Welcome to Christmas delivery chaos. This year it would seem delivery companies are outdoing themselves, with parcels being left in weird and not-so-wonderful places.
Lilly Brady was surprised to find her Asos parcel in a “safe” spot – in full view of everyone, on her car. “The parcel was delayed and then they left it on the car windscreen,” she tells HuffPost UK. “They also used my name and said I had signed for it when I definitely wasn’t home to sign for it.”
After tweeting a photo of where she found the parcel, Brady, who is based in Essex, didn’t receive a response from the courier Hermes. She did, however, receive an apology from Asos.
It’s estimated around 35,000 drivers and couriers are delivering parcels across the UK in the run up to Christmas – with some so busy they don’t even have time for a toilet break. One driver told the Guardian they had to drop off 220 parcels in just one day.
“I do understand that at this time of year, delivery drivers are under a huge amount of pressure to reach deadlines and targets,” says Brady, “but I think something should be put in place so that parcels aren’t being left in compromising places.”
Here are just a handful of places parcels are showing up (that aren’t through the letterbox or with a neighbour).
In the garden.
Great news if it’s sunny. Not so great if you live in Britain... in winter. Sam came home to find all his Christmas gifts plonked in the back garden. Luckily no items were broken or lost.
Thrown over the fence.
You’d be very lucky if it was a fragile parcel. See also: rain.
In the flowerbed.
Three words: soggy soiled bottom.
On the doorstep.
“Assumed they’d have given it to a neighbour, but that would have been too sensible,” tweeted Calum, about a boxed item worth £60 that he found on his doorstep.
Scott had a similar issue.
Obviously, there’s a risk of theft in this situation. Not to mention, the slugs...
Behind the plant pot.
Slightly better than hiding it in plain sight on the doorstep... but still. Not exactly inconspicuous.
Meanwhile Dan’s parcel was miraculously signed for by an actual plant pot.
In the bin.
This safe place seems to be a firm favourite. Not ideal when it’s bin day, though. Nor if there’s rotting food, vegetation or dirty nappies in there. And don’t get us started on *shudders* bin juice.
Down the road.
And no we don’t mean with a neighbour. We mean, left outside a different house in the pouring rain.
And then there’s the lucky dip.
Your guess is as good as ours on these ones.
Hermes tended to be called out the most on social media for unusual placement of deliveries this Christmas. According to the company’s website, a safe space “should be dry and secured from public access” but still easily accessible to the courier. Typical examples include a shed, greenhouse or porch.
When sent a handful of tweets from unhappy customers, a spokesperson for Hermes told HuffPost UK its “successful delivery rate is 99%”.
“We have around 20,000 couriers delivering for us during the busy seasonal period and these kind of incidents are extremely rare,” the spokesperson said. “However, we recognise that these incidents are absolutely unacceptable and when we are made aware, we always take immediate action.”
“Each and every parcel is important to us,” they added, “and we are determined and able to deliver Christmas through our network.”
An Amazon spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “The vast majority of deliveries make it to customers without issue. In the rare case something occurs, we work with customers directly to make it right.