Many apartment managers provide apartment maps and gate codes to carrier companies.

I am pretty sure the delivery person was not supposed to call and yell at you. Yikes. I live outside of Denver and our local FB page is filled with complaints about all the delivery companies. Plus we have tons of porch pirating going on.

I think delivery companies just can't keep up with all the online shopping. We have low unemployment here and I am sure they are struggling to find employees.

4kid4us - That's interesting. I don't think I've seen a UPS truck deliver an amazon package to my house in months, so that's why I assumed they were hired by Amazon. I do see UPS deliver packages from other companies. I was a little nervous the first time I saw some stranger walk up to my door.

I don't think I've ever noticed Amazon asking for a code when I check out, but I just may not have been paying attention.

Our DS works for UPS. He typically has a ‘helper’ during the holiday season as they load their trucks to capacity. I know there have been times when he has had to drive a U-Haul truck as they increase routes during peak seasons. Not his favorite because the rented trucks aren't set up like a normal UPS truck and packages go flying. The one perk is the truck has heat—not something UPS trucks have. This is a photo he posted on Facebook last year. His comment was, “Next stop is in there somewhere!”

>I don't think I would want the code given out willy nilly<

Yes, this would seem to defeat the purpose of having one.

One other thing I've noticed with Amazon and actually, other places of business. If you choose "free shipping" with some companies, that obviously means you are going to get the slowest shipping method. I realized a couple of months ago that there is a new shipping method called UPS Surepost which means, UPS delivers your package to your local post office, then it's up to them to get the package to you. My husband ordered some of those rubber bracelets that are popular for a charity he supports. It took nearly three weeks to get the package. The tracking code from UPS said it had been delivered to our post office. So for days, he kept asking if his package came. Nope. Finally he called the post office and he was told they have up to 14 days to deliver it b/c he chose the slowest shipping method (which he didn't, it was just what the charity used to send to him). It took three weeks to get them - and majority of that time they were just sitting at our post office!!! When I was talking to my UPS driver last week, I asked him about this. He said it was true - and one thing he also pointed out.....once the package is delivered to the post office, they are the ones liable for the package, not UPS. So he said if the package is lost after it's delivered by UPS to the post office, you do not have the same recourse. There is no tracking, nothing! I should point out... he said Surepost is typically for smaller packages that can fit in your mailbox, not large packages.

I love my UPS guy but our USPS service is absolutely horrible and has been that way for years. It doesn't matter who the carrier is, mail is missing all the time, gets misdelivered or not delivered at all. It is the subject of frustration and ridicule on our town FB page. And we don't live in an out of the way place - I live in my state capital in the middle of a large metropolitan area. And there is absolutely no accountability. So fingers crossed that none of my Christmas purchases go missing.

They should assign a separate code for delivery services, this way the code can be changed periodically without affecting the residents. It would also mean that a temporary worker would only have a working code for a limited time period.

My DS's condo in Philly is in a gated courtyard. The USPS mail carrier has a key but UPS and FED EX don't. As a result my son has all of his packages sent to my home, his office or to one of the lockboxes near his building.

nhbaskets - Thank you!

4kids4us - That sounds crazy to combine UPS and the post office. I'll have to see if I see that option when checking out. I wonder if it's that way for everyone or just certain areas.

It's not an option I see that is a choice, but I've found that method checking a tracking number for deliveries from more than Amazon. It makes its way most of the destination, then is handed over to USPS and comes via my mail carrier. And that's been fine, I have no complaints about UPS or USPS either one.

I'm not sure how I feel about the hiring independent delivery persons though. At one time Fed Ex had contractors not employees in our area. Lots of mistakes and missing orders - I went for a period of time not ordering from anyplace that only used Fed Ex for delivery. My mailman came to my door one day and said he thought I would be interested in knowing there was a Fed Ex package with my name on it at a vacant house about 4 blocks away. Policy prevented him from picking it up and dropping it off to me. I drove down and got it.

Another time that same year a realtor called and said she'd picked up a package at a house she had as a listing, had taken it to her office where someone else had put it into a closet. She'd found it (something like two months later), called. It was Rejuvenation Hardware, gifts, and they had long since reshipped at their expense when I called about a missing package.

A tenant here is having a recurring problem with Amazon deliveries not showing up on time.

If all else fails, you can always request that the package be delivered to your local UPS store so you can pick it up there. I do that when I can’t be home for a package that requires a signature.

Also, UPS has a programs that you can sign up for so you can track your packages and make last minute changes with delivery. Once you see it’s shipped you could reassign for it to be held for pick up. You can also call UPS with the tracking number to do that as well.

Have your Amazon packages delivered to a nearby Amazon locker. Super easy.

Everything I order comes with a tracking number to my email. You can track a post office package.

https://www.usps.com/welcome.htm?from=global&page=0001home2

For the SurePost packages, track through UPS until it gets to the post office, then track the USPS number. It will be a different number.

The Amazon lockers are great but not every purchase is eligible to be shipped there. There are size limitations and other restrictions. Of course, the last time I had things shipped there they were on the very top lockers and I could barely reach them.

In my sister’s gated 55+ neighborhood in NJ, they have security footage of a temporary Amazon delivery person defecating on a lawn. They are now forbidden from deliveries there.

Sherry, I realize you can track a package with USPS, but again, that only works if your local post office actually is reliable. For instance, my MAIL did not arrive until sometime after 9pm last night. Yep, after 9pm. It was the subject of lots of chatter on our neighborhood FB page last night. I got home from a meeting last night at 9pm, no mail. This morning I left the house at 6:30am when it was still dark out to meet my son's school carpool. When I got home, I noticed a package had been left leaning against my garage door (note - my carrier is too lazy to bring packages to my front porch though UPS ALWAYS does). I brought it inside and noticed it did in fact, get shipped via USPS. So this morning, I put in the tracking number and on the USPS website, it says that as of last night at 11:30pm, "delivery status not updated" and also says, "Expected Delivery, Tues 12/5 by 8pm." Well, it's a good thing I happened to see the package there this morning and no one was following the carrier around last night stealing packages, b/c according to the post office, my package has not yet been delivered. So I would have no idea where my package was, nor would the post office be able to say it had in fact been delivered, b/c no one bothered to update the tracking after delivery last night.

Incidentally, b/c we have had so many issues with our local post office, I signed up for the post office's "informed daily delivery" service. Every day, I get an email with actual pictures of all the mail that is supposed to be delivered to me that day. For instance, today, among other things, I see that I'm supposed to get a card from SIL, a letter from my bank, and from a charity I support. Of course, the other day it didn't show a picture of the letter that was misdelivered to me that was addressed to a completely different address/street in the neighborhood next to mine so obviously someone "missorted" the mail that day. And bulk mail is the least reliable - last year we got a bunch of late catalogs during the holidays - among them, the Sur La Table Thanksgiving catalog that arrived three weeks after Thanksgiving so no luck using that Black Friday coupon that had expired LOL.

Hhireno, no words. No words!