Late night deliveries

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Sneaking onto the porch at 10:30 at night when the customer has already gone to bed without getting their package.... and then leaving the package without knocking..... isn't "service" at all. It is defrauding the customer out of the refund that they are entitled to by preventing that package from showing up as "missed" on the report like it ought to be.

Service guarantees are waived during Peak.

 

[oldngray]

I have a doctor on my area who received a wine of the month club membership as a gift set up for delivery to his home. The only problem is that he is never there. We would make the 3 attempts and then put it on will call. I would then take care of him by bringing the wine to his office. We eventually got his office manager to change the delivery address to his office.

No indirects allowed for adult signature required packages. There needs to be an address correction to deliver someplace else.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

No indirects allowed for adult signature required packages. There needs to be an address correction to deliver someplace else.

It's called taking care of the customer.

 

[Jackburton]

We are (supposedly at least) expected to walk off residential driveways in order to avoid showing up on Telematics.

In what other occupation is it the stated expectation and policy for employees to walk up residential driveways and onto private property at 9:00 or 10:00 PM, or even later, in the dark, out of sight of the vehicle, and without the homeowner's prior knowledge and consent?

Is this acceptable? Is this appropriate? Is this safe?

Acceptable and appropriate according to the company, yes. Your personal view on this doesn't matter, it's what you were hired to do, follow instructions. One caveat, as I mentioned in my post, you decide what's safe and what's not. If delivering during that time isn't safe for your area, then you need to stop and reevaluate with your management team.

 

[oldngray]

Acceptable and appropriate according to the company, yes. Your personal view on this doesn't matter, it's what you were hired to do, follow instructions. One caveat, as I mentioned in my post, you decide what's safe and what's not. If delivering during that time isn't safe for your area, then you need to stop and reevaluate with your management team.

I ran routes with very bad ghetto areas where pizza delivery people wouldn't go after dark. Even police wouldn't go except to pick up the bodies. Luckily it was the center policy for nobody to try to deliver there after dark. There were other areas almost as bad I would do everything possible to get delivered before dark. No freaking way I would go there late at night.

 

[Indecisi0n]

I'm not going to ring the bell and wake people up at all hours of the night. Nor will I sneak on their porch and leave the package without knocking. At around 9:00 I am going to scan their packages as "missed" so that (a) they can get a refund for the service they paid for and didn't get and (b) the management who put me in the position of being out that late is held accountable for their poor decision making.

That would get you fired. You are at the customers step with the package and choosing not to knock. There is not method preventing you from knocking on someones door at 9PM.

 

[upschuck]

If its not appropriate to knock on the door, its not appropriate to make the delivery in the first place.

Imagine that you were a customer who paid extra money for 2nd Day Air delivery of an important package. How would you feel about "service" that consisted of a delivery person sneaking up on your porch at 10:30 at night, after you were in bed, and leaving a package (without knocking) that you wouldn't find until the following morning? Would you feel like you got the service you had paid for?

What kind of service is delivering late on the third day, rather than waking up, and finding early on the third day. If they needed it early on the second day use 2DAM, 2DA is EOD.

You'd be surprised how many people don't think they get the service they pay for, because we didn't do exactly what they wanted us to do..

 

[upschuck]

Did you miss the part about the contents being a bottle of wine?

I was speaking on generalities there. Of course, sig req packages would get a knock.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

Not to derail this thread but:

These last posts reminded me how inconvenient it was for people to send wine gift boxes like winecountrygiftbaskets.com to the customers.
During peak, 90% of the time, people aren't home. They have to change their work schedule or arrange to pickup the "gift".
What a pain in the butt for us and the resident.

 

[728ups]

That would get you fired. You are at the customers step with the package and choosing not to knock. There is not method preventing you from knocking on someones door at 9PM.

I knock on the door that time of nite for Safety,as here in teh South sneaking around at nite will get you shot. I amke dadgummed sure the residents know i'm out there

 

[oldupsman]

I have a doctor on my area who received a wine of the month club membership as a gift set up for delivery to his home. The only problem is that he is never there. We would make the 3 attempts and then put it on will call. I would then take care of him by bringing the wine to his office. We eventually got his office manager to change the delivery address to his office.

Had a doctor years ago got wine the same way. He gave me the combination to his garage door. I'd sign for it.
Then he would tip me 50 every Christmas. I told him he was doing me a favor not the other around.
Yes I know. But it was the old days.

 

[Jackburton]

I ran routes with very bad ghetto areas where pizza delivery people wouldn't go after dark. Even police wouldn't go except to pick up the bodies. Luckily it was the center policy for nobody to try to deliver there after dark. There were other areas almost as bad I would do everything possible to get delivered before dark. No freaking way I would go there late at night.

I would agree with your decision to not deliver after dark in those areas. Again, it's about safety being number one, service is second.

 

[CHALLY9TX]

Sneaking onto the porch at 10:30 at night when the customer has already gone to bed without getting their package.... and then leaving the package without knocking..... isn't "service" at all. It is defrauding the customer out of the refund that they are entitled to by preventing that package from showing up as "missed" on the report like it ought to be.

Wrong. Don't sneak. Knock and deliver the pkg like you are paid to do. If there are safety concerns then that's another issues that should be discussed with management.

Customer is not entitled to a refund if you deliver their pkg on time like you are supposed to.

Pizza delivery and pkg delivery....apples and oranges

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Had a doctor years ago got wine the same way. He gave me the combination to his garage door. I'd sign for it.
Then he would tip me 50 every Christmas. I told him he was doing me a favor not the other around.
Yes I know. But it was the old days.

It still happens today.

 

[gman042]

Say a package is set to be delivered a particular day. As long as is delivered before the strike of midnight that particular day then there is no service failure. The service failure occurs when it is sheeted missed even though the driver is still able to deliver it the scheduled delivery day and chooses not to. Deliver the package at whatever time you get there. People know that it is Christmas and that we work late during this time of year. They will get over a late delivery

 

[Packmule]

My point is stop thinking only of what works for the company, an operation that has something going on round the clock, and start thinking of what is respectful of our customers. Waking people up after they've gone to bed, scaring the crap out of 80 year old ladies, things like that are totally unprofessional.
The answer is a reasonable stop time at about 8:00 pm. If that means UPS needs more drivers, better start times, etc. so be it. Company needs to stop being so presumptuous.

 

[brownmonster]

It still happens today.

I can bend rules but I won't for signature 21 packages. Either a clerk changes the address or it goes back.

 

[Mike hunt]

I have a personal rule that I refuse to make deliveries after 9:00 PM. I voluntarily extended that out to 9:30 on both Monday and Tuesday of this week for a few stops. Anything beyond that is totally inappropriate, totally unprofessional, and totally unsafe....especially in rural areas when the company is instructing us to walk off stops and stay out of residential driveways in order to reduce backs on a Telematics report.

Yea I'd have to agree with you. It's kinda rude to deliver that late and the thought of scaring someone is awful. What if they shot at you because you startled them.

 

[soberups]

Yea I'd have to agree with you. It's kinda rude to deliver that late and the thought of scaring someone is awful. What if they shot at you because you startled them.

I have had women out in the country come to the door with guns in hand when I rang the bell at 8:30 on a dark winter night. I don't blame them; they were home alone with children in an area where it might take half an hour for the sheriff to respond to a 911 call and they didn't know who was on their porch. There simply comes a point where it is no longer safe or appropriate to be walking up to peoples houses at night.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Is that really a call that you should making?