this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
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Most of us wouldn't buy from someone who made us jump through hoops like that.
It's not really a lot of hoops to jump through, and this seems to be standard practice by DHL, UPS, FedEx and others, over here.
I actually appreciate getting the options on delivery day. E.g. I usually get to choose what collection point they leave the package at (so I can pick a spot I pass by going home from work or whatever), or if I want them to come back the next day, or have it dropped off at my office (not always an option, kinda seems to depend on how stressful a day the driver is having). I certainly prefer it to risk having the package stolen, then reporting, waiting for a new delivery..
Of course, if the package is large, heavy or otherwise unwieldy it might be a pain not having it delivered directly to the door, but if I'm expecting such a thing I try to be home to accept delivery.
Call it what you want; anyone who changed their policy would go bankrupt overnight as they lost 95% of their sales volume, because no one else does that silly nonsense.
You're free to waste time going to pick up "deliveries", and this has more or less always been the case. But that's a dealbreaker for the vast majority of the population, because no other competitor will pull that nonsense.
How inconvenient is getting your package stolen lmao
It's literally never happened to me and, if it did, is still less inconvenient than waiting for a delivery one single time. It's as simple as contacting the retailer and getting a replacement shipped in a day or two for anyone big. The worst case is maybe a week.
All of that is better than going out of my way to go to a pickup location or staying home waiting for a package.
Exactly. I've never had a package stolen, but if I did, I would just report it and it would come later that week. No big deal.
Welcome to the rest of the world mate. This issue here is another "no way to prevent this, says only nation where this happens" as The Onion would say.
OK, in the rest of the world you have dogshit service. Why is that relevant to the fact that Americans are unwilling to do business with companies that don't respect our time?
Stolen packages aren't an actual problem at any scale, and I'm willing to bet shrinkage from theft is meaningfully lower than it is in physical stores. Expecting people to sit around all day waiting for deliveries is a terrible trade off for a rounding error worth of loss to the retailer.
I would not buy from someone who used a parcel service that just dumped my stuff outside.
You're free to opt in to having your time wasted if you want.
I drive by 3 different pickup stations during my commute and there's one in walking distance from home. I invest maybe 5 minutes of my time to pick something up. For that I never risk having anything stolen, damaged or misplaced and no driver has to look for parking in my street and climb the stairs to my door.
No idea what you're doing in your precious time that that seems like such a bad investment to you. That sounds even more ridiculous when I think about how much my parent's time was "disrespected" when they had to go to a store to get their stuff.
The fact of the matter is that home delivery is not a sustainable model in a world where everybody orders so much stuff online. Drivers are overworked and underpaid, and if that were fixed you would be the first to complain about higher shipping rates.
Home delivery is not going anywhere, and like I said, even if a behemoth like Amazon tried, they would lose their entire business overnight. Not doing home delivery isn't sustainable because customers will not do business with you, and every business that tries deserves the guaranteed bankruptcy.
The world has improved. Not having packages delivered to my doorstep is as regressive as it would be to walk miles to a well with a bucket. Someone who would ask either now that there's a better way is not someone I will do business with.