5 ms·

I could see HOAs having a problem with porch cubbies. Also how do you include the code? Address line 2? 3? Memo? I don't always see these.

by EADGBE 9y ago

kobeya 9y ago
There's almost always a "special delivery instructions" field.
- erjjones 9y ago
  Ideally, the cubbie would work like a PostOffice drop box and have a way to insert packages at will with out a code and then the owner has a key to unlock the cubbie.
  - benjsec 9y ago
    Perhaps something like a old-fashioned padlock? Anyone can click it shut and then you need the key to unlock it again.
    - astura 9y ago
      Yeah, that's the traditional package box. This is an example: http://www.pe.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/oh4/oh4e3m-b88839987z.120161123161458000g49k46je.10.jpg?w=620 http://www.pe.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/oh4/oh4e3m-b8... The issue with that is people know if there's a package in there or not, you can't have more than one delivery service come in a single day, and you run the risk of vandals running off with your lock.
  - egypturnash 9y ago
    Someone is leaving dog shit on your neighbor's lawn. It's not you, you pick up after your dog, but your neighbor is convinced it's you. Late one night, your neighbor saunters up to your drop box and empties a bag full of dog shit into it.
    - sgift 9y ago
      You seem to have great neighbors. Maybe ... talk with them?
ecommerceguy 9y ago
Good question. There's only so much room on 4x6 labels. Also I haven't seen a shipping solution that automatically prints customer notes on label. As for address lines, UPS has a finite amount of characters per line before they drop off.
- nathancahill 9y ago
  I use a mail service the requires 1 or 2 lines more than a normal address. It's a huge pain filling out shipping address forms online to include the extra info. A lot of it ends up in the Name field. Truncation is also a problem when the label printers truncate more than the form validation. All of my future projects will have 5 line shipping address forms.
  - cmg 9y ago
    Slightly off topic, but reminded me of an issue I had with Amazon for months. I work for a small agency, the name of which begins with "Box" and then a number. No matter where I put it in the delivery address, Amazon (or the delivery service) would change the business name to "PO Box ..." I ended up working around it by removing all spaces from the business name in my shipping address.
    - eric_h 9y ago
      Ha, must have been a pain for companies that require a real, physical address for whatever. I have most certainly interacted with APIs that had that requirement, and their regexes for refusing PO Boxes were generous, to put it lightly.
hypersoar 9y ago
Fuck HOAs, I guess. I think it's just address line 2. There's a note on the porch telling them to look for the code. It doesn't always work, but it doesn't really need to. At least not where they live.
paulmd 9y ago
> Also how do you include the code? Address line 2? 3? Memo? I don't always see these. Technically as far as USPS is concerned, there are only 3 lines in an address: name, address, and city/state/zip. Address line 2/3 are non-standard and are disregarded, and you may put whatever delivery instructions in there you want. If you have an address like "Room 321" that should go as part of Address Line 1. However, mail is delivered by human beings and generally speaking you can get a surprising amount of mail delivered with non-standard addresses. It used to be quite common to give addresses in the form of "Red House on Easy Street at the top of the hill" and this will still usually make it through. See: "Falsehood: An address will be comprised of road names". https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/ https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-a... Previous HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8907301 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8907301
- DrScump 9y ago
  Address line 2/3 are non-standard Addresses spread over multiple lines are just concatenated into one.

I could see HOAs having a problem with porch cubbies. Also how do you include the code? Address line 2? 3? Memo? I don't always see these.

by EADGBE 9y ago

I could see HOAs having a problem with porch cubbies. Also how do you include the code? Address line 2? 3? Memo? I don't always see these.

kobeya 9y ago

There's almost always a "special delivery instructions" field.

erjjones 9y ago
Ideally, the cubbie would work like a PostOffice drop box and have a way to insert packages at will with out a code and then the owner has a key to unlock the cubbie.
- benjsec 9y ago
  Perhaps something like a old-fashioned padlock? Anyone can click it shut and then you need the key to unlock it again.
  - astura 9y ago
    Yeah, that's the traditional package box. This is an example: http://www.pe.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/oh4/oh4e3m-b88839987z.120161123161458000g49k46je.10.jpg?w=620 http://www.pe.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/oh4/oh4e3m-b8... The issue with that is people know if there's a package in there or not, you can't have more than one delivery service come in a single day, and you run the risk of vandals running off with your lock.
- egypturnash 9y ago
  Someone is leaving dog shit on your neighbor's lawn. It's not you, you pick up after your dog, but your neighbor is convinced it's you. Late one night, your neighbor saunters up to your drop box and empties a bag full of dog shit into it.
  - sgift 9y ago
    You seem to have great neighbors. Maybe ... talk with them?

ecommerceguy 9y ago

Good question. There's only so much room on 4x6 labels. Also I haven't seen a shipping solution that automatically prints customer notes on label. As for address lines, UPS has a finite amount of characters per line before they drop off.

nathancahill 9y ago
I use a mail service the requires 1 or 2 lines more than a normal address. It's a huge pain filling out shipping address forms online to include the extra info. A lot of it ends up in the Name field. Truncation is also a problem when the label printers truncate more than the form validation. All of my future projects will have 5 line shipping address forms.
- cmg 9y ago
  Slightly off topic, but reminded me of an issue I had with Amazon for months. I work for a small agency, the name of which begins with "Box" and then a number. No matter where I put it in the delivery address, Amazon (or the delivery service) would change the business name to "PO Box ..." I ended up working around it by removing all spaces from the business name in my shipping address.
  - eric_h 9y ago
    Ha, must have been a pain for companies that require a real, physical address for whatever. I have most certainly interacted with APIs that had that requirement, and their regexes for refusing PO Boxes were generous, to put it lightly.

hypersoar 9y ago

Fuck HOAs, I guess. I think it's just address line 2. There's a note on the porch telling them to look for the code. It doesn't always work, but it doesn't really need to. At least not where they live.

paulmd 9y ago

> Also how do you include the code? Address line 2? 3? Memo? I don't always see these. Technically as far as USPS is concerned, there are only 3 lines in an address: name, address, and city/state/zip. Address line 2/3 are non-standard and are disregarded, and you may put whatever delivery instructions in there you want. If you have an address like "Room 321" that should go as part of Address Line 1. However, mail is delivered by human beings and generally speaking you can get a surprising amount of mail delivered with non-standard addresses. It used to be quite common to give addresses in the form of "Red House on Easy Street at the top of the hill" and this will still usually make it through. See: "Falsehood: An address will be comprised of road names". https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/ https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-a... Previous HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8907301 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8907301

DrScump 9y ago
Address line 2/3 are non-standard Addresses spread over multiple lines are just concatenated into one.