4 ms·

In the US if a package is not left at the door you either have to wait an unknowable amount of time for another attempt, or you'd have to go to a facility to pi

In the US if a package is not left at the door you either have to wait an unknowable amount of time for another attempt, or you'd have to go to a facility to pick it up. It's difficult to figure out exactly where the facilities are and you're not guaranteed the package won't still be on the original truck or on a new one. The facilities may only be open during the day, while you're at work. Additionally, it's common that no delivery attempt is made at all -- the delivery driver will walk up to the door with a "we missed you we'll try again someday" slip already filled out and won't even knock. The main reason we are cool with deliveries being left on the porch isn't that we trust our neighbors, it's that the alternative is so much worse.

dingnuts 3y ago
speak for yourself, I live in a large US suburb and I trust my neighbors. I grew up in a rural area and I trusted my neighbors when I lived in the urban core of a top 10 population US city, I still trusted my neighbors another comment said the US still had "remnants" of a high trust society. I grew up in that high trust society. I am not old. if our high trust society is gone, we should do whatever is necessary to get it back. It's clearly a better way to live.
- dpkirchner 3y ago
  I didn't say high trust is gone (although it certainly is in some areas), I said the reason we are cool with packages being left on our porches is the alternative is inconvenient.
  - Mountain_Skies 3y ago
    Inconvenient and for much of the country, unnecessary. Even when living in the same county as Detroit (but not in the city limits), porch pirates weren't an issue.
- fragmede 3y ago
  Even if you don't fully trust them, it's still just a better way to live - if you have the luxury. I left money - change from a grocery run on my coffee table, and then had some friends over. It's not the remnants of a high trust society that let me not worry about that money being out, but financial privilege. That the < $100 wasn't worth my time to worry about. If one of my visitors took some/any/all of it, I wouldn't have gone hungry. I might not even have noticed. Just thought, huh, that's weird, and gone about my day. Others I know don't have that luxury, and would go hungry if it was their money that had gone missing. They're much less trusting, because they have to be. If the latest shipment of crap from Amazon/Temu went missing. Annoying, but you'd just tell them the package got stolen and get a replacement sent out.
- powersnail 3y ago
  I live in US suburb and I also trust my neighbors. It's unlikely that my actual neighbors are stealing packages. The problem is that there are people who drives through residential areas looking for packages to steal, cars to break into, etc. and that occurs quite frequently, as caught on our security camera. It doesn't take many motorized perpetrators to lower the overall confidence in how secure it is to leave packages outside, given how much range the porch pirates can cover in a single afternoon.
  - tacitusarc 3y ago
    I trust my neighbors and I have a slew of high res cameras monitoring the area. When there is theft my neighbors come to my house (located at the main entrance to the area), and I get them the relevant footage if I can find it. It’s only happened a few times but I think it helps build community trust.
    - sleepybrett 3y ago
      .. and when the police don't do shit about it?
patmorgan23 3y ago
> It's difficult to figure out exactly where the facilities are No lol, you just enter the tracking number of the missed delivery tag into the carriers website and they tell you where to go pick it up.
kelnos 3y ago
> In the US if a package is not left at the door you either have to wait an unknowable amount of time for another attempt It's not unknowable; FedEx and UPS at least will reattempt delivery every day for a certain number of days before giving up. At least that's the case in urban and suburban environments. Maybe you live somewhere rural where their policy is less clear? > It's difficult to figure out exactly where the facilities are No it's not. The tag they leave behind will often tell you, or you can enter the tracking number online and it'll tell you there. And usually it's the same place every time, so once you figure it out, you're good for future packages. > and you're not guaranteed the package won't still be on the original truck or on a new one This is the annoying thing. It's never clear when the package will actually get back to the facility (after they failed to deliver it to you), so you don't actually know if it'll be there when you show up. Many many years ago it was a simple matter of giving them a call, but nowadays you end up in customer support / phone menu hell, and it's incredibly difficult to talk to someone who is actually physically present at the facility. > The main reason we are cool with deliveries being left on the porch isn't that we trust our neighbors, it's that the alternative is so much worse. I'm absolutely not cool with this. I trust my neighbors just fine, but I don't trust all the random people who might be walking around, specifically looking for packages to steal. I'd much rather have to drive over to a facility to pick up the package, or just wait until the next day for another delivery attempt, but most delivery drivers don't give me that choice. If the package does get stolen (incredibly likely, if it's left outside), I'll usually have to wait several days for the merchant to ship a new one (because they figure it's possible it wasn't stolen, and want me to wait and see if it still gets delivered in a day or two). And then I have to wait for another shipping-time cycle.
- zippergz 3y ago
  > FedEx and UPS at least will reattempt delivery every day for a certain number of days before giving up They claim this, but my experience is that it's not true. VERY VERY often, it will be multiple days or up to a week before they attempt again. Sometimes they never attempt again, and a week or more later I get the notification that it's available to pick up at their depot. It's certainly not consistent enough to rely on.

dingnuts 3y ago

speak for yourself, I live in a large US suburb and I trust my neighbors. I grew up in a rural area and I trusted my neighbors when I lived in the urban core of a top 10 population US city, I still trusted my neighbors another comment said the US still had "remnants" of a high trust society. I grew up in that high trust society. I am not old. if our high trust society is gone, we should do whatever is necessary to get it back. It's clearly a better way to live.

dpkirchner 3y ago
I didn't say high trust is gone (although it certainly is in some areas), I said the reason we are cool with packages being left on our porches is the alternative is inconvenient.
- Mountain_Skies 3y ago
  Inconvenient and for much of the country, unnecessary. Even when living in the same county as Detroit (but not in the city limits), porch pirates weren't an issue.
fragmede 3y ago
Even if you don't fully trust them, it's still just a better way to live - if you have the luxury. I left money - change from a grocery run on my coffee table, and then had some friends over. It's not the remnants of a high trust society that let me not worry about that money being out, but financial privilege. That the < $100 wasn't worth my time to worry about. If one of my visitors took some/any/all of it, I wouldn't have gone hungry. I might not even have noticed. Just thought, huh, that's weird, and gone about my day. Others I know don't have that luxury, and would go hungry if it was their money that had gone missing. They're much less trusting, because they have to be. If the latest shipment of crap from Amazon/Temu went missing. Annoying, but you'd just tell them the package got stolen and get a replacement sent out.
powersnail 3y ago
I live in US suburb and I also trust my neighbors. It's unlikely that my actual neighbors are stealing packages. The problem is that there are people who drives through residential areas looking for packages to steal, cars to break into, etc. and that occurs quite frequently, as caught on our security camera. It doesn't take many motorized perpetrators to lower the overall confidence in how secure it is to leave packages outside, given how much range the porch pirates can cover in a single afternoon.
- tacitusarc 3y ago
  I trust my neighbors and I have a slew of high res cameras monitoring the area. When there is theft my neighbors come to my house (located at the main entrance to the area), and I get them the relevant footage if I can find it. It’s only happened a few times but I think it helps build community trust.
  - sleepybrett 3y ago
    .. and when the police don't do shit about it?

patmorgan23 3y ago

> It's difficult to figure out exactly where the facilities are No lol, you just enter the tracking number of the missed delivery tag into the carriers website and they tell you where to go pick it up.

kelnos 3y ago

> In the US if a package is not left at the door you either have to wait an unknowable amount of time for another attempt It's not unknowable; FedEx and UPS at least will reattempt delivery every day for a certain number of days before giving up. At least that's the case in urban and suburban environments. Maybe you live somewhere rural where their policy is less clear? > It's difficult to figure out exactly where the facilities are No it's not. The tag they leave behind will often tell you, or you can enter the tracking number online and it'll tell you there. And usually it's the same place every time, so once you figure it out, you're good for future packages. > and you're not guaranteed the package won't still be on the original truck or on a new one This is the annoying thing. It's never clear when the package will actually get back to the facility (after they failed to deliver it to you), so you don't actually know if it'll be there when you show up. Many many years ago it was a simple matter of giving them a call, but nowadays you end up in customer support / phone menu hell, and it's incredibly difficult to talk to someone who is actually physically present at the facility. > The main reason we are cool with deliveries being left on the porch isn't that we trust our neighbors, it's that the alternative is so much worse. I'm absolutely not cool with this. I trust my neighbors just fine, but I don't trust all the random people who might be walking around, specifically looking for packages to steal. I'd much rather have to drive over to a facility to pick up the package, or just wait until the next day for another delivery attempt, but most delivery drivers don't give me that choice. If the package does get stolen (incredibly likely, if it's left outside), I'll usually have to wait several days for the merchant to ship a new one (because they figure it's possible it wasn't stolen, and want me to wait and see if it still gets delivered in a day or two). And then I have to wait for another shipping-time cycle.

zippergz 3y ago
> FedEx and UPS at least will reattempt delivery every day for a certain number of days before giving up They claim this, but my experience is that it's not true. VERY VERY often, it will be multiple days or up to a week before they attempt again. Sometimes they never attempt again, and a week or more later I get the notification that it's available to pick up at their depot. It's certainly not consistent enough to rely on.