House name and no door number - hard to find

[NCMJ]

Sorry if this isn't quite the right space for this post but couldn't think of where would be relevant.

We've been living in our new house for a year now and the biggest problem is that it is tricky for couriers to find.

Our house has a house name rather than a door number but the thing is, it is the only house with a house name on our road. The rest have door numbers. This is because it was built on an extra bit of space that next door had, and instead of giving it a number, they gave it a name. To make things even more confusing, we are right next door to a 1C. The house next to it is 1A. There's 1A all the way to 1F in a very illogically laid out sequence. AND there's also a plain old number 1 too somewhere in there.

We have a new courier for Evri in the area and they clearly can't find the house and so the last few packages have all ended up being returned to sender. I do write instructions in the box but clearly this courier isn't reading the instructions. .

Does anyone have any advice or creative ideas on how we might be able to make it a bit more clearer where our house is?

For example, do you think if we changed our door number to 0, it would also be hard to find or would you naturally look for a house number 0 next door to house number 1?

How big is the house name sign? Our house is also a name, not a number and we have q a large plank sign with clear white lettering, and it's lit up by a solar light after dusk. I think that, plus maybe you could put the What3Words code on your order, is all you can really do....

Black sign, not plank!

We had a similar issue, with parent's house. it's very frustrating. What3words location on both delivery address and delivery info helped, but and as it's a small town getting to know the postman and delivery drivers helped.

For doctors & ambulances, when parent became ill, despite always telling 111/999 their carers or I would have to stand outside and flag them down.

We have a similar issue in that we do have a number, but no road! It's just the number and then the village name so it's similarly a nightmare.

We've found a bright painted door eg it's the only red one on the streeet, has really helped- we put that the property has the red door under all delivery instructions and it does help somewhat but isn't foolproof. What3words is a good idea by pp above though, I will try that too.

Depends on the layout but would it be possible to become a 2A or 3A rather than trying to add to the number 1 list?
It might be worth speaking to the street numbering officer at your local Council to see if you can change your official address. That would be the only way of getting your new address to show up in drop down menus fir deliveries and it can take several months for those to update.

Unfortunately updated addresses can take years to get into drop down lists! Our flat was converted in 2012 and not only is the number missing, the letter is too. It’s manual address only.

Our main house is on a bridleway in a village with no house numbers at all. You can imagine the problems! Having said that, I don’t know what the answer is. Everyone here refuses to have signs pointing to houses in each bit of the village yet the private roads in the nearest town do have them. Obviously that is helpful.

Could you get a very large sign for the front garden? I have a fairly obvious one. It’s on my gatepost as we don’t have a lawn, but you need to make your house name very obvious. I do feel your pain though. We tend to get parcels for other houses the couriers cannot find!

Is it registered with the local council ? They will have a street naming department who should be able to advise.
We had friends who had a house with a number, but decided to give it a name, but didn't register it with the council or Royal Mail. If you don't use the number then post and deliveries are often not delivered.

I do wish What3words would become more used. I live in a house with a name on a private road with no name. We "officially" are within the village boundary of one village, but we are closer to another village which the Post Office prefer us to use in our postal address. We have no real landmarks other than farm gates and telegraph poles. Getting anything delivered usually involves me going out and hunting down vans who've called to say they're lost. I always put our W3W ref, map pic and full directions on any order, but the ones who take any notice seem to be few and far between.

If its not where Google Maps says, people just don't bother, ime . . . Ours is a nightmare. Our street goes 4-9, 2, then a big bend and 3, 1. We are no.3 and nobody can ever find us. We have a massive number and I always put detailed instructions on delivery orders.

I've given up and wherever possible I use Amazon lockers and Evri pickup. H&M have banned me from ordering as too many parcels have been returned undelivered!

Even friends, playdates etc can't find us using a what 3 words Pin, instructions and a hand drawn map. I think people are just super rubbish at finding things.

Could you say

‘Blacksmith Cottage, ,opp no 4)
or ‘ Blacksmith Cotrage, end of Daffodil Road)

My neighbours have a new housesign which is digital and lit up at all times, including at night. It is fantastic! Great for posties, and for ambulances, should you need one. Think about it there was an emergency with one of you home, would the ambulance/fire/police be able to easily find you. If not, I'd get one of these signs.

Try googling illuminated house signs or numbers, that seems to bring some up although the one they have is a whole digital sign, not just an light shining on a number if that makes sense.

You can add a message for the delivery diver with what3words location. Most people use it now

@Faldodiddledee An ambulance did not find a house here on one occasion.A man on his own had collapsed from a bee sting, and the crew were giving up. My DM overheard them talking and told them where to find the house. DM was a nurse in WW2, so giving up wasn’t in her DNA. 30 years on, quite elderly people live in that house so heaven help them as there is still no obvious indication as to where the house is.

You can set up an account with most delivery firms, including Evri. In your account you can add extra info such as W3W, a photo of your house, and special instructions. The driver should have access to this if the delivery is linked to your account.

When deliveries are linked to the same email address, they usually appear on your account automatically. Alternatively you can add manually once you have the tracking number.

Our house is a typical sequentially numbered house on a normal main street and yet Amazon and Yodel ALWAYS deliver to the wrong houses.

Example: we are 11 west rose road and Amazon always deliver to 11 south rose terrace which is several streets away and a different post code.

Yodel just deliver bloody anywhere, they say 'Our GPS says its right' but they never even deliver to the same spot twice, it could literally be any house in town and they argue their GPS is 'proof' they delivered even if the photo clearly isn't your house.

Evri and Royal Mail are ok but it is not inherently a house name issue, some couriers/drivers are just really shite at checking addresses.

Can you put it on the first address line when ordering stuff?

Eg " Rose Cottage" (between 1a and 1c)

You could give them the UPRN number, look it up here:
https://www.findmyaddress.co.uk/search

In my area Evri are so useless I've given up trying to get them to deliver to my home and instead get them to deliver to the nearest post office, and pick up from there.

I live on a private road and issues with couriers delivering to the wrong address is so frustrating. I did make a suggestion to other residents that we add numbers and they were horrified! (apparently having a name is more 'upmarket') - some of the responses I had (it's a road whatsapp, were less than pleasant) and I was astonished at what I can only call pure snobbery. I wasn't suggesting getting rid of house names, just adding numbers for those who wished to do so - wouldn't have to be every house for couriers to work it out. We are in the middle of the postcode so I get lots of couriers ringing on my door to ask where such and such a house is located - I work from home and it's very irritating at Christmas time when parcels are left on my doorstep and I then have to re-deliver or contact others on the road to ask them to collect.
Suggest you count the houses on the road and add to the address 14th house on the left (or whatever number it is) - it helps a bit. You can have a house number added via the council but it's costly (just under £100) and if no-one else has a number it won't work.