Delivery man tried door handle? Is that normal?

[Mangobluesky]

Was expecting a delivery this afternoon and suddenly heard what sounded like someone trying my front door handle once before knocking. Thought for a second it was DP back early but it was the delivery.

AIBU to be surprised he tried to open my front door? Is that normal? If I hadn’t had the door locked would he have just walked in?

Is this a ‘thing’ or was this just a weird delivery?

I had a Hermes parcel lobbed in my garden, didn't even check the gate, just chuck chucked it over.

Some of the delivery drivers are terrible.

Into a porch I wouldn’t think twice about.
Or if a local postie in a rural community I problem wouldn’t think twice about.
Anything else is certainly unusual.

This ^

My doggies would love that!!!

This has happened to me once but I have two rather scary dogs so he very quickly thought better of it and knocked. I'm really quite apprehensive of unfamiliar men so I would not have approved of one just waltzing in. Most just don't think unfortunately.

@TARSCOUT Haha 😂 mine quite enjoyed it!

Yes! my local Hermes courier has tried my door handle a few times recently but when I'm home alone with the baby I lock the door. My dp doesn't however so he wasnt very happy when he heard the door knock and he was in our hallway before he. oukd get up to answer the door. My dp is a delivery man himself and he says he would be sacked if he did that

I must admit to doing this once or twice, when I've been knocking and no one is in, just a little check as to see if it's worth me waiting and knocking again. I would never actually open or enter the house though, I just might give up sooner if I know the door is locked!

Some houses have a porch which isn't obvious ie; a proper looking front door, but then another front door inside. He probably thought this might be the case.

Ours open the door and put the parcels in the hall whether we are in or out. I never bother to lock the door.

I work for Amazon (I know) a lot of customers mark on their account that they have a ‘safe place’ of their enclosed front porch, even if their front door opens directly onto the street. He may have been checking to see if it was a storm door into a porch or similar.

My front door leads into a porch/boot room. I've often found mail left on the door mat when either the outer door or both are open. If both are locked and it's too big for the mailbox in the wall, it's usually left in the workshop. Mind you, I do live in a farm cottage so I think nothing of leaving the door open for the (noisy to anyone at the gate) dogs and going back to bed at the weekend....

I had a Hermes delivery driver shove my parcel through my small window once. Funny thing is he never knocked the door and I was sat on the sofa opposite the window watching the whole thing happen. No words were exchanged between as my parcel bounced off the windowsill and landed on the carpet. He walked off and I carried on sipping my tea.

All a bit odd really.

My Amazon delivery guy yesterday opened my door and put the parcel in the hall, he didn't knock at all and I was sat in the living room. I thought it was my partner coming in.

I actually requested that my postman do this as I am sometimes too busy or don't hear the door. All he does is open the door and slip the parcel in. It is massively helpful as I don't have to travel 30 minutes to the local depot that is open stupidly short hours with one of those slips.

I have noticed a lot of couriers will do it without being asked as they are paid per delivery; if they don't drop off the parcel, they don't get their 50odd-p. Considering the amount of inconvenience it saves me, the pittance they get paid for the amount of work they do, and the awful weather conditions they have to work in, I am happy for them to drop my parcel off inside the door.

Quite a few of our local delivery drivers do it. Yodel, Hermes and some of the posties. They'll knock and then open the door just enough to slide the parcel inside.
That said, it's a small village and few people lock their doors when they're in. None open the door fully though, especially Mr Hermes courier who opened my door fully to see me sitting on the toilet facing the front door after one of my kids had toddled into the bathroom and back out again. He's learned his lesson and can never look me in the eye again.

Seems normal to me & doesn't bother me (big city girl).

Once had a delivery man squeeze on his belly under a roller shutter only open a foot. I was on my own in a big empty factory on a Saturday morning. Turned round and there he was. Scared the living crap out of me. Fortunately he was friendly and dead proud of himself for his delivery efforts.

However the roller shutter only get opened 2 inches now if I need some air.

Ours often put it into the porch which doesn't bother me. We have a notice up saying if we're out and expecting a delivery the porch will be open. Mostly they try that before knocking and only knock if the door is locked but it's always the same dpd guy anyway.

Is it possible he had already knocked/rang the bell, didn't receive an answer, so to save his time he thought he would leave it inside if the door was open or he was going to shout out to get someone's attention? Or are you definitely certain it was your door handle being tried and not him perhaps balancing the parcel so as to free one hand to knock?

I don't think you need to automatically assume it was something dodgy, there are other possibilities.

We live fairly rurally and the postman and delivery drivers that know us often open the door and leave things in the porch. I have had very poor mobility due to illness for most of this year so I really appreciate it. I agree I would find it weird if I lived in a town or city, but round here we mainly get the same drivers and I know they are doing it to save me the bother of getting to the door so that's fine by me.

Our posties are all told to open the porch door if it's unlocked and chuck stuff in as the letter box is fierce, they're always very grateful!

I agree it's normal enough in a rural community where everyone knows the local postman and/or delivery guy. They will even sign for parcels to save you the trouble - a great help when my children were little. It would feel strange in a big city as you wouldn't know the person. In a medium-sized town... I suppose it depends if you know the delivery guys. I guess you might if they're locals.

We had outer porch doors fitted (Yale lock inner door) to stop the dog ripping up the post before we could get to it. Really glad we did even though we are currently dogless, any parcels just get left in there whether we are in or out. We are always taking in parcels for neighbours without porch doors as the delivery driver doesn’t want to leave them in an open porch.