for two days. I felt awful because this poor women in our street ended up with it in her porch until we got back.

I think people are well within their rights to say no to taking in parcels. There are all sorts of good reasons not to, illness, lack of space and so on.

I now say no to taking in other people's parcels because I literally have no where safe to put things. My toddler loves opening boxes and he is not gentle! I would feel awful if something got damaged so I don't take the risk.

magoria · 01/10/2014 19:38

Fuck me 250 parcels? Seriously?!?!

Tell them that you work from home and give them an invoice for £1/parcel for your time Grin

That volume is completely taking the piss.

GilbertBlytheWouldGetIt · 01/10/2014 19:39

So are you going to put a sign up then?

TattyDevine · 01/10/2014 19:39

The funniest things that ended up at the sorting office were those chocolate tasting boxes. They are specifically designed to go through the letterbox, yet they'd always end up at the sorting office. I had visions of a none-so-bright postie trying to shove it through landscape instead of portrait with a gormless expression on his face Grin

Admiraltea · 01/10/2014 19:40

As Hully says.. wise woman as ever

Methinks even the tooth fairy does not collect at that rate in a neighbourhood

A sign on your door..NOW

MrsPiggie · 01/10/2014 19:40

Why do you mind so much taking in parcels? I've taken parcels for neighbours (including a bike and a bed), they've taken parcels for me, if you're in then what's the problem? I don't ask to have my parcels delivered next door, I expect them to be sent to the sorting office, but if the neighbours take a delivery for me, so what?

mausmaus · 01/10/2014 19:43

yabu (sort of)
I can't have parcels delivered to my work.
so that option is out.
I don't demand my neighbours take in my parcels, but I'm happy if they do.
luckily my favorite store does click+collect so I do more and more of that.

Trills · 01/10/2014 19:45

Is it just one set of neighbours who have had 250 things delivered?

Or do the couriers come to you from miles around?

Floggingmolly · 01/10/2014 19:46

Just say no. My erstwhile neighbour took delivery of a wardrobe on my behalf a few years ago when they delivered it about four hours early.
She then moaned when I arrived back that it was taking up her entire hallway and I'd have to move it immediately.
I was 7 months pregnant at the time and it had taken two men to get the bloody thing into her hall in the first place. Why would anyone do that? Confused

FloraFox · 01/10/2014 19:46

250 parcels, holy smoke mintyy that's a bit much, especially for unlovely neighbours who can't reciprocate. They really should have asked you first. YANBU. I agree the onus shouldn't be on you to not answer the door or put a sign up but given the onslaught of deliveries, you probably don't have much option.

Sunflowersareblue · 01/10/2014 19:50

No, I don't believe you OP. Nobody has that many delivered unless they are running some sort of business.

Tinkerball · 01/10/2014 19:53

Since I'm not psychic I don't know when things are going to he delivered so no it's not lazy to order things. Or should I be banned from ordering online because I can't be in the house during the day?

Original poster
Mintyy · 01/10/2014 20:01

But Tinkerball - what arrangements do you make if you are not at home all day? If you don't opt for click and collect/locker in a shop/work/agreed arrangement with a neighbour/sign on the door saying "don't disturb neighbours" then you are just assuming that someone will take your parcel in for you.

So, no, of course you shouldn't be banned from ordering online Hmm but you should make proper arrangements re. the delivery. Don't you think that's only considerate?

OP posts:
Original poster
Mintyy · 01/10/2014 20:02

I didn't say it was lazy to do online shopping fgs, its lazy to just assume that someone will be there to take your parcel in for you.

OP posts:
dixiechick1975 · 01/10/2014 20:03

We are banned from having parcels delivered to work even by couriers. Both DH and I work there. Is a hassle.

riverboat1 · 01/10/2014 20:06

Most things we do get delivered to work. But we can't do that for big, heavy things, as we wouldn't be able to carry them home on the city's crammed public transport.

So those things we usually either buy in person or get delivered to home. We don't assume a neighbour will have to take them in, we assume it will end up in the courrier's collection point or post office and we will go and collect them at the weekend. But sometimes the deliverer obviously knocks on neighbours' doors, and it is up to them whether they accept the package or not. We have never specifically directe a delivery person to try to leave a package with the neighbours.

FloraFox · 01/10/2014 20:06

Have you told them the parcels are at your house? What did they say when they came to collect?

PowderMum · 01/10/2014 20:07

Neither me nor my DH have the deliver to work option. I do have 2DC who are often at home and I try to get parcels delivered when they are in but it isn't easy, and we all know that the driver only knocks on the door when you are in the shower.
We do lots of shopping online, the postie leaves a card (for the smallest parcel as he can't work a letterbox for anything more than the junk mail).
Yodel - we have a lovely lady who tries to come after 4pm as she knows there is usually someone in, and she can use the plastic box out the front.
Most of the other drivers find a solution (or the box) or if all else fails they pick a neighbor at random and leave the parcel with. My neighbors don't mind and my DC happily take in their parcels when required.
I would be p**sed off with 250 parcels though!

Beastofburden · 01/10/2014 20:08

My workplace does allow it so that's what I do. If they didn't I would ask why not because its actually a simple thing that could mean a lot to staff, the should consider it.

Original poster
Mintyy · 01/10/2014 20:08

250 parcels was a joke, just to be clear. I really thought that was obvious.

OP posts:
wanderingcloud · 01/10/2014 20:09

But some places will only deliver to the address the credit card is registered too so what can you do if you work full time? You can't always add delivery instructions or if you can your restricted to 10 characters or something equally inadequate. I don't expect (or want) neighbours to take in parcels. I have a Royal Mail sticker on the door saying as such. But other carriers ignore this. I'm at work, I can't tell them otherwise! Just say no!

PetulaGordino · 01/10/2014 20:10

lol at 250 parcels. you would literally have to live in a warehouse

CheeseToastie123 · 01/10/2014 20:11

Recently I have had two deliveries go to neighbours because the (invited) requests to move the delivery date have been ignored. I apologised to the neighbours and thanked them profusely. No doubt they now hate me.

whatever5 · 01/10/2014 20:12

We're not allowed to have parcels delivered to work. I work at home most of the time though so it's not a problem for me. I accept parcels for neighbours and they do the same for me if I'm out. Unless you are accepting several parcels a day, I can't see why it would be a big issue. It's not as if you have to accept them.