Minor Rant

That's CRAZY John, if they were delayed in delivering due to whatever they wouldn't pay anything to you for changing their delivery date. Extra charges for everything anymore........

Hear Hear!!

UPS is the one I notice milking everything. They are the only carrier that leaves packages at the end of my driveway... everyone else brings it to my door, even USPS.

I went into combat with this practice Sir.  Every parcel that was left outside my building and not inside with the doorman was destroyed outside with a baseball bat, photographed and sent to UPS to come pick up the parcel they left outside unprotected. After that very very very expensive ladies handbag was destroyed they finally looked into the matter.  The result was swiftly handled and deemed “laziness.” Yeah, no shite Sherlock. I use UPS last as a parcel delivery company. Regarding the security feed for my building; “do you have a court order to see the hard drive?

UPS is the one I notice milking everything. They are the only carrier that leaves packages at the end of my driveway... everyone else brings it to my door, even USPS.

I went into combat with this practice Sir.  Every parcel that was left outside my building and not inside with the doorman was destroyed outside with a baseball bat, photographed and sent to UPS to come pick up the parcel they left outside unprotected. After that very very very expensive ladies handbag was destroyed they finally looked into the matter.  The result was swiftly handled and deemed “laziness.” Yeah, no shite Sherlock. I use UPS last as a parcel delivery company. Regarding the security feed for my building; “do you have a court order to see the hard drive?

Bwahahahaha

Local postal services do not accommodate such requests as they don't make much money
anyway. For those kind of things, premium DHL, ups, Fedex services need to be used.

When I receive stuff via DHL I can reschedule deliveries and specify preferred time slots
during which I want to receive my package.

Local services just don't provide that level of service because if everyone asked for such
accommodations they would be an even less viable business than at present.

Local postal services do not accommodate such requests as they don't make much money
anyway. For those kind of things, premium  DHL, ups, Fedex services need to be used.

When I receive stuff via DHL I can reschedule deliveries and specify preferred time slots
during which I want to receive my package.

Local services just don't provide that level of service because if everyone asked for such
accommodations they would be an even less viable business than at present.

But the local post office will allow you to hold your mail delivery when out of town and resume when you return free of charge which is what John wanted if i understood correctly

Local postal services do not accommodate such requests as they don't make much money
anyway. For those kind of things, premium  DHL, ups, Fedex services need to be used.

When I receive stuff via DHL I can reschedule deliveries and specify preferred time slots
during which I want to receive my package.

Local services just don't provide that level of service because if everyone asked for such
accommodations they would be an even less viable business than at present.

My local post service (The Royal Mail) leaves a card if they try to deliver when no one is home.
You can then re-arrange the delivery for another day or collect from your local post office at your convenience.

No charges at all.

Local postal services do not accommodate such requests as they don't make much money
anyway. For those kind of things, premium  DHL, ups, Fedex services need to be used.

When I receive stuff via DHL I can reschedule deliveries and specify preferred time slots
during which I want to receive my package.

Local services just don't provide that level of service because if everyone asked for such
accommodations they would be an even less viable business than at present.

My local post service (The Royal Mail) leaves a card if they try to deliver when no one is home.
You can then re-arrange the delivery for another day or collect from your local post office at your convenience.

No charges at all.

Same here in the states if it requires a signature

I'll quibble with the proposition that courier service is always better than postal.

A few months back I found what may have been the only (new) bottle of MacDuff's Old Sea Captain aftershave left available.  Sean discontinued the scent entirely.  I have an older version of it in soap and wanted the aftershave.  I found it at The Razor Company which is in the US and me being in Canada that can often be a problem because of shipping restrictions on alcohol and shipping costs but I figured, what the heck, I wanted it.  So it was OK to ship and the with the cost of shipping it came in a little steep at around $55 Canadian.  OK fine.  TRC shipped it DHL - that was a problem because they wouldn't deliver it until I paid another $23 or so duty.  And they dont have a capability to pay the duty online, you have to phone them.  I tried for probably a month to get through to someone at DHL at the number they gave me to pay that duty but was never able to actually accomplish the payment.  I eventually just said F it.  Live and learn, I'm out of pocket $53 and dont have the aftershave.  I won't order from TRC again or any vendor that uses DHL.  Postal Service or UPS is fine.  I have no idea what happened to the package.  If they returned it to the shipper he never mentioned it or maybe someone at DHL smells like an old sea captain 

Like I said, minor quibble - given how much stuff I've ordered over the years from all over the world, the fact that I've had a total of three problems is a testament to the service from artisans/vendors and delivery services.  Its generally excellent.  One shipping problem, two customer relations problems.  Not too bad in my opinion.

To be fair to TRC, he totally acted in good faith and assumed he was providing upgraded service by shipping courier so not his fault at all. DHL

FedEx will hold for you at an old Kinkos free.  USPS even if you have a hold on mail deliveries, delivers packages (learned this more than once).  UPS - well what can Brown do for you?

Candidly there is a cost to special handling a package.  

Now I know this from both the business side (we have automated many scanning tunnels for packages) as well as the business side (we ship and receive a lot from Europe and Taiwan).  

So I know, it doesn’t feel right.  Personally, I don’t like most of my neighbors knowing when I’m gone so I don’t ask them to get packages.  Conclusion, I either have it shipped to another location (office) or I deal with it not being in my control.

Doesn’t make anyone feel better, but there are real costs to manually handling a single package before delivery.  And if they have to dig for it for 15 min of time, they spend the 9.95 with their benefits, insurance and hourly rates of an employee.