In the wheelie bin

[tobyaw]

A parcel arrived at home today. kateaw was out, so the courier, Yodel, put a card through the door, and put the parcel in one of our wheelie bins.

How insane is that?

We live on a road where we often put wheelie bins out for our neighbours, as they as only here at weekends. Likewise, qidane puts our bins out for us when we are away. It would be so easy for a parcel delivered to a wheelie bin to be taken away with the rubbish.

I’ve noticed several couriers doing this, over a number of years. I assume they must deliver to a bin as a matter of policy, and I’m not sure how one would opt out, other than perhaps to place stickers on the bins saying “No hawkers! No circulars! No courier deliveries!”

When Kate got back, she retrieved the parcel from the bottom of the bin, which was a bit of a struggle with the combination of the weight of the parcel and her frozen shoulder. I suppose it is my fault for ordering tinned tomatoes, tinned sweetcorn, and pasta, online. Isn’t it the modern thing, to buy one’s groceries with Amazon subscriptions?

Comments

[makyo.livejournal.com]

I've never had stuff left in the bin, but ParcelFarce went through a phase a few years ago of leaving parcels by the front door, moderately hidden behind a planter but still not very secure, and then (badly) forging my signature on the recorded delivery card.

On one occasion I phoned up the local depot and said "according to the tracking website it's been delivered and I've signed for it, which is news to me because I've been out at work all morning. So either the delivery chap isn't entirely playing by the rules, or somebody has pretended to be me, signed for the parcel and has absconded with it - could you find out which one it is and get back to me please?"

Happily it was the former, but if it had been stolen then presumably I'd have found it difficult to claim a refund or compensation because the recorded delivery paperwork had an apparently valid signature on it.

[tobyaw]

I don’t think I’ve ever had a driver forge my signature, but I have had unpleasant experiences with ParcelForce in the past. They haven’t been so badly recently, though, although that might be because I work from home several days a week, and Kate is often about, so there is a good chance we’ll be in for a parcel.