Parcel holding etiquette?
Si_Crewe
Posts: 40,202 Forum Member
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This should be good.... 
So, a neighbour seems to be in the process of doing all his xmas shopping on-line and, as a result, we've ended-up taking in, literally, dozens of parcels for him over the last couple of weeks.
At the moment we've got 8 or 9 parcels in the hall for him, which have accumulated over the last couple of days.
Just thought it might be fun to find out what DSers think is the appropriate etiquette for this sort of scenario?
As the recipient, do I have a duty to take the parcels over to my neighbour every day, every couple of days or should I just hang onto them until he shows up?
Is there some kind of limit that on-line shoppers should apply when buying to ensure surrogate receivers don't get annoyed?
Is there some "saturation point" where good-will should be retracted and a person should refuse to receive any more parcels?
Should I expect some reward for my helpful actions?
FWIW, our local postie lives a few doors from us and when I've had deliveries, he's been happy to leave them at his own house and then he pops around with them in the evening (for which he gets a bottle of whiskey at xmas) so I guess there's a fair bit of good-will there which I don't want to damage.
The other thing is that, when he's popped around to collect stuff so far, he's been surprised to find that there's been a heap of stuff waiting for him because it seems that the postie/courier hasn't bothered to leave him a card saying a delivery was attempted.
Only yesterday, a courier dropped a couple of parcels off for him and, after he'd gone, the neighbour popped over, said he'd seen the FedEx van outside and wondered if it'd been something for him.
He's had quite a few deliveries from FedEx and it's always been the same guy and it looks like he's decided to drop stuff at my house by default, rather than even attempting to deliver it to the owner now.
All a bit "first world problems" and I guess it'll stop after xmas anyway but it's a bit of a nuisance when your hallway's full of other people's parcels.
So, a neighbour seems to be in the process of doing all his xmas shopping on-line and, as a result, we've ended-up taking in, literally, dozens of parcels for him over the last couple of weeks.
At the moment we've got 8 or 9 parcels in the hall for him, which have accumulated over the last couple of days.
Just thought it might be fun to find out what DSers think is the appropriate etiquette for this sort of scenario?
As the recipient, do I have a duty to take the parcels over to my neighbour every day, every couple of days or should I just hang onto them until he shows up?
Is there some kind of limit that on-line shoppers should apply when buying to ensure surrogate receivers don't get annoyed?
Is there some "saturation point" where good-will should be retracted and a person should refuse to receive any more parcels?
Should I expect some reward for my helpful actions?
FWIW, our local postie lives a few doors from us and when I've had deliveries, he's been happy to leave them at his own house and then he pops around with them in the evening (for which he gets a bottle of whiskey at xmas) so I guess there's a fair bit of good-will there which I don't want to damage.
The other thing is that, when he's popped around to collect stuff so far, he's been surprised to find that there's been a heap of stuff waiting for him because it seems that the postie/courier hasn't bothered to leave him a card saying a delivery was attempted.
Only yesterday, a courier dropped a couple of parcels off for him and, after he'd gone, the neighbour popped over, said he'd seen the FedEx van outside and wondered if it'd been something for him.
He's had quite a few deliveries from FedEx and it's always been the same guy and it looks like he's decided to drop stuff at my house by default, rather than even attempting to deliver it to the owner now.
All a bit "first world problems" and I guess it'll stop after xmas anyway but it's a bit of a nuisance when your hallway's full of other people's parcels.
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Comments
Thing is most couriers will accept an alternative address, if say you're working, so why not ask him to do that?
My house, my parcel.
I had a spate of parcels for a neighbour for a while and when he came over to collect them, he did explain and apologise etc and then I got a thank you note as well.
Nice one Santa ;-)
I had an Amazon delivery the other week and they delivered it to someone in our street, I would much prefer it if they didn't do this as I feel bad disturbing the other person.
You could always not accept the deliveries as it does sound like your house is filling up!
Anyway, I'd keep them until he calls for them. The parcel people should leave him a note that they've left the parcel with you.
When he next comes to collect a parcel tell him that your a bit of a mean spirited type who resents doing a tiny kindness for a neighbour and that he should be clear when ordering on line what arrangements he has in place for delivery when he is out that exclude you.
Why's it "mean spirited" to not want your hall filled with other people's deliveries?
That's a ridiculous question.
Why is it?
Bear in mind though that the more you help neighbours the more they might be willing to help you when your car battery is flat or looking out for you.
If it is all the time then I wouldn't do it, but if it's just in the run up to Christmas I don't see the harm.
The opportunity is always there for the Good Samaritan to say "No", and there's no shame in that. No one is obliged to take in a parcel for a neighbour. It's a courtesy, but one that shouldn't be abused; either by the delivery guy, or by the neighbour expecting that good old No.## will oblige.
However, once a parcel has been taken in then it's between the neighbours to sort things out. There has to be some recognition of the service that has been provided. After all, saving the neighbour the hassle of calling to a depot to collect, or having to arrange a redelivery does save quite a bit of time.
I get a lot of deliveries too. I try to schedule them for my office day when I know I'll be here, but there's always going to be those times when that's not possible. Most times it's my elderly neighbour who takes stuff in. It's then my duty to go and collect. We are good neighbours anyway. I've helped him with DIY stuff and my wife cooks and bakes so we take them pies cakes and biscuits. They treat my son like a grandchild. The quid pro quo works well.
Very occasionally other neighbours take stuff in. During the course of the year I might help them out too with little jobs. If not, then a tin of Roses and a thank you card seems to suffice. If one of my neighbours was being bombarded though then I'd certainly make sure that they knew there was something in it for them as a thank you.
The situation for you as the receiver is different of course. So the answer is how you broach the subject of a consideration. Maybe bare faced cheek "My wife says there'd etter be a bottle of vodka in it for us. She likes Grey Goose"
I'll take 1 other neighbour's packages if the courier knocks, but anyone else, I just refuse.
So did I. I was thinking oh for God's sake is this something else that I have to learn.
I think opening the door once a day to store up to two parcels can be achieved in a very moderately sized home without the need for domestic help.
I must confess I did also. I feared my gauche parcel holding skills were about to be revealed to the world of DS.
Followed by a silly one.
Predictable, if nothing else.
I took in loads of parcels for my neighbour for a while, I didn't mind to start with until he began to not answer the door to the postman, even when he was in. Windows open, music on, I could SEE him out the window. But he couldn't be bothered to get up and get the door. So the postman would come to me. Multiple times a day.
It ended with us having a row, because I don't mind taking things in when neighbours are out, but when someone is just lazy, it is very annoying! He also expected me to take all the stuff round to him.
Now, I would seriously think twice about it.
Op stated 8 or 9 parcels, of unspecified size.
Even so, let's accept this is the case ( instead of acknowledging it's exaggerated for effect) any normal hallway can cope with a few parcels of average size.
If they were gargantuan I'm sure that would have been included in the OP.
Now, as I said , and you seem to be foolishly disputing, that's manageable without a grand entrance hall and a butler.
There's really nothing more to say, but I shan't be surprised if you tried