Seriously, at what point did it become acceptable to take a parcel you have been trusted with and just drop it on a doorstep and walk away thinking you have successfully completed your task.
There are a number of companies that are in the habit of accepting a substantial fee and agree to deliver a parcel to a recipient living at a specified address. They then make the arbitrary decision that leaving the parcel on a doorstep, in plain sight for anyone to see is in the customer’s best interest, or at least in their company’s best interest. I have entered into an agreement/contract with that company with the assumption my parcel will be handled and delivered safely.
Related: B.C. foursome charged after 5,000 pieces of stolen mail seized in Calgary
Related: Coldstream mailbox stolen
I can understand that in some point in the past some well-meaning executive had a brain wave and concluded they could save time and money by not waiting for the recipient to make it to the door and actually accept the parcel, giving them the time to inspect the condition of the parcel.
All you have to do to see how insane this idea has become is to watch the news or look at social media and observe the wonderful opportunity you have presented the less than honest segment of our society. All they need to do is follow a delivery vehicle around awhile and they are given numerous opportunities at easy pickings.
Why did it become so difficult to leave a notice at the delivery location that an attempt was made to deliver a parcel and could now be picked up at a designated location? Seemed to work pretty good not that long ago before the executive’s brainwave.
This is a practice that has obviously been adopted for the sole benefit of the company and nothing to do with customer service.
It is possible to avoid having your parcel being deposited on a doorstep in one of two ways. You can ask for and pay extra to have a signature required from the recipient or when you are dropping off your parcel you can tell the employee you do not want it left as a safe drop and they will write that on the parcel. This should not be necessary in my opinion, If you forget to make the no safe drop request it will end up on a doorstep for all the world to access. I don’t want to sound like an old curmudgeon, but it was working fine before and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Brian Yake
@VernonNews
newstips@vernonmorningstar.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.