AIBU to think it was rude they kept my misdelivered parcel?

[FrostedCandyAngel]

Was expecting a parcel on Saturday. (Was a small package, in a padded envelope so could easily fit through letterbox, no signature required)

Didn’t get delivered. So I checked the tracking details online Sunday evening. Tracking details said it had been delivered at 09:30am Saturday. It had a photo of the delivery person handing it over. All you can see in the photo is the package, someone’s shoes and their driveway. Which had a particular unique pattern of paving.

It wasn’t my shoes, or my driveway.

I walked up and down my street trying the find the driveway. Found it. About 8 houses down.

Knocked on the door and luckily they answered. I said “Oh I’m just wondering if you have a parcel for number 60 please”. They said yes, and gave it me. No “sorry I was going to bring it round/post it through your letter box”.

I understand people are busy but they had my parcel for 30+ hours. I would have had no idea they had it unless I went out looking at everyone’s driveways.

Was this rude of them?

I’d say give them some slack. They probably expected the delivery company to have told you about where it was. If they had held onto it for more than a few days, then yes that’s unreasonable.

You're having a laugh!

Given it was close to your address they probably assumed you knew where it was and were waiting for you to collect it. If a courier delivers to a neighbour e.g if you aren’t in, usually it shows on their app or they put a card through the door. Your neighbour likely had no idea it was delivered in error.

They probably expected that you'd been left a slip telling you to collect it tbh. Some delivery drivers are really pushy asking neighbours to take parcels, because they don't get paid if they don't deliver it, but they don't always leave a slip.

Try not to overthink it. There's a fair chance they were wondering why you took so long to collect it.
Ultimately it's the delivery person who has not done their job properly

The onus is on you to collect your parcel and thank your neighbour for keeping it safe.

Eh? It wasn’t a neighbour and the OP had no idea where it had been delivered!

It's 8 houses down. That's a neighbour.

They are not the delivery service, they were kind enough to take it in for you and keep it safe and gave it straight to you when they asked. Why should they track you down? I assume they thought you would have a calling card and then come and collect it. For all they knew you were on a two week jaunt to the Seychelles.

They’ve done not a thing wrong and it’s really entitled you to treat them as a secondary delivery service. They have lives, they are busy, they don’t know when you are home. They also don’t know that you haven’t received a calling card and you didn’t go on an epic mission to recover it - eight doors down, my goodness. Why is it their job to deliver your package?

Ok! Not a NDN then! 8 houses down or up your road, over the road or on your side means checking with a lot of neighbours when you don’t know where it’s been delivered…being pedantic then that’s up to 32 houses (neighbours) to knock and check.

As an add on, I don’t think the house 8 doors down were being rude, as a PP said it was the fault of the delivery person by not leaving you a card.

Thirty hours is nothing.

i take in parcels for neighbours and usually the service leaves a card.

I do not take it round less than one day after it’s been dropped off - who has the time for that?

They're not a parcel delivery service! They did you a favour by keeping your parcel safe, and no doubt would have dropped it round at a time that was convenient to them (when they next happened to be walking past, for example).

It your parcel. Of course the onus is on you to track it down and go and pick it up if you needed it urgently.

So they got it on Saturday and you collected Sunday? Not unreasonable of them to think you knew where it was and were waiting to collect at a convenient time to you. They might have been out sat and sun so waiting till today to drop off.

I thought the usual etiquette is that you collect your parcel and that they aren’t obliged to deliver it for you.
The delivery company should have pushed it through the letter box if no signature required and it would fit, and failing that they should left a card and/or updated the tracking info to tell you where they left it. The neighbour isn’t rude just because they’re incompetent. If anything I’d be grateful they took it in.

I've had neighbours parcels for 4 days before now. They come fetch it when they can. I'm not a a delivery service and I'm not a storage facility.

It's not up to the people a few doors down to get your stuff to you. It is the courier who is at fault.

If I take in post for neighbours the onus is on them to collect. If it’s mid delivered then I’m not to blame and I’m busy so either come and get it or I’ll get round to it when it suits me. I’m not a post office.

I had no idea where it was!

I was left no slip. No text message. Nothing.

I had to search up and down the street looking at peoples driveways that matched the photo on the tracking details.

I thought you were going to say they had pretended not to have received it and kept it for themselves.

No, it wasn't rude of them to keep it safe until you came to collect it.

Im happy to take in parcels for everyone but I would always expect that a card had been left to say it had been left with me. It wouldn’t occur to me to deliver it to the recipient, and I wouldn’t accept someone’s parcel on thst basis

Why would you think they would have time to do this.

Your parcel is not your neighbours responsibility. That sits with you, the company you ordered from and the delivery company. If my parcel is misdelivered I report it, see if I can fetch it and if not tell the company so I can get another sent or a refund. The company will then have to claim the money back from the delivery company they used.

The neighbour isn’t to know that though. It is perfectly reasonable for them to have expected you (as you did) to go and collect the parcel.

Unless your neighbours work for the delivery company, you are being hugely unreasonable.

Them mistakenly ending up with your mail wasn’t an emergency for them. Maybe they were ill, tired, watching a movie, still in pyjamas or just waiting for you to collect the package. They may not have known you didn’t know where it was.

Its really not worth another thought.

Because they live 8 houses down from me.

The parcel was a small envelope that can fit through any letterbox. It had my full correct address on.

I’d have thought the neighbourly thing to do would be to quickly nip down and post it through my letter box.

It’s what I do. If I get posted a letter or something that fits through a letter box in error I will always take it round.

But then again this is Mumsnet where being nice to neighbours doesn’t exist.

No I don't think it's that bad.