Want Your Package? Shovel Your Damn Walkway!

To everyone saying they should make the person pick it up at a delivery location: How the heck do you expect the driver to leave a note saying that if he can't get to the bloody door in the first place?
 
If it's a little bit of snow, I'd fault the drivers, more than that, it's the home owners. However, I worked for UPS and can say I understand where the drivers are coming from, and where homeowners who work all day are coming from. Bottom line, I'd get into work around 12:30a.m. for package unloading, then run home to shower between 8-9a.m., then hit the road to help with deliveries around 9:30a.m. only to get down around 6ishp.m. on a good day. Sure, walking through snow the first 1 or 2 deliveries isn't that bad, but you've still got 8+ more hours ahead of you. Additionally, with snow, you can't tell if it's covering any ice, and lots of days I spent more time on my ass than standing because of that. I'd compare walking through deep snow to running in sand, oh and by the way, carrying something heavy and usually fragile all the while. Also, the heaters in the trucks are non-existent, so once you get wet, either form rain or deep snow, it's a treat, even if you bring spare clothes and can find a place to put them on a UPS truck this time of year. Just sayin', lol.
 
Arcygenical said:
I disagree with this full heartedly. If you're going to leave it at the road side, don't leave it at all. Come back another day, or have the customer pick it up after it's unloaded. Leaving it on the road, because it's snowed 2 feet since I left for work at 8am, and the dropoff time of 4pm is a huge no-no IMO.
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What happens then is the customer throws a massive fucking fit that they had to wait another day for the package. Delivery is a thankless shitty job.
 
I work for UPS and its a huge pain in the ass to deal with snow. During this season my route has about 300 stops a day... 1/2 of them are not cleared from snow. As drivers we cant show back up at the hub with 150 packages and say sorry it was snowing. Either you deliver it or look for a new job. Long drive ways that are not clear? damn right its getting left at the mail box on the road.
 
Derangel said:
To everyone saying they should make the person pick it up at a delivery location: How the heck do you expect the driver to leave a note saying that if he can't get to the bloody door in the first place?
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Have the office call the recipient and/or sender (they should have a phone number from one of them)? Leave a note on the mailbox/tree/wherever they can reach? Write a message in yellow snow in the front yard? :D

I don't have a perfect solution... but tossing it in a snow bank isn't right either. That's one of the biggest issues... everyone want's to say "it ain't my problem".

You know, I get pissed when I get called into work in the wee hours of the morning to fix a problem. But then I realize that is part of the job I signed up for. Just like delivering packages in a manner that they don't get damaged/water soaked/etc. should be theirs.

There is fault on both sides and there needs to be a "happy medium" between the two.
 
Disposed said:
What happens then is the customer throws a massive fucking fit that they had to wait another day for the package. Delivery is a thankless shitty job.
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A delivery driver is thanked with a paycheck. It's a paid for service and it's fuckin easy with the exception of when you have to deal with untethered dogs in which case the delivery person probably doesn't even have to deliver the package.
 
I was a letter carrier and have been a Postmaster for 22 years. Although I never tossed a package in the snow nor would I condone one of my carriers doing so, I will admit there were times when I would have liked to. You come to a house and they have their driveway cleared and a nice walk for them to get from their side door to their car or garage. But they mail box in on the front porch. They make no effort to clear a pat to that. and the front steps are covered by a foot or more of snow. You put your well being at risk to wade through the snow, climb the snow covered and icy steps without falling, put the mail in the box and then make your way back down to safety.

What is ironic is that the 70 and 80 year old people will get out there and shovel their steps and walkways. the 20-30 and 40 somethings will almost never put forth the effort. But guess who is the first to call and complain when there front porch is ice covered and dangerous and the carrier does not deliver their mail because he/she would put his/her safety at risk to do so?

Yeah it is fun to rag on UPS, Fed Ex and USPS. That seems to be a favorite pastime of some people. But try walking a mile (or 13) in their shoes this time of year, witness the obstacles they face and then see how tough you really are. Those men and women earn their money and most of them would never do what this carrier did. (Even if they wanted to!)
 
RAMPAGEOH said:
What is ironic is that the 70 and 80 year old people will get out there and shovel their steps and walkways. the 20-30 and 40 somethings will almost never put forth the effort. But guess who is the first to call and complain when there front porch is ice covered and dangerous and the carrier does not deliver their mail because he/she would put his/her safety at risk to do so?
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That is not ironic, that is simply about time, your 20-40yo person is not at home.
 
Disposed said:
What happens then is the customer throws a massive fucking fit that they had to wait another day for the package. Delivery is a thankless shitty job.
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Tell them to deal with it, or shovel their driveway.

Leaving a package in the snow, by a sidewalk or other publicly traversed area is never acceptable.
 
faugusztin said:
That is not ironic, that is simply about time, your 20-40yo person is not at home.
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I wish that was the case but the snow is still there, two, three, four days later. It is not about them working and not having the time to do it.
 
tissimo said:
I live in FL, what is this?
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I LOLed at this. I live in Alabama* 20 miles north of the gulf. I was outside working on my deck in a t-shirt and jeans today. People around here freak out the one day every three years there is snow in the air that never sticks to the ground. I read this story and the comments like I was reading about another planet.

But we do get hurricanes, those are "fun".


* insert joke here
 
Complaining about this is dumb. You got your package (probably on time), from wherever to your door minus the ~5ft it did not make it *this time*. Your package is 1 in millions per day, and at my hub 1 in 100k. As a meager employee, it's hard to give a shit about one particular package.
 
complexx said:
A delivery driver is thanked with a paycheck. It's a paid for service and it's fuckin easy with the exception of when you have to deal with untethered dogs in which case the delivery person probably doesn't even have to deliver the package.
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You have clearly never done the job so should not call it easy.
 
stealthy123 said:
the hours they work are fucking insane, go in a 7 get home at 11 at night in the busy season and you are working your ass off all day long, running around lifting packages.

There are no lazy ups drivers
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And HAVE TO drive no matter what weather conditions? Screw that shit. If the weather is bad when im enroute to a out of town clients office, I tell my office "Sorry, no can do, bad roads, going home now, try again tomorroo" End of discussion.
 
Freezebyte said:
And HAVE TO drive no matter what weather conditions? Screw that shit. If the weather is bad when im enroute to a out of town clients office, I tell my office "Sorry, no can do, bad roads, going home now, try again tomorroo" End of discussion.
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Yeah lol, It was so bad the other night I could not read any of the traffic signs, never mind the numbers on peoples houses. Was sliding all over the road but I had to finish my route. We can EC packages but we will have to come back the next day and try again... which = more work, when we are already overloaded.

Today my truck had 240 stops, ended up doing 270 with late error. I did have a seasonal helper so that was nice.

I cant wait till xmas is over.
 
What the fuck do you expect the homeowners to do while they are at work? Magically teleport themselves home half an hour before they deliver the package to shovel their walk? If it has been snowing all day long they are more important things to do then spend all day shoveling, such as work. Either change your dropoff times to coincide with people shoveling or quite bitching. And don;t tell me their job is difficult, they chose it and they get compensated for their efforts If you don;t believe that compensation is enough find another job.
 
Those damn brown truck do not even have AC. I feel for those guys in the summer. I feel for them when the snow is falling too. But tossing a package in the snow is not the right thing to do over. If it was my package, it would certainly dry up any sympathy I might have held for them.
 
complexx said:
A delivery driver is thanked with a paycheck. It's a paid for service and it's fuckin easy with the exception of when you have to deal with untethered dogs in which case the delivery person probably doesn't even have to deliver the package.
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I would love to see your ass out anywhere doing 100-150+ plus stop in any amount of time. Ive been a Fedex driver since 06 and I will tell you that shit is not fucking easy. Well thats a lie somewhat it is easy(when you know what your doing but very demanding) but it takes a motivated person to keep moving, understand how to get a route done and not give up. Our hoilday attrition rate is around 80% with the temp drivers we hire. Please apply next season and get back to us.

I will tell you I work about 75 hours on a 6 day work week for $150 a day before taxes with NO BENEFITS and there are tons of fedex drivers who work for less then me. We are contractors and sub contractors, we do not get paid if we do not deliver the package. I could be having the shittyist day and just want to throw your package in the snow/river/ditch/trash/road(I feel this way alot sometimes) but when I show up and you say ZOMG ive been waitin for this all day OMG thank you it make me want to deliver those next couple stops. /rant

Whoever delivered that is a Lazy D-bag. It takes 5 seconds to grab and bag and wrap the package THEN toss. If you have a gate, a dog, a fucked up ass drive way. Im going to throw it in a bag and tuck somewhere out of sight and keep moving.
 
Monkey God said:
What I dont do however, is blame the package delivery person.
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Really?

I live in Colorado too and UPS sucks balls big time. They usually drop packages after 6PM, sometimes as late as 8PM (past the 7PM cut off) and they rarely ring the doorbell.

I know it varies upon driver but FedEx and USPS haven't doubted me yet in the past 10 years.
 
GORANKAR said:
Those damn brown truck do not even have AC. I feel for those guys in the summer. I feel for them when the snow is falling too. But tossing a package in the snow is not the right thing to do over. If it was my package, it would certainly dry up any sympathy I might have held for them.
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Agreed

If they feel no desire to walk through those snows, then don't deliver it at all.
 
RAMPAGEOH said:
I was a letter carrier and have been a Postmaster for 22 years. Although I never tossed a package in the snow nor would I condone one of my carriers doing so, I will admit there were times when I would have liked to. You come to a house and they have their driveway cleared and a nice walk for them to get from their side door to their car or garage. But they mail box in on the front porch. They make no effort to clear a pat to that. and the front steps are covered by a foot or more of snow. You put your well being at risk to wade through the snow, climb the snow covered and icy steps without falling, put the mail in the box and then make your way back down to safety.
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Funny, because no matter how nice my sidewalk, walkway, and porch are, they are even salted, the postman always cuts through the yard because it's quicker.
 
80 grand rofl... people are smoking crack. I know two guys in CT that are FT UPS drivers at about 4 years each. They pull in about 28 an hour or so. Which is nice but not 40+ an hour it takes to rake in 80g's. Also "overtime" isn't like it is for Cops, if you go over your scheduled time for stops then they start wondering why you are under performing, they just don't let you rack up ot and pay out...
 
Arcygenical said:
Leaving a package in the snow, by a sidewalk or other publicly traversed area is never acceptable.
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This was my point exactly.


Driveway not cleared, I guess you can wait until tomorrow to get your package. THROWING a package with your new $500 electronic device in it is lazy.

I had a "missing" FedEx package show up in my yard 5 months late after a package had been left in the snow...while it was snowing....and it didn't turn up again until spring when the snow melted. True story. :p
 
RiZnO said:
80 grand rofl... people are smoking crack. I know two guys in CT that are FT UPS drivers at about 4 years each. They pull in about 28 an hour or so. Which is nice but not 40+ an hour it takes to rake in 80g's. Also "overtime" isn't like it is for Cops, if you go over your scheduled time for stops then they start wondering why you are under performing, they just don't let you rack up ot and pay out...
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Fedex Ground is paid WAY WAY WAY WAY less. They label them 'independent contractors', don't pay them any salary, they get paid by the package delivered. They have to buy their own truck, they have to pay to have the Fedex logo printed on it, and they have to pay for any maintenance out of their own pocket. If the truck breaks guess who foots the bill for a rental of a replacement truck? Guess who gets to be the one who unloads the broken truck and puts the packages on the rental truck. Guess who gets to work until 11PM because they didn't get out of the terminal at 6AM on time. After all that you barely break even for the day because of the rental truck expenses. I had a relative who was a Fedex ground driver for a couple of years. Eventually had to stop when his truck's engine went out and he didn't have the money to repair it, and the rental fees for another truck would have been higher than what he was actually making during the day.
 
Steve said:
Driveway not cleared, I guess you can wait until tomorrow to get your package. THROWING a package with your new $500 electronic device in it is lazy.

I had a "missing" FedEx package show up in my yard 5 months late after a package had been left in the snow...while it was snowing....and it didn't turn up again until spring when the snow melted. True story. :p
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I had DHL leave a package out in the pouring rain during flash flood conditions.

It was insured, but since it wasn't shipped with signature required, DHL argued they were clear to drop it off wherever and whenever they liked, regardless of conditions.

Glad they aren't around anymore...
 
From the Original article comments area:
http://consumerist.com/2010/12/fedex-neither-wind-nor-rain-nor-sleet-nor-ah-screw-it.html

JWG
December 16, 2010 9:28 PM

Ok, so I'll own this. My house, my package. Yes, it would have been great if the sidewalk could have been shoveled. Unfortunately, I'm on vacation, left last Friday. On Saturday we got 18 inches of snow. I'm not there to shovel it. We have someone house/dog sitting for us, so the driveway was done - but not his job to do our sidewalk. I'd have been happy had FedEx 1) left the package by the garage door (shoveled) or 2) left a "couldn't deliver" notice in the mailbox. Not thrown it 25 feet into a snow drift.
​

Not sure who to feel bad for myself. Local delivery guys REALLY vary in what they're willing to do. I used to HATE UPS in my area. The delivery guy was rude, and a total jerk about actually delivering stuff. Now, I think they're just fine and use them when I can. I used to get FedEx ground, and loved them. But they would occasionally get someone else in doing it temporary, and I stopped using them, because they were idiots.

It's not the company, so much, as the people. The company is run by people. Although the company condoning certain practices doesn't help matters at all!
 
Tolyngee said:
I had DHL leave a package out in the pouring rain during flash flood conditions.

It was insured, but since it wasn't shipped with signature required, DHL argued they were clear to drop it off wherever and whenever they liked, regardless of conditions.

Glad they aren't around anymore...
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DHL is definitely still around.
 
UPS used to be good but they've let me down every time since 2 years ago. Even when I annotate that signature is required, they leave it right on the front porch. I ordered my computer parts from newegg with signature required and unfortunately, newegg switched to UPS a couple years ago so there are no other delivery options. Anyway, the UPS driver left all the boxes (some in the regular retail packaging) right on the front porch while I was at work.

Another time, a UPS driver delivered the package to the wrong address!
 
Tolyngee said:
I had DHL leave a package out in the pouring rain during flash flood conditions....
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My experience has been the opposite. The DHL deliveryman for all the packages I got, did a better job than UPS, USPS, or FedEx.
 
SOME package-service delivery drivers are excellent, some average and some pitiful. Weather doesn’t cause the good ones to commit stupid, destructive or anti-social acts. Often, I’d assume that drivers don’t know what’s contained within the packages that they are delivering. Therefore, to throw or toss packages creates the potential for damage to the contents. Once this damage is done due to willful destructive mishandling of packages, the responsible companies- UPS or FedEx will deny the claims for damage and claim improper packaging.

The weather and condition of sidewalks are irrelevant to some LAZY DESTRUCTIVE THOUGHTLESS delivery personnel. (not yelling; uppercase for emphasis) The following videos provide examples of such careless actions.

http://www.guzer.com/videos/ups-throws-package.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcIOy6XcM3s

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/1/UPS-Speed-Delivery-650250

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1qUd9na_PQ UPS Driver explaining his actions to his supervisor while customer at home. December, 2010.

Here are a few questions.

Why can’t drivers allow the customer an opportunity to get to the door before taking off or throwing a package? (This is evidenced by videos and a huge number of complaints.)

Why don’t delivery companies publicly disclose that packages will be thrown and handled in needlessly destructive manners?

Why, if delivery drivers are unhappy with their work, do they continue in such misery?

Why not quit?

Why must paying customers continually be made unhappy by folks who are unhappy in their work?

What's the difference between a Best Buy cashier throwing your iPad on the floor after your purchase and the UPS guy throwing it around, while delivering it?

Changes to the reckless behaviors of some delivery companies will change after customers and businesses start voting with their dollars.
 
Dantrax said:
he shoulda punted it to the door
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Or through an upstairs window. That way they can't argue. If the package breaks then torch the house. Then they can just claim the package on house insurance, and get a new house for christmas. Everybody wins.
 
I love watching all the hidden cam shots of UPS guys throwing packages totally carelessly.... good waste of time :D

The best one on youtube is the UPS guy who jumps out of the brown truck AS ITS STILL MOVING (and 2 people walking in front of his truck!!!)...... then he takes 3 or 4 quick steps and underhand chucks the package literally 10+ yards and it smacks against the house. He jumps in quickly and hauls ass without even realizing any of this. :D
 
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