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I don't understand how to ship things to apartments
Talka
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This seems like an obvious piece of common knowledge that I simply haven't picked up on yet, but I need help figuring this out even though it should be simple, so here goes:
I moved into an apartment in San Francisco about a month ago. Before that, I lived in college. Before that, I lived with my parents in the suburbs. In the suburbs, you could ship something to your house, and if somebody wasn't home the delivery guy would leave it in the garage. In college, I could ship things via USPS and pick them up at my post office at my leisure.
At my new apartment, I have no idea how to receive packages. The nearest post office is a 25 minute walk from my apartment, and it doesn't look like very many apartment-dwellers are opening up P.O. boxes anyways. I can ship things to my apartment and hope somebody in my building signs for me, but it's a crapshoot. There's no chance I'll ever be home during delivery hours. I can ship things to my office, but sometimes I need to ship something large, or something I don't feel comfortable shipping to my office. Not even anything particularly embarrassing... just something I don't feel comfortable shipping to my office. Like video games. Or a large rug.
Sooo... what do people do if they want something to get delivered? It seems amazing that we're a nation of such extravagant wealth and we haven't figured out a service to deliver packages at any time other than when everyone is at work. That's silly.
tl;dr: I want to order a cheap 5' x 8' rug off of Amazon and have no idea how to successfully get it delivered to my apartment. What obvious information am I missing here? This should be feasible, no?
I moved into an apartment in San Francisco about a month ago. Before that, I lived in college. Before that, I lived with my parents in the suburbs. In the suburbs, you could ship something to your house, and if somebody wasn't home the delivery guy would leave it in the garage. In college, I could ship things via USPS and pick them up at my post office at my leisure.
At my new apartment, I have no idea how to receive packages. The nearest post office is a 25 minute walk from my apartment, and it doesn't look like very many apartment-dwellers are opening up P.O. boxes anyways. I can ship things to my apartment and hope somebody in my building signs for me, but it's a crapshoot. There's no chance I'll ever be home during delivery hours. I can ship things to my office, but sometimes I need to ship something large, or something I don't feel comfortable shipping to my office. Not even anything particularly embarrassing... just something I don't feel comfortable shipping to my office. Like video games. Or a large rug.
Sooo... what do people do if they want something to get delivered? It seems amazing that we're a nation of such extravagant wealth and we haven't figured out a service to deliver packages at any time other than when everyone is at work. That's silly.
tl;dr: I want to order a cheap 5' x 8' rug off of Amazon and have no idea how to successfully get it delivered to my apartment. What obvious information am I missing here? This should be feasible, no?
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I don't think I've ever lived in a building (16 years of living in rentals) with an onsite manager or a front desk. I know they exist, but generally one calls an offsite person and they come to do the work. I'm assuming the OP doesn't have one or he'd have figured that out.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
after X amount of attempts, they hold it at one of their facilities for you to pick up (and leave a sticker / slip near the entrance saying so)
regular gov't post - same thing, but held at the nearest PO.
You can also call UPS or Fedex to have them do this, though in my experience they won't do it until they attempt delivery at least once.
I have an onsite manager here. It doesn't help. She's often out of the office on showings or inspections, and she works weekends and takes Thursday and Friday off. (Which is good, because that means she's actually available when people need her!) So there's a pretty good chance the courier won't get a human being at the office either.
Situation was similar at my last place.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
After a while I got to be known as the dude who ordered everything. Hardly an embarrassing title, since I just said it was a lot cheaper and easier for most of this stuff.
1. Ship it to your work.
You're there from 8-5 every day and that also corresponds with when USPS, UPS, and FedEx deliver packages.
2. If you live in a secured building...
a. and the delivery person can't get in...
i. He will leave one of those notes saying he tried to deliver it and will try again the next day; or
ii. He will leave one of those notes saying he tried to deliver it and won't try to deliver it again, so you need to go to the local office to pick it up. USPS, UPS, and FedEx all have local offices from which you can pick up packages; or
iii. He will take your package to the apartment front office and your manager will sign for it. Then you pick up your package from the office.
b. and the delivery person can get in...
i. He will drop it off at your door like he would at a house.
3. If you live in an unsecured building...
a. The delivery person will drop it off at your door like he would at a house; or
b. Take it to the front office and your manager will sign for it. Then you pick it up from the office.
That should cover every scenario available to you.
Shipping is sometimes cheaper to work anyway, because some carriers (like FedEx) charge different rates to businesses than they do to residences.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
For a couple of years I had a mailbox at a UPS Store (it was called Mailboxes Etc then) and a phone number with a voice mail company. It basically meant my contact information was all virtual and not tied to my actual residence at all. This allowed me to conduct business out of my home without risking my privacy or having anybody bother me during off-hours.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
My current complex has that and UPS/FedEx packages get dropped off with apartment management if no one is home.
The last apartment I was in USPS would just drop it at my door, UPS would not deliver without a signature.
EDIT: I think my brother's last apartment gave him a separate address to have packages shipped to, probably the management office a couple of blocks away.
Also, the last time my parents tried to ship me a package, they overnighted it to my apartment, I got three attempted delivery notices (none that mentioned a pick-up location that I noticed, not that I was looking for that), and then they shipped it back to my parents (also overnight). That was weird.
If I ship via Amazon, how do I know I'll be able to pick this package up from a nearby delivery center?
That way it clearly says "PERSONAL" right under my name.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
The notices should have had a phone number on them. You need to call the number to arrange pick up, and they'll tell you where the facility would be that you'd need to pick up at. This is how I got all my packages when I was in an apartment without a manager/front desk. Honestly, I prefered it to my later apartment that had a management office that accepted packages, because the management office hours were more restrictive than the UPS facility, so it was actually harder for me to finally get ahold of my packages.
But you'd rather walk an hour+ with a rug than take it on the subway? If you're not willing to be seen in public carrying a rug around, maybe you don't really want this rug? Unfortunately one of the problems with apartment living is receiving packages.
USPS is just going to be the post office that delivers to your area.
UPS and FedEx have distribution centers all over the country. They work like hubs, basically. For example:
1. If you buy something from Newegg.com, Newegg will send a pickup notice to FedEx.
2. FedEx goes to the Newegg warehouse and picks up the package.
3. The truck takes it to the distribution hub in Los Angeles (that's where one of the Newegg warehouses is).
4. The packages goes on a plane and flies, for example, to somewhere in New York.
5. The package goes on a semi-truck and is driven to another hub.
6. The package is unloaded and reloaded onto another truck.
7. The package is driven to another distribution center.
8. The package is unloaded and reloaded onto a delivery truck.
That last distribution center is where you could go to pick up your package if FedEx can't ever get your signature. UPS works the same way. Someone already mentioned it, but the delivery notice that the delivery guy leaves will have a phone number that you can call and customer service will tell you which distribution center your box is at. I happen to have a UPS distribution center close to my apartment and I live in the downtown area of a large city. I have no idea where the FedEx distribution center is.
USPS works the same way too, but you just use the local post office as the distribution center.
As far as I know, Amazon doesn't allow you to go to their warehouses to pick things up, so you wouldn't be able to do that.
So Amazon always requires a signature? Can they not ship via USPS?
Bottom line, is my best chance for getting this rug to...
a) ship it to work and take it home on the subway and carry it on my twenty minute walk to my apartment?
or
b) ship it to my apartment and try to pick it up from a delivery center, which may be very far away and which Amazon may not allow?
It depends on which carrier ships it to you. I can't remember off the top of my head which carrier (UPS/FedEx/USPS) Amazon uses.
e. It depends on which carrier the dealer picks to ship it to you. Not everything on Amazon is sold/shipped by Amazon.
I live in a big apartment (10 units per floor, 19 floors X2 towers) and almost everyday there is a delivery notice for someone. UPS, Fedex, Purolator and Canada Post all post the sticky saying they attempted delivery and to come pick it up from the closest depot. Luckily, I live downtown so those are all 5-10 minutes away for all the companies. Only once (out of ...15-20 times?) have they ever left it at the on-site management office (in the other tower, though there was 2 feet of snow and -15 C). Another 2-3 times, they leave it at my apartment door (so technically anyone on my floor could walk away with it).
They do the same thing when I was living at home with my parents. Problem was, the closest depot was like a 20 minute drive away.
On Signatures, it depends on the sender if it's required. Pretty sure most stuff I've gotten from Amazon has NOT required a signature.
1) Get it shipped to work (not ideal for something like a rug if you dont have a car)
2) Have it shipped to home, get them to leave it infront of your door or in the lobby (It will be a checkbox on non-signature required delivery notices for Fedex/UPS, not an option for USPS unless you get a lazy postman and he just leaves it instead of carrying it back to the truck). Never heard of an apartment that doesnt cost $texas having a front desk or receptionist that will accept packages. If you miss the delivery, you go pick it up, either at the UPS/Fedex shipping center, or at the post office.
3) Take a day off work and wait for the package. Sometimes this backfires if you live in a shitty building like mine where none of the postmen buzz up and just leave a notice on the directory instead. Really annoying.
Theres no magic answer for this one, if you want the rug, youre gonna have to make a sacrifice in some way. Personally, i just get 99% of my stuff sent to work, its easier, someones always there to sign.
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Only apartments in San Francisco I know of with a front desk are the luxury apartments Downtown and out in Mission Bay.
I would just get the rug shipped to work, I've seen people carrying bigger stuff on the bus. Also if you order your games from Amazon or someplace similar, they generally just come in an Amazon box, no embarrassment there.
Going by this thread, it doesn't seem to be common in the US. But maybe you could just make some sort of deal with a local store/bar/... you're a regular at? Now I realize this could also work with a friend who lives nearby and is home a lot if it's only a one-time thing.
I think a lot of people, including me, are using "front desk" interchangeably with "leasing office."
I live in downtown and my leasing office is a couple of blocks away from my building. The delivery people (mostly) know that if they can't buzz us that they should take the package to the leasing office and someone will sign for it there.
My last apartment was in one of those giant apartment complexes that are really popular in the midwest. The delivery people had access to all of the units, so they would generally drive up to see if we were home. If we weren't, they drove back down to the leasing office and left the undelivered packages with someone working.
Amazon pretty much never ships via USPS. Even if they did, you don't get to designate your shipper with Amazon. I order from them regularly, and 90% of the items I order come via UPS, maybe 7% via local delivery/messenger service of some sort, and around 3% occasionally come via FedEx. The only items that ever get shipped to me via the latter 2 services are books, dvds, and video games - small stuff.
You can definitely opt to pick up a package shipped by UPS or FedEx at their local shipping center, once they've made at least one delivery attempt. You just need to call them with the tracking number listed on the "Sorry we missed you" slip they'll leave on the main door of your building. I do so pretty regularly now with UPS deliveries.
That said, the local centers for both where I live are 25-50 minutes away BY CAR depending on traffic. I would never even remotely consider walking to either to pick up a package, it simply isn't viable given the distances. You'd really need to determine where your local shipping center is ahead of time (keeping in mind that if it is Amazon itself selling and shipping this item, and not a 3rd-party vendor, it will almost certainly be via UPS).
edit: UPS will often leave a package in the vestibule if you sign the missed delivery slip with a note to leave it inside the door if they can get a neighbor to buzz it open. Even in my building where the individual entranceways only have 6 units to try to buzz that has almost always worked out. You have to be comfortable with your package sitting there until you get home though...
for now i am shipping things to work, but i dunno what i'll do when i need a big thing
because i have had friends who have missed deliveries at home and had to schlep all the way out to middle of nowhere queens on the subway to get their package
Yeah, I live in the suburbs just south of SF and when I'm referring to the office, I'm talking about the on-site property manager. She's the person I give my rent checks to. She doesn't have a dedicated receptionist, and while she's happy to accept packages for people when she can, it's not really her job.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.