Management Office for my building just issued new rules regarding package deliveries

Drez

So the management office for my building just issued a statement that, as of December 1st, they will no longer accept packages at the front desk that are over 40 lbs in weight or larger than 3 sq ft and that they will only allow deliveries to residents/renters that are delivered by an insured moving company that is on their approved list and have to use the freight elevator/etc.

Which, in my opinion, is unacceptably fucked up. I've ordered things on Amazon that are almost twice as heavy. Amazon is not a moving company and there's no way to intercept an Amazon package in this manner.

Do I have any recourse here?

Darkewolfe

Nope. Lots of places are doing it now. You can get the package shipped to an Amazon locker if possible, work, a PO box, to the shipping company's depot, or something of the sort.

Sucks, but there's no law preventing it.

http://www.today.com/home/no-more-packages-landlords-push-back-against-online-shopping-onslaught-t51636

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/large-landlords-are-restricting-or-banning-getting-packages-at-home-224990

Drez

The fuck.

Darkewolfe

I think you could instruct the delivery service to leave the package, like, at the front door. Which would be a terrible idea, obviously, but I think that's the difference. They're not turning your stuff away, they're just not securely handling your package for you.

Drez

Amazon locker won't work - they have a 10 lb weight limit and size limits. I mean, it won't work for me.

I don't see how a management company can literally prevent you from getting packages.

Drez

Darkewolfe wrote: »

I think you could instruct the delivery service to leave the package, like, at the front door. Which would be a terrible idea, obviously, but I think that's the difference. They're not turning your stuff away, they're just not securely handling your package for you.

That's the thing. The management company won't allow anyone to even bring packages of larger dimensions or heavier weight upstairs to anyone unless they are an insured and approved moving company, and they have to use the freight elevator.

Drez

Like I Kickstarted the Virtuix Omni last year which is going to be like 100 lbs or some shit. My understanding is that will be turned away based on the new rules.

Enc

Kinkos and the like can issue a short term PO box for these sorts of cases.

Darkewolfe

If you get something huge delivered to a PO Box at the post office, I believe they just hold it for you and put a note in your box.

Drez

Hmm.

Still, I think this is fucked up.

I guess I have some time before this becomes a real issue, but this note really upset me.

baudattitude

I can confirm that if you have a proper PO box, at a post office, you can get very large things delivered and they will just put a note in your box for you to get it at the counter. I don't know if this holds for any of the mailbox companies but I'd have to imagine it does.

I lived for five years in a complex where the office categorically would not accept any mail or packages on the behalf of residents, and it was a right pain as many businesses will not ship to PO boxes. Even the places I've lived that will accept packages usually phrase it as a courtesy that can be revoked at any time.

Fortunately have house now and no shame about ordering lawnmowers off Amazon.

SmokeStacks

Drez wrote: »

they will no longer accept packages at the front desk that are over 40 lbs in weight or larger than 3 sq ft

It's not the front desk's job to babysit a pile of huge/heavy boxes for each tenant, especially not with Christmas coming up.

Drez wrote: »

The management company won't allow anyone to even bring packages of larger dimensions or heavier weight upstairs to anyone unless they are an insured and approved moving company, and they have to use the freight elevator.

They don't want Joe Blow delivery boy to try lugging your 50lb box of whatever to your door and then fall and break his ankle on the stairs in your building and the ensuing liability nightmare.

It sucks, but it's really not as outrageous as you are claiming it is. PO Boxes are cheap, for a little bit more you can get a "personal mailbox" at a UPS store that will have an actual street address for places that won't deliver to a PO Box (plus a lot of them are open 24 hours). Also, you can use a personal mailbox as a business address as well, since shipping can be cheaper to business addresses than residential ones sometimes.

LostNinja

SmokeStacks wrote: »

Drez wrote: »

they will no longer accept packages at the front desk that are over 40 lbs in weight or larger than 3 sq ft

It's not the front desk's job to babysit a pile of huge/heavy boxes for each tenant, especially not with Christmas coming up.

Having someone there to accept packages is generally one of the bigger selling points of living in a place with front desk service as opposed to a remote leasing office.

CelestialBadger

Lifting heavy things is probably something the desk people are not insured to do, and are possibly complaining about due to throwing out their backs trying to move enormous TVs on their own.

Drez

CelestialBadger wrote: »

Lifting heavy things is probably something the desk people are not insured to do, and are possibly complaining about due to throwing out their backs trying to move enormous TVs on their own.

I'm completely sympathetic to that. Some of the symptoms of increased influx of packages definitely need some kind of resolution.

I am not sympathetic to the problem in aggregate, nor do I accept this solution. The building should shell out for burly men or something. I'm joking but not really. It's their problem to solve. Bake it into the rent if you need to hire new people or update your logistics. Telling residents they have to curtail the way they shop just doesn't sit right with me and never will.

I mean, it's one thing to say "the front desk will no longer accept X, Y, and Z" and another to effectively tell residents they will not be able to get some packages delivered to them at home in any way, shape, or form. Like I have a huge delivery coming next quarter (not sure exactly when yet) and it's going to be around 100 lbs. I have no idea who is delivering it, but as of right now, it's at the management company's discretion as to whether or not I can get the item at all, ever (I spoke to the front desk this morning, they confirmed this).

I'm not going to have them deliver a 100 lb item to my office or even to a P.O. Box because how the fuck am I going to get it from there to my home? The whole point of home delivery is to have stuff delivered to your home, where it belongs.

Drez

SmokeStacks wrote: »

Drez wrote: »

they will no longer accept packages at the front desk that are over 40 lbs in weight or larger than 3 sq ft

It's not the front desk's job to babysit a pile of huge/heavy boxes for each tenant, especially not with Christmas coming up.

Yes, it is. Or rather was. Accepting and babysitting packages, light and heavy, big and small, is (or was) a part of their job, and also a feature of this building that had no small part in my decision to sign a two year lease here.

The issue is that this is no longer going to be a part of their job, with no feasible substitute other than "fuck you, resident."

bowen

Is it outlined in the lease?

They're amending it, you can feasibly break it at this point (unless you signed that you agreed to the amendment, or, there is no package clause in the lease).

Drez

I'm going to check. Technically my lease doesn't start until December 1st, but I'm already living here (was subletting, doing a lease takeover).

bowen

You can probably still break your lease and lose your deposit.

Not sure the logistics with that, might want to check with a lawyer.

bowen

Also I'm not 100% sure they can force you to use a shipping company to receive packages(aka deliver from front desk to doorstep) if you elect to DIY.

Drez

The doorman at the front desk this morning (who I have a good rapport with) told me HE thinks it's just for the holiday season. Which if true is fine with me. I'm sympathetic to the logistical nightmare that is the December/Christmas deluge of packages.

But the way it is written sounds to me like an ongoing policy.

Drez

I probably wouldn't break the lease even if I suffered no penalties because that would be a nightmare that wouldn't be worth it.

But I'm really annoyed.

CelestialBadger

Drez wrote: »

But the way it is written sounds to me like an ongoing policy.

Ask management then.

Kyougu

Yeah, its most likely due to room constraints.

My office is pretty good about that stuff, but sometimes I won't have time to pick up a package till the weekend and they'll hound me about it, since its just taking up space in their already crowded room.

I bet it gets worse during the holidays.

Enc

If they receive your parcels they are also technically liable for them, which means if they aren't opening and inspecting they are likely on the hook for damage costs rather than USPS/UPS/FedEx etc.

Drez

I've actually been here for 2 years already. My lease situation is an exceptional one, the details of which are not really relevant.

It's pretty bad in December, notably after Black Friday.

I totally, totally get it. I'm mostly sympathetic to the notion that the front desk/doormen are currently called on to lift or move extremely heavy packages, in startlingly increasing frequency, and it may not be what they signed up for to begin with. And I totally get that the management company would like to alleviate the burden from the doormen and protect themselves from liability.

I just don't accept their proposed solution which seems shitty, cheap, and lazy.

Darkewolfe

Report in if you figure out an answer or how they're in the wrong. As far as I can see it just is a thing now.

In the future, people might need to get package stuff outlined explicitly in the lease.

CelestialBadger

If your living situation is really good then sometimes you have to put up with bad things related to it, like a huge apartment that's next to a deaf old lady that sings in the shower. You take the good with the bad.