Some guys I went to school with have started a company trying to solve this problem. It involves having your package delivered to a glorified electronic mailbox in your area. The courier delivers it to the box; you get an email with a pin code for retrieving your parcel. http://corporate.bufferbox.com/
AusPost has Parcel Lockers which are fantastic, except they won't accept courier deliveries, only "standard" packages (USPS, Royal Mail, Auspost itself). I get a push notification and an SMS. There's a QR code in the app which is used to open the door to the locker.
Strangely, I got two DHL packages recently so maybe they've changed the rules.
Or just get things delivered by a sane service that stores your packages at a neighbourhood postal office rather than a warehouse in a distant suburb :)
In India, Flipkart ( an e-commerce company) gives you an option to leave the package with a nearby shop (which would have signed up as a partner). Maybe you could try working out something with a shop-owner nearby (and one day scale it as a solution :) )
Package delivery is never a good experience in the UK
i have my packages delivered to a friendly shop nearby - to my house, it's a nightmare.
The collect+ system also works reasonably well, i take that option if offered. (where it's delivered to a local cornershop or similar and you walk to pick it up)
I really feel there should be a gap in the market for "last mile" delivery to be solved properly, but i suspect there's not enough money to slow things down, and residential delivery is inherently difficult anywhere that doesn't have regimented street layouts.
Try addresses for all lo - if no reply, deliver to pre-arranged local shop.
Text/email alert allowing redelivery to address or changed address within an hour or two, for a premium fee (bicycle couriers and other instant courier delivery)
Tell me about it -- I've had more packages lost or stolen than I could count. (The UPS missed package slips haunt my dreams.)
Check out Parcel: http://fromparcel.com. Just launched for New Yorkers without doormen. Get your packages delivered on your schedule. And the best part? It's totally free through January 15.
In Poland we have parcelmats - machines where you can post a parcel and get it delivered to. Parcel is stored for 48 hours and you can pick it up at convenient time using QR code.
Oh that's fantastic - do you know how many packages they take? How does the receiver know when their package is coming? (other than the train timetable)
Packagepeer is a network which allows registered users to search their neighborhood for private individuals who volunteer to take delivery of purchased goods in their name. Packagepeer covers the entire process through its website where both types of users, the online buyers and receivers, are registered and put in contact with each other. Once the contact is made and found suitable, the user can access the packagepeer’s details to use them as the delivery address when purchasing online. Then, online shoppers can pick up their goods from their neighbor’s house at their most convenient time and pay a small fee in turn for their neighbor’s service.
Parcel (https://www.fromparcel.com/) attempts to alleviate these issues. When you sign up with Parcel you are given an address to ship your packages to and when the packages arrive you receive a text asking you what is the most convenient time to drop it off at your home. It is $5 per package.
I'm a British expat living in Amsterdam. My company uses this service called MyPup - they give me a username and a code, I have all my stuff shipped to them and when it arrives they send me an SMS message letting me know it's arrived. Around an hour later I get another message letting me know it's been delivered to my office and the code to get into a temporary locker to retrieve my package.
They have someone at their office 24/7 to receive packages and another guy that does the "last mile". Once I urgently needed a package that arrived out of office hours on Friday - I sent them an email and they bought it to my house on Saturday. It's awesomely convenient!
Maybe give “Packstationen” a try? Most retailers in Germany reliably ship to these parcel boxes that can only be opened with a code that is sent to you via mail/text.
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