Channel 4 "Hunting Britain's Parcel thieves." Why should I feel sorry for people who don't stay in to receive their parcels or don't bother to pick them up?

[YourAmplePlumPoster]

My New Year's Resolution is not to take in any more parcels for neighbours as they wait a week or more to collect them, if that. When you eventually find them in and take the parcel round they don't even say thank you and look at you like you're annoying them. If they get them stolen off their doorsteps, serves them right for not making proper arrangements.

Ok.

And a very merry Christmas to you, too.

I ordered a parcel a couple of weeks ago. It said it would be delivered the following Tuesday so I made arrangements to be in. Got an email the next day to say it was out for delivery and would arrive between 8am-10pm. Rearranged for it go to the local pick up point. It was left on my doorstep that afternoon in the rain.

If delivery companies weren't totally incompetent then maybe more people would be in.

Problem is you don’t tend to get to select your delivery time and often you can’t get it delivered to somewhere else.

I’m sure those who work at the office would love dpd to come only between 6-9pm and myself who works from home but always gets given the bloody school run slot would love to say anytime between 9-3 or after 4pm.

But while we don’t get the choice the couriers will keep leaving parcels and knocking neighbours doors.

If you don’t want to accept the parcel then just don’t take it in 🤷🏻‍♀️

As long as you are happy with them dumping any parcels that are meant for you on your doorstep without telling you

You don’t have to take them in if it’s annoying for you. It’s probably less to do with not being bothered to stay in and more to do with being busy and having no control over when things are delivered though.

Since Covid all the couriers just leave stuff on the doorstep here, even if you’re home. I haven’t had to take in a parcel for a neighbour, or collect a parcel from a neighbour or depot/sorting office, for half a decade.

I have taken in parcels regularly for neighbours. They know I have the parcel but don't bother to come round and pick it up. It's there up to 2 weeks until I go round and knock on their door. That's it. I'm done. The local shop takes in parcels and the owner says he sends them back as nobody picks them up!

You don’t need to take in your neighbours parcels if you don’t want to 🤷🏻‍♀️

Personally I can’t always be in for my parcels - half the time you get a two hour window sent at 10am, by which point I’m normally on with my day. Luckily the couriers know me well (prolific online shopper haha) and they’ll either leave in a safe place or with a kind neighbour.

Ill always take in parcels if I’m in too, I don’t mind really how long it takes the rigours to collect - people have busy lives!

Wtf are you on about? Waiting in to receive parcels? Gosh, I’d love to, but I have to go to work like the vast majority of the adult population. It is absolutely not unreasonable for me to expect that a parcel can be left on my doorstep and it will still be there when I get home from work at 6pm, rather than being stolen.

I have never had a neighbour take in a parcel for me, my neighbours and I might have the odd package which is delivered to the wrong house so then we’d take it around to the correct house, but we do not intentionally get each other’s parcels.

Are you sure they are being told where their parcels are being left? I had a neighbour after a week I took a parcel round to. She had claimed a refund as it hadn’t arrived the postie hadn’t carded her.

I’ve had Amazon hide my parcels in my garden yet mark handed to resident and I wasn’t in.

They don't always leave a card to say they've given it to a neighbour. Recently we've had deliveries left at the front door and they dont even ring the doorbell (we have a ring doorbell and can watch the footage)

I go to work. I can't plan my day around a 4 hour delivery slot. If it gets delivered to a neighbour I go and get it. If I get something for a neighbour I drop it round. It's not a big deal for me.

I always plan to have deliveries made on days I work from home. It's not difficult as five days out of every seven, I work from home.

On more occasions than I care to count those carefully-arranged deliveries have been rescheduled by the courier at short notice. When it's Royal Mail they offer the option through their website of choosing a different delivery date but in my experience the people doing the delivery don't see that (or ignore it) because they still try to deliver on the day I'm not in and so either bother my neighbours or take it away again. Amazon/Evri/etc don't even offer that option.

What do you suggest I do instead?

It's lucky if you know when they're coming. Sometimes it's "we'll deliver between Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th". People can't take 3 days off work as a catch all.

most of my delivery people are good and will leave stuff out of sight (I'm on a main road and have a bus stop outside) but Amazon are another story. They just fling it on the doorstep and run. I'm thinking of getting one of those parcel boxes to have near the front door,

Oh come on ! Unless you are completely housebound, who can guarantee to be in for a parcel when many carriers either don't give or don't stick to a delivery time?

I am retired but, even so, if I can use a pick up location or Amazon locker then I do. I might not be going out to work but I can't spend all day waiting in on the off chance. DPD are the best, they give a 2 hour time slot and usually stick to it. The others, Royal Mail included, can be a bit random. And Evri often don't even knock, they just leave it on the door step and skedaddle. The first you know it's there is when you get an email.

I understand it must be aggravating for you if your neighbours don't come and collect. Are you sure the couriers are putting a card through their door? They might be completely unaware that you have their parcel. I mean, I can't imagine not going to collect my parcel as soon as I knew where it was. You must have odd neighbours.

I don't have a problem taking a parcel for a neighbour. I have a problem when it's there for days or even weeks on end and the delivery man says he has left a notification and when you take it round they don't even say thank you but give you the silent treatment like you're some kind of weirdo. I find it very strange. It's young neighbours who do this. They just give you a blank stare and don't even say thank you. It seems like aliens or robots. There is no neighbourly sense anymore.

The most recent one, I had a parcel for a neighbour for over a week and eventually, I put a note through his door saying I had his parcel. He turned up eventually with the official notification from the delivery service and said he had been away on holiday. Why order a parcel when you know you're not going to be there?

Clearly the real enemy here is delivery drivers. My safe place is clearly stated on all delivery instructions as being my greenhouse and yet all my parcels still get left on my doorstep (on a good day - sometimes they're on the garden wall, or in my neighbour's actual garden).

I have the opposite experience.
In a high turnover neighborhood, I now know and am friendly with three different young neighbors up and down the street, after discovering their parcels lurking around my bins on returning from work, and working out which houses they might live in. Few delivery drivers here have good English and all are scraping a living.
It's a marathon for me as they all have steps and I'm in a wheelchair and we're on a hill. So I've had to deliver late night notes wrapped around a trip hazard brick, and leave a number. Nothing but happily surprised young folk, that someone gave a stuff and no problems in returning the bricks either. 😊

Two weeks ago or so I placed an order with Amazon.

It said delivery Wednesday. Great I thought, we are both in Wednesdays. Indeed one of us is usually in for all but about 14 hours over an entire week.

We went out on Sunday. During the time we were out on Sunday, they said they were delivering. I was like 'oh fuck'. We were unable to return for the delivery time. Parcel was 'delivered'. I got photo of item shoved halfway through the door. We got home about an hour an a half after it had been delivered.

No parcel.

What should have done OP?

The parcel didn't make it through my door despite apparently being in the letterbox where a photo was taken. No one rang the bell. When we arrived home there was no parcel.

I had a massive arguement with Amazon over it.

It was nicked from the letterbox either by the driver or by someone passing.

Should I have staying in the house 24/7 from Friday when it was ordered until Wednesday until it was supposed to be delivered?

One particular delivery firm here drops the parcel on the doorstep, takes their photo, and then goes off. No attempt to knock or ring the bell.

I've had parcels in the past delivered - in the bin.

My delivery instructions have a safe space listed, which are completely ignored.

WHY???

Yeah, that's just really rude of them.

easy fix: just put a sign on your door saying you will only accept parcels addressed to you.

And that is all yoou need to do.