h a l f b a k e r yBirth of a Notion.
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Dear FedEx,
we pay a lot for delivery through you. We supply lots of information - phone numbers, addresses, all that. That's mostly because we really want to actually get stuff to the intended destination, and not have to walk around late at night 1 1/2 days late, fruitlessly quizzing our neighbors
whether they've seen an envelope, about this |<-->| big, was supposedly "Left at Front Door", responds to the name Kitty.
(OK, it doesn't actually respond to the name "Kitty".)
Suggestion: Instead of the little terminals that accept people's signatures for delivery - signatures that aren't compared to anything and mean nothing - equip them with still cameras. Cameras are useful for taking a picture of the recipient (in case of fraud), or of the place where the &$#@! envelope was left. Once these pictures are uploaded to your tracking site (via base stations in the vans, perhaps), I have at least a fighting chance of figuring out whether it was stolen, or just misdelivered a few houses over.
Thanks. (And no, I still haven't found it.)
Dear Jutta , we left your package with this person
http://www.viewimag...id=3&partner=Google
[Ling, Oct 14 2007]
Cheap Bike Chain..
http://www.amazon.c...=1192406184&sr=1-23
could work. [rascalraidex, Oct 14 2007]
mailbox-XL
Eight years on... [hippo, Oct 15 2007]
"Do-it-yourself Brain Surgery"
https://www.amazon....owley/dp/0584970730
Has a chapter on "Breeding Combat Hamsters" amongst other useful information. [8th of 7, May 07 2019]
[link]
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Maybe have them record GPS data as well. It would be nice proof for them that they delivered at least at the right location. |
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They're supposed to put it in a place where it's not likely to be found or stolen by passers by. |
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My Sister saw one delivery guy in L.A. He dropped a package for her on the side-walk with one of those notes to say sorry you weren't in. |
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Trouble is, he never left the cab at all. |
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And for dubious "comes in a plain
wrapper" deliveries, do you get to wear a
brown paper bag over your head as an
appropriate disguise? |
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//And no, I still haven't found it.// -
imagines another site called: "It's Mine
Now, Neagh! Neagh!" where proud, smug
new owners of YOUR stuff show it off. |
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A related idea would be to call the mobile phone number which was provided at order time and ask the guy where to leave it, or when he'll be in so redelivery can be arranged. |
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// baked - ebay// a friend of mine just
lost £400 through an ebay/paypal rip off.
Caveat Emptor !!! I call ebay thievebay. |
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yeah... the DHL guy was about to leave my girlfriends 900 dollar laptop out on our front porch. Luckily I was awake and answered the door. He looked kinda shocked that someone was home, had me sign for it and pointed to the ground,"I put it right there" so I guess he kinda baked it. |
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If someone stole it,though, they could just throw it away. |
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Most IDs have the magnetic strip, so they could really easily just swipe it. Probably faster than signing. |
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+ yes. Once we were sitting in the living room waiting for a delivery only to look at the kitchen door ten minutes later to see the note, "sorry we missed you" etc, so we called UPS and made the driver come back. |
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My UPS driver steals my goodies, and
leaves me the empty wrapper. (He
handed me a package once with half of
the product missing. It was either him
or the processor. The packagage was
C.O.D. You can't open or inspect a
package till you pay. Then once you
open it, it's too late. It's yours!) |
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Anyway, anything that solves any of the
probs they have, since Christmas is
coming soon, gets a bun from me! |
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They should email, or otherwise send
you a pin number that you have to
enter, or NO delivery is logged. Only
you know this number, so the driver, or
anyone else can't fudge in your
signature. Would this not solve the
problem? |
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[xen], I like that a LOT. You could give the PIN number to your assistants. Or, more easily remembered, the name of the recipient, which the driver doesn't give away. |
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But, based on something anno-ed earlier, I'm morphing that over to a phone number the driver has to call. (He could have a special phone with delivery numbers put into speed-dial or something automatic.) If the person who wants the package doesn't have the ringing phone, he doesn't get it. Or if whoever answers the phone says to give the package to the homeless person or just leave it on the porch, the package guy could record the call. |
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As was said, use the available technology to catch up with modern times. [+] |
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Heh, this has happened to me a LOT - my buddies in scotland sometimes send me things, and I know of at least one occasion whereby the package never arrived. Also when buying things online, the delivery guy left my stuff *on the porch of my house* - this isn't exactly the most secure thing to do, as recently there have been a spate of burglaries, and some enterprising bastard would prolly walk up the driveway and steal it. |
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What they should have on the truck is a mini trebuchet, which would deliver the package onto the roof of the house (where it is easier to get off the roof when you actually live there), or failing that, have 'second addresses', such as you're mates house where they'll hold it for you. |
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How about a cable lock system that they can just tether your package somewhere on your house. Unlock with a 4 digit code you received on your invoice or via email. |
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seems like it might be a security issue. revealing other people's faces and addresses on the internet... (sorry it got lost!) |
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<glances around shiftilly> |
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Yeah! Like all the suggestions. Anything to make it safer. |
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I've had a few packages turn up with contents missing. The worst was when I was waiting for a new passport to be delivered and my Granny died. I couldn't fly home for the funeral without my new passport and the delivery firm (DHL) said that it had already been delivered and signed for. Only by going to the depot and forcing the unhelpful bastard on the counter to go and look if it was there with his eyes did I get it at all. If I'd not gone that day, they would have sent it back to the embassy and I would have missed the funeral. |
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[+] I had a package missing for 3 days.
My girlfriend saw the delivery truck in
the neighborhood but he never cam to
our door. There was a car in the open
garage which usually signifies someone
being home. 3 days later (after filing a
complaint with the company to find out
where the friggn' package was left), I
found it *in* my garage next to the tire
of her car. We practically ran over the
thing for 3 days because the jerk didn't
ring the doorbell. |
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Our company had an address very similar to the address of a building in the same industrial park causing us to get each other's packages all of the time. If I could track it and see that the delivery driver left it "here" I wouldn't mind going to wherever I had to go in order to get it. |
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Just to help the driver out: A big feckin' box labeled "Put It *HERE*". [+] |
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Yeah....i wish the tracking actually worked... I have recently been ordering quite a bit off the internet, and none of the tracking services work. All they say is shipped. Then I am sitting at home one day, checking the tracking again, and DING DONG. I run to my door and open in time to see the UPS truck taking off with my package just chillin. Maybe UPS guys are really shy, or they are just practicing for the Ding Dong Ditch Olympics. |
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I don't see how ebay improves on this at all - ebay is part of the source that feeds into the actual problem, which is delivery by a third party to an unspecified individual. |
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A photo of the recipient - preferably with the delivered item's current location also visible - is an excellent idea. |
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"Why not a small GPS/phone module they chuck into the boxes." |
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Baked. US Military uses gps transceivers to track air cargo. They're about the size of an icecream sandwich. |
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I absolutely love this idea~~!! |
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This would work, without being too high-tech!!! Not everything can afford to be high-tech. This doesn't need to be. [+]! How about if you put a thing on your porch, that flashes lights. You only turn it on if you have a package coming. Nobody can mix that up, I mean, come on... |
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...unless both you *and* your neighbour are expecting a delivery. |
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I came here for a rant. This time, it was DHL. |
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You would imagine, would you not, that things like collecting and delivering
parcels would form part of the core competencies of, say, a courier firm. |
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Not so. My collection is currently 3hrs43minutes late so far, measured relative
to the back end of the FOUR HOUR window during which they were supposed
to collect it. |
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I mean, I pay for this shit, with actual money. It is very tempting to ship a
half-dozen live rats in an easily-chew-throughable box. |
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Bees. You can even send bees by Royal Mail. |
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Africanized killer bees - sterile, of course. And something in the box to make them bad-tempered. |
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The problem is that, as far as I'm aware, bees are not
especially adept at escaping from boxes whilst in the back of
a DHL van. They would, instead, be released by the intended
recipient of the parcel, in the unlikely event of its ever
reaching said recipient. Rats, on the other hand... |
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I may start work on developing Africanised Killer Rats. |
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In which case we highly recommend the book in <link>. |
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Pah. That's a rubbish book. For starters, when they cover
brain surgery they neglect to mention that you should leave
the motor cortex until last, and get a friend to help. Also,
using timber-connectors to close the skull is all well and good,
but you either need to buy the really short ones or not drive
them home all the way. |
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// get a friend to help // |
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Well that's the Intercalary up the creek, then. And we can't see him asking any of your family to assist in impromptu brain surgery - not after last time, anyway. |
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// not drive them home all the way // |
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Yes, it's easy to be wise after the event. |
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[jutta], have you found the envelope yet? |
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The neighbour signed for it and forgot. [jutta]'s reticent after a good but impromptu venting post. |
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