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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbours using me as a parcel drop off!

113 replies

SecretNameforMN · 20/12/2025 21:45

Is this cheeky-fuckery or am I a miserable old scrooge?

I'm nearly 70 and disabled (physical mobility issues). I have a large pre-printed sign on my front door saying that I am disabled and so no cold callers etc.

Just lately I have been answering the door quite a few times to couriers asking if I would take in parcels for my (fit and active) next door neighbours. This causes me inconvenience thrice - once in having to hobble to the front door with my zimmer frame, and then having to grapple with the parcel and my zimmer frame and lay it down on the narrow hall floor, and then again later when the neighbour calls for his parcel and I have to manoeuvre my frame around the parcel, lift it and hand it to him on the doorstep.

Him calling for his parcels, between 4pm and 9pm depending on when he gets home from work, has interrupted me when I've been right at the back of my house, cooking, it has made me leave my hot dinner on the table to answer the door, disturbed me during a counselling session, disturbed me during a long-awaited phone call with my GP, disturbed me whilst I have been on the toilet and woken me up from a much-needed nap. If I don't open the front door within 30 seconds, both the couriers and the neighbour will keep ringing the bell again and again until I open it.

Today I decided that enough was enough! I am on good terms with my neighbour but we are not friends or anything and I don't owe him any favours or anything like that. So when I was once again called away from my cosy, wrapped up in blankets TV session on the sofa to open the door to yet another courier, I told him NO, I will not take in a parcel for my neighbour, not today and never. He then showed me, on his phone, a note from my neighbour instructing the couriers to always leave parcels with me because I am "always at home".

I can't get over the cheeky fuckery of the man. How dare he give such an instruction without even asking me if I minded?

So, am I right to be livid, or am I a curmudgeonly old grump?

OP posts:
giallo · 20/12/2025 21:48

One of my neighbours did this, the postman showed me the instructions. I told him I wouldn’t take any more in. I’d stick a note on your door saying you will only accept parcels in your name. It’s such a cheek.

EsmeSusanOgg · 20/12/2025 21:48

That is not ok. I would have a chat. That said. He may gave put it down once... A d now they auto do it.

PearlRiver · 20/12/2025 21:48

You are right to be livid.

vespersjack · 20/12/2025 21:49

He should have asked you 100%, especially if he was planning to receive parcels so regularly. Just refuse them from now on and tell him when you next see him that you aren’t his PA.

KabukiNoh · 20/12/2025 21:53

On the face of it a massive CF! But agree with a PP that sometimes delivery companies ask you for acceptable neighbours to deliver to and then maybe remember ever more.

OtterlyMad · 20/12/2025 22:02

Your neighbour is a CF. Personally I wouldn’t bother saying anything to him, just put a sign on your door saying that you don’t accept parcels that are not addressed to you. He will soon get the message!

Rainbowx · 20/12/2025 22:14

My neighbour did this she's awful,told they all to remove my address and I stopped accepting them.been months of peace now !

Original poster
SecretNameforMN · 20/12/2025 22:20

Oh I meant to add in my OP that I would not mind if I were fit and active. It's being disabled that makes it such a chore to get up and hobble painfully through my big rooms and long hallway, to answer the door twice for every parcel.

OP posts:
VikaOlson · 20/12/2025 22:23

A courier tried to get me to take a delivery of a 7ft Christmas tree for my neighbour recently and then was really rude and huffy when I said I didn't have space 😂

AliceMcK · 20/12/2025 22:25

Given your situation absolutely YANBU. Ask your neighbour to change his delivery instructions and to stick a box outside his door for parcels.

We have a note saying leave with “a” neighbour but don’t specify which one. Admittedly I’ve never asked any of my neighbours but we regularly take in parcels for our neighbours without question. We have a box outside which couriers usually use, it’s only an occasional time neighbours need to take anything in for us. The neighbour we take most parcels in for is usually home but is working at the back of the house and he can’t always hear the door, we have a ring doorbell so hear our door, we’ve never minded taking parcels in.

I would never suggest a neighbour who had mobility issues be our go to parcel drop.

mumofoneAloneandwell · 20/12/2025 22:30

Yanbu, what a bellend. I'd tell him that you might be home a lot but that doesn't mean you will take in his parcels so please could he change his delivery preferences!

The dick!!

OnTheBoardwalk · 20/12/2025 22:32

I work from home, I can be chairing teams meetings for 20 plus people in India and the US. I pay extra or wait for my own parcels to be delivered at the weekend

My neighbour put a note on her door and instructions for all the family parcels, all 5 of the members to deliver to me if no one was in

i told them to remove this instruction and put a notes on my door the delivery people get this

CoffeeBeansGalore · 20/12/2025 22:36

Can you get a ring doorbell installed? You can tell them through the intercom not to leave neighbours parcel with you.

herbalteabag · 20/12/2025 22:38

I would stop answering the door and then you won't be able to take them in.
I don't specify a neighbour on mine, but I have in the past put 'leave with any neighbour' in the hope that they'll keep trying until they find someone at home.
However, now I usually use the local co op as a pick up point instead, it's much easier. Maybe suggest to your neighbour that he does something like that, if you have a nearby collect point.

mondaytosunday · 20/12/2025 22:38

Totally cheeky and rude. A neighbour up the street also put me down as accepting their parcels, all because my son, who doesn’t live here, once did. It was a big box and they took days to collect it - turned out they don’t actually live in the house. So twice since big boxes have been attempted to be delivered and I’ve refused - that’s when I found out they had put me down as an alternative. After the second refusal either the courier changed it or they did as I’ve never been bothered again.

grumpygrape · 20/12/2025 22:41

CoffeeBeansGalore · 20/12/2025 22:36

Can you get a ring doorbell installed? You can tell them through the intercom not to leave neighbours parcel with you.

OP, this might be useful for you in more ways than just these cheeky neighbours deliveries.

Original poster
SecretNameforMN · 20/12/2025 22:42

CoffeeBeansGalore · 20/12/2025 22:36

Can you get a ring doorbell installed? You can tell them through the intercom not to leave neighbours parcel with you.

I must look into these Ring doorbells. Are they safe from vandalism? I ask because I have no front garden but live in a busy town centre street where people are walking past all day and our front doors are right on the pavement (which is why my neighbour cannot have a box outside his front door - it would be stolen within minutes!)

OP posts:
user1471453601 · 20/12/2025 22:45

Do as I do in your position. I have a ring door bell. I tell the courier to leave the parcel in my porch.

The parcel is covered and not visible. Then I text my neighbour and tell them where their parcel is.

I don't have to leave my chair, and I don't have any responsibility. Job done.

Original poster
SecretNameforMN · 20/12/2025 22:45

herbalteabag · 20/12/2025 22:38

I would stop answering the door and then you won't be able to take them in.
I don't specify a neighbour on mine, but I have in the past put 'leave with any neighbour' in the hope that they'll keep trying until they find someone at home.
However, now I usually use the local co op as a pick up point instead, it's much easier. Maybe suggest to your neighbour that he does something like that, if you have a nearby collect point.

I can't just not answer the doorbell. I also myself buy on Amazon, as does my house-mate. It's quite enough for me to have to go to the front door once or twice a day for our own parcels. The neighbour is doubling that!

OP posts:
giallo · 20/12/2025 23:09

SecretNameforMN · 20/12/2025 22:45

I can't just not answer the doorbell. I also myself buy on Amazon, as does my house-mate. It's quite enough for me to have to go to the front door once or twice a day for our own parcels. The neighbour is doubling that!

Show quote history

Suggest to your neighbour they get their parcels delivered to the nearest parcel locker or shop. They can then pick them up at their leisure. I do this if I’m not sure I will be home.

ReturnToRiding · 20/12/2025 23:14

Big sign on the door. “I don’t take parcels for neighbours, please don’t knock”

PeopleTheyAintNoGood · 20/12/2025 23:15

Yanbu to just tell him that it's too much for you to keep answering the door for his parcels. He shouldn't need to be told, but some people have no sense.

I am fit and well but still getting annoyed with a neighbour doing the same to me. If there's a lot of parcels, it's really disputing.

Ring cameras are really good. It can be safety screwed in, so shouldn't be vandalised. And it would save you a lot of journeys to your door.

TheatricalLife · 20/12/2025 23:16

Big sign centrally on the door stating that you only accept parcels for this address.
Definitely look into Ring doorbells. I absolutely love mine. Would be really helpful for you anyway with your mobility issues as you can talk to the person on the doorstep before committing to getting your walker.

GAJLY · 20/12/2025 23:24

giallo · 20/12/2025 23:09

Suggest to your neighbour they get their parcels delivered to the nearest parcel locker or shop. They can then pick them up at their leisure. I do this if I’m not sure I will be home.

Show quote history

I agree with this 👆
I would post a note through his letterbox saying, "Please stop sending parcels to my house, as its too much for me now to keep answering the door. Please send them to a parcel shop instead, if you're not going to be in."

chargarl · 20/12/2025 23:36

SecretNameforMN · 20/12/2025 22:45

I can't just not answer the doorbell. I also myself buy on Amazon, as does my house-mate. It's quite enough for me to have to go to the front door once or twice a day for our own parcels. The neighbour is doubling that!

Show quote history
  1. Tell the neighbour you won't be taking in any more parcels
  2. Put a note on the door saying you won't accept parcels for any other addresses
  3. You must know approximately when your Amazon parcels are going to arrive because they send notifications on the phone "Out for delivery" etc. So if you aren't expecting one, don't answer the door. Tell friends and relatives to ring the bell in a certain pattern so you know it's them.

I had a problem a while back as I WFH for most of the week and couriers started bringing stuff to me all the time for all the neighbours in the block (even when I could hear that the neighbours were in). It only took a few days of ignoring the doorbell for all of that to stop.