Joost is not alone.
I needed some more blanks for plans over a weekend, and I'd ordered them from
Minidisco, who told me to expect them Thursday or Friday. So late Thursday
afternoon, while I've been right in the foyer of my house within a couple
feet of the doorbell's chime, I hear a truck pull away. It's UPS, and
there's a "we missed you" slip on the door. The driver had never touched the
doorbell.
The slip promised another delivery attempt Friday, but after previous experi-
ences I knew not to rely on that; it could be the same driver or an equally
lazy one, again deciding that pushing the doorbell was too much effort, and
then the package would be in UPS's hands all weekend. So I told them to hold
it for pickup, and I went to their facility to get it.
But that was one of the less troublesome ones; I had one package which they
held for pickup on the days they told me a driver would deliver it and tried
to deliver on the days they told me it would be held for pickup. They were
about to return it to the sender, but I got it from them on the last day. Of
course, that came only after another experience with the same sender where
UPS did send it back and I begged the sender (who was only across town) to
let me get it directly from them instead of their shipping it again.
Sometimes the sender has been partly at fault: I prefer not giving out my
street address, so I generally ask if a post office box address is accept-
able. The sender will tell me yes, take down my post office box number and
zip code, and then ship it UPS, who cannot deliver to post office boxes. So
what does UPS do? They send a postal card to the post office box to tell the
addressee to give them delivery instructions. But they hold the package only
seven days and never are in any hurry to send the card, so the card often ar-
rives at the addressee's box after UPS has already returned the parcel to the
sender. I remember once getting the card on the last afternoon before UPS
would return the package, and I had to call them to tell them to hold it for
pickup and then drop everything to get to their facility right then before
they closed.
The only ones who benefit from this incompetence are owners of private mail-
box businesses, who can accept packages for their lessees from any shipper.
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