Comment by mistermann | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mistermann | Hacker News Reader

This seems like a no brainer, especially partnering with a ubiquitous local retailer.

I am rarely home when the majority of the packages I order actually arrive in my city. If they were to send me an email asking me if I'll be home on the scheduled day of delivery, I'd be more than happy to let them know I'm not, to save them the trip of trying to deliver to me when I know I won't be home. This has always seemed like a major inefficiency in the courier system that I've always thought they would have eliminated. I just can't imagine that I am an outlier, do most other homes usually have someone home so its not worth sending out an email to check? Can anyone comment on this? I think about this problem every time I receive a package, it seems like such an obvious problem easily solved by technology.

Once I saw that a package was set to be delivered the next day so I called UPS and told them that I wouldn't be home and that they should just drop it off at the plant for me to pick up. They said they couldn't do that until the delivery guy tried at least once.

It seems easy, but perhaps it isn't or at least it isn't cost effective enough. The delivery person seemingly isn't given a route everyday (or at least that's my guess) and for now it's too complex/expensive for UPS/FedEx to institute. Also, they are rushing so much and there are so many processes before your package is put into the brown truck that there are all kinds of timing issues. This Amazon idea may help.

Home owners should be allowed to put a bin like this at our houses that can substitute for the signature. Obviously the whole bar code etc thing isn't necessary. It could just work like old mail slots. Items can go in, but can't go out.

Well I think for most homes they just leave the package somewhere out of sight. The packages that require a signature or the houses that have no safe place to leave a package are probably sufficiently minor so that they ignore they problem.

They should fix it, but I don't know if either of the major delivery companies are nimble enough to.

Many people who work in offices just have it delivered to their office. The delivery company's routes for offices get them there during the workday.

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