To want the delivery driver to give me 25 seconds to answer the door?

[TheOrigRights]

Some of them just ring the bell and then immediately come round the back and start throwing things over the gate.
It takes me about 20 seconds to leave my garden office, skip across the garden, enter the house and answer the door.
So, I'm standing there waiting for them to come back round, or I could chase them round the side.
If they wait they could hand me the delivery, which would probably be easier than having to indicate they've left it somewhere.

@TheOrigRights “I’m in the garden, please give me time to answer the door” should do it.

Similar stuff could be “I’m slow getting to the door, please be patient” or “Please don’t knock loudly as you’ll wake the baby”

That must have been funny! I've done that a few times to the Tesco delivery driver because I've seen his headlights.

I want to see legislation and regulation that ends the race to the bottom that is parcel delivery services. Including a requirement that before you pay for any order, you are told who the parcel delivery company will be for your goods.

The bad ones would have to improve. What the OP describes is not the worst practice.

Most of ours do this (not the postman, who tends to wait if they know someone is home).
I WFH sometimes and my office is one of the windows they’d walk past to the door.

It really doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t need a chat with the driver; it’s useful to know there’s a parcel left, so I’m glad they knock the door and then I know there’s something to go and bring in when I’m next between calls.

If nobody is home there’s a covered porch at the back where they’d leave them, so nothing would get wet if it’s rainy.

I know they’re under a lot of time pressure with deliveries and tbh I’m just grateful that it makes life so much easier to have things brought to the house.

This

Amazon actually says on its blurb..... we'll leave it on the doorstep (it's a covid thing, i think)

No delivery drivers seem to wait where I live, not even the postman.

It takes me a while to get to the door. My house is small, but I need sticks to walk. I'm prepared a bit if I'm expecting something but sometimes things arrive that I wasn't expecting at all.

There's a lot of elderly and disabled people who can't reach their front door that quickly and more consideration should be given

This absolutely smacks of privilege. For what it’s worth, I have an office job and wfh.

these delivery drivers are under intense pressure, work ridiculously long hours no time for breaks have to wee in bottles in their vans etc no they don’t have time to wait for you to waft in from your garden office.

‘not the service I pay for’ well unless you are paying the delivery driver (i.e. an independent courier) directly I don’t know exactly what you think you are paying for. Maybe contact Jeff Benzos and put in a complaint?

im very surprised they knock with neighbours parcels I’ve not had this since pre pandemic.

speaking of, remember that pandemic where we classed these jobs as essential now slagging those same people off?

no I never get to the door in time when they knock. But I appreciate the job the drivers do.

as an aside I was out for my daily work in 2020 and received a phone call with bad news. I started crying in the street. No one around luckily although my local Evri (then Hermes) driver pulled up at a nearby house was racing to deliver the parcel saw me noticed I was crying and stopped to ask if I was okay. Thought that was so sweet of her and I’ve never forgotten it.

Your not wrong, OP, yes, delivery drivers think you should be waiting on the other side of the door at all times! 😂

The other option is choosing to have the parcel delivered to a local newsagent or locker type thing. Some companies offer this service. You just collect at leisure then.

This drives me mad! I work upstairs so by the time I get out from my desk and get downstairs they’re hammering on the door like the police!!! Or they’re away round the back.

I care more about receiving my item than the style of delivery and in any case, it has been delivered. These people have hundreds of deliveries to do a day and are paid peanuts, stop trying to make life even harder for people.

They ring your bell so that you know there is something on the step for you. If they had to wait for say a minute at every house, that would be about three hours a day waiting on doorsteps.

Ever since covid mine ring the bell and drop. Occasionally will wait.

There's a lot of elderly and disabled people who can't reach their front door that quickly and more consideration should be given

Yes, this is it - very much so. It's just assumed that all householders will be young, fit and able-bodied and capable of sprinting to the door. Weird, really, as I'd have thought that elderly and disabled folk are disproportionately far more likely to be the ones who are at home in the first place.

The other option is choosing to have the parcel delivered to a local newsagent or locker type thing. Some companies offer this service. You just collect at leisure then.

Many people do find that more convenient, but it does (depending on the size of the parcel) require a car and easy parking close by, as well as physical ability to collect it.

For people who are at home most of the time, though (especially those whose circumstances mean they might be ordering online as a lifeline rather than just as a handy option), it's a very poor relation to having it delivered to your door. It's solving a non-existent problem: you are at home and fully able to take the delivery, but you just need a realistic amount of time to be able to do so. If you had a milkman who was flinging glass bottles at your door, without even stopping the float/van, you wouldn't suggest that it was the householder who was preventing the system from working properly.

I had this the other day from Royal Mail. I work upstairs, one flight of stairs. Knock on the door, I immediately got up, in the time it took me to walk down one flight of stairs (I have no mobility issues) he’d rung the doorbell and as I was about to open the door he really hammered on it. I said (a little pointedly) alright I am here. He replied I am busy! Threw the parcel and me and walked off. I get they are busy but none of us just sit next to the front door. Some realistic expectations please.

Well if so many people are unhappy. All parcel delivery companies are currently taking on drivers atm.

Why is that relevant in any way?

So depressing to see people blame the delivery drivers for this when it should be obvious that the reason is the insane time pressure they're under.

If you're not happy with them ringing and running, you should channel that into campaigning for better worker rights, and supporting them when they do so themselves. It's their bosses making the decisions, not them.

So depressing to see people blame the delivery drivers for this when it should be obvious that the reason is the insane time pressure they're under.
Plenty of people have acknowledged that they're being put under huge pressure.

If we cheerfully accept this as the way it must be and never complain about the system that makes them do this, the delivery people will still have the same level of stress, we will still have unacceptable deliveries; meanwhile, the fat cats at the top of the businesses are all happy and untroubled, so clearly no issue, then?

How can we as householders realistically campaign for better workers' rights for the variety of people who bring parcels to our doors, on behalf of any number of companies? Especially when we barely even see them because of the rush they're always in?

I had one that didn’t even knock the door- he called from his van to check if i was home. If not it saved him getting out the van- cheeky fecker

DPD, UPS and FedEx seem less stressed than the likes of Evri or Yodel (although I obviously don’t know the inner workings). Problem is retailers don’t state upfront who they are using.

I'm with you OP, it is very frustrating - especially when you (and I and many others) ARE at home and are sprinting like a nutter to get to the front door. You're allowed a little moan!

I think our delivery men like to wait to see which pyjamas I've got on.

Leave a note on your door asking them to give you time to get to the door. Communication would solve a lot of issues.