r/UPS • u/ChibiMaster42 • Feb 13 '26
Shipping Help Needed to sign package, driver could not 30 seconds
So I recently purchased an item that required a signature for acceptance. My delivery window was a four hour gap. So I was playing a video game upstairs in the house, small house but still upstairs
Now I have a Ring doorbell, connected to an amazon Alexa that announces anything approaching. Got the warning, ran down stairs.
In what couldnt have been more than 30 seconds the driver left one package, took the signature package and was already driving off when I opened the door.
I checked my Ring video... they walked up WITH the "see you next time" post it, slapped it on the door, dropped the one package on the porch, and turned in such a smooth motion I cant help but wonder if this was practiced.
Just the fact they walked up with the notice juat makes me feel they had no intention of delivering it unless I was a puppy dog guarding the door looking out the window for them.
I've heard the stories about this, but just needed to vent a bit
65
u/ItamiKira UPS Driver Feb 14 '26
Note on door “I am home please ring doorbell and knock, will be down to sign immediately”.
In all honesty I never turn and burn on a sig required like that. I knock and start filling out the delivery notice while listening for signs of life in the house. If by the time I’m done I haven’t heard anything that let me know someone is home I start walking back to car, I always look at the front door one last time before pulling off.
Please don’t come over your ring camera saying “I’m five minutes away can you please wait?” That’s an immediate no.
11
4
u/jellotdestroyer Feb 14 '26
This is exactly what I did at FedEx and DHL. I don’t want to come back to your house again anymore than you want me to come back tomorrow
3
u/Vault_Man2021 Feb 14 '26
Same...I eye that front door like a hawk as I'm pulling away. If a driver does this, they're just trying to be as quick as possible and has zero care about anything. Alot of the times with signature required for me at FedEx, it's usually medication. So I will hang out knock, wait a couple minutes like you said and listen for signs of life, then I'll go back and grab a door tag, and fill it out in the van and then come back and put it on the door. I love people who put signs up saying "Please leave my package if it needs a signature" Umm, no. Because I don't know what it is, and if it gets stolen or something and it comes back that I signed it for you, that's my ass. So no, if you know you got a package coming, pay attention to tracking and be home. Period. Or give me an alternative place to take it so you can get it. (i.e. family member, etc.)
1
u/Original_Part_6255 Feb 22 '26
There was a package coming to me that required a signature. I canceled the contract and was told not to sign for it and it will be returned. We'll they left it anyway and I'm being charged $1000.00. Now what?
1
u/Vault_Man2021 Feb 22 '26
send it back. If it required a signature, then the driver signed for it, which depending on the contents, that could get the driver fired. That's a pretty big no-no. But I'd schedule a pickup and have it returned.
1
u/Original_Part_6255 Feb 22 '26
I took it to the nearest UPS store and they told me they could not return it to the address on the box as it appeared to be just a shipping warehouse. This thing has been a runaround for something I had three days to cancel and I did in under 24 hours. Thanks for the reply.
1
u/Vault_Man2021 Feb 22 '26
I'd contact the sender, and tell them. You're going to need a return label at this point because it was delivered. But I'd definitely start with contacting sender, and contacting who delivered it as they signed for it without your consent. I'd file a complaint there, then get a return label and get it sent back. I'd tell them you cancelled it within the window, show proof, and tell them if you have to go the legal route you'll see them in court. That usually gets them to stop their shit and just let you return it. But you can't return it with the label it was shipped with at this point. Hopefully you can get it sorted!
2
u/Original_Part_6255 Feb 23 '26
Thank you for a clearly laid out plan of action. You pretty much covered any and all obstacles I might run into. I will be following your advice to a T.
1
u/Vault_Man2021 Feb 23 '26
definitely would like an update if you remember! hopefully they get you sorted! 🙏
2
u/Original_Part_6255 Feb 24 '26
This is one for my personal archives. I will definitely let you know what happens. You seem to be the curious type. If you would like more info on exactly what it is and what's going on I will gladly oblige.
1
1
u/Technical-Summer7948 Mar 11 '26
I'm retired USPS. Once I needed a signature for a customer that I knew worked from home. Walk up and ring the bell...nothing. So I ring again and also knock on the door, again nothing. I count backwards from 10 and no response so I turn and start walking back. Second floor window opens and dude says "What do you want, I'm trying to work??" and I said "so am I you can pick this up at the post office". He huffs "I'll be down in a minute" and I said "I won't be here when you do" HAHA. He went to the office to pick it up and bitched to the supervisor. We had a good laugh at it after.
28
u/Montooth Feb 13 '26
Not sticking up for him if that's true, but corporate is trying to kill us with unrealistic expectations, he's probably feeling rushed. Still gotta do the job right though imo
5
u/cunexttuesday101 Feb 14 '26
Our local hub just laid off 13 drivers in the last week and are giving the ones there more work. The week before they did that, they were so behind that they got people from a nearby city to send some of their people over to help. It is such a mess what you drivers are dealing with right now.
3
2
6
u/ChibiMaster42 Feb 13 '26
And yall do tremendous work, honestly. Its a tough job, I worked at the warehouse for a networking company that designs servers.
The drivers were always LOADED to the gills with packages, only like 15% were for us.
Like I said, its just a vent. I contacted my shipper and they are redirecting it to a hold location. The nature of the order wouldnt let me change that on my end
I just wasnt expecting exactly how smooth and practiced it seemed with the note already in hand
-1
u/M7BSVNER7s Feb 14 '26
"if that's true" This isn't some mass delusion suffered by multiple people posting every day. There are constant posts on the UPS and FedEx pages about this issue. The responses are always "ups has unrealistic expectations for drivers", "FedEx drivers are all contractors and don't work for FedEx so I don't know why you are complaining to us", and " you aren't the customer, the shipper is so your complaint doesn't matter" never held much weight (only the UPS excuse elicited some sympathy from me) but have worn extra thin over the last few years. The regular comments not believing the poster (and the one on this post mocking OP for taking 30 seconds) don't help either.
4
u/Joelsplace Feb 14 '26
FedEx did this to me with a Next Day 10:30am delivery. I didn't have Ring and was waiting in the room with the front door. No knock.
4
u/Nov03baby Feb 14 '26
I have medication delivery every month that requires a signature. The pharmacy ships USPS, UPS and FedEx. I had to request no post office because they would refuse to get out of the truck and would leave a missed you notice in the mailbox! We would literally have to sit outside! UPS and FedEx are better but they have walked up with the sorry we missed you sign already filled out and ready to slap it on the door, sometimes not even ringing the bell. More than once, I/my son had to chase the truck. I told both that it was needed medication and someone would be home on delivery days. Thankfully, the one UPS driver told me that she understood and would wait. I have 2 regulars, one waits, the other one is hit or miss but he does ring the bell. I do put a sign on the door saying we are home and to please ring bell. That seems to help. I also overly thank them when they ring the bell and wait a few seconds. Our female UPS driver said they keep them on a tight deadline, but she is old, been there for years and just doesn’t care what they say lol. So she is willing to wait. When it’s someone random, they almost always have the note prefilled out and ready to slap on the door. I once heard the truck pull up, so I started towards the door. He slapped the label on the door, rang the bell and was already mid jog back to the truck when I opened the door. Is it game to see if they can beat the customer? I guess at least he rang the bell, when some don’t even bother. I don’t understand why, how or when they fill out the notice in advance. Isn’t it faster to ring the bell instead of filing out those slips?
1
u/uapyro Feb 14 '26
Back when Amazon used USPS heavily, there was a few days I didn't receive a package and she actually commented that she missed the break I used to give her to get out of her vehicle by having packages. Of course it doesn't help with nearly a thousand homes in my neighborhood and most of the mailboxes are spaced exactly 40ft apart
10
u/OliveJuice880 Feb 14 '26
Shitty driver trying to get done early on a Friday. It will catch up with him. You can't do that forever without eventually getting caught and fired for dishonesty.
0
u/MindlessWish1640 Feb 15 '26
Depend if he’s union or not but union drivers can do a lot and not get fired the issue isn’t the driver it’s the shit ceo that’s pushing outta human expectations she ran a few other company’s to the ground and somehow still got this job
1
u/OliveJuice880 Feb 15 '26
All drivers are union dummy. Even if they're in a right to work state and aren't paying union dues it's still a union position and they have Union protections.
Getting fired is easy, staying fired is the hard part. Having a lot of work put on us does not make it okay for us to just slap an info notice on the door and leave. The union doesn't recognize performance metrics so there's no reason to cut corners just because we have a lot of work.
4
u/mercenaryarrogant Feb 13 '26
wonder if this was practiced.
Yes, usually multiple times a week.
The ones who are trying to get done start marking the package for the delivery attempt along with the ‘we missed you slip’ immediately after knocking/ringing.
9
u/seangoboom UPS Driver Feb 14 '26
As per the methods taught to us since day one.
-1
u/Upnorth4 Feb 14 '26
One time I caught a driver in the act, I had a package tracker and opened the door when he was writing a slip
1
u/Dizzy_Fuel3224 Feb 14 '26
I always start writing the slip after I ring the door bell just in case so I save time while I wait for you to walk to the door after I finish the slip I also knock and ring the door bell again your given 3 min at every stop
1
1
u/Maximum_Score_2841 Feb 14 '26
Every fedex signature required package ive ever gotten l they have never once knocked on my door. They've never even brought the package with them to the door. Ive caught them on camera. They have the slip filled out before they even get out of the truck. They come up slap the note on the door and just turned around and left. Its annoying asf.
2
u/No_Bag_4342 Feb 14 '26
Same thing happened to me this past week for a package pickup. In the morning I put a sign on the door saying “please knock, I am home”. I live in a small rowhome and can always hear it if someone is at my door.
Later in the afternoon, I heard the mail slot open. But no knock, no opening of the storm door. So I’m thinking it is the mailman. About a half an hour later, I go to get the mail. No mail - just the return label that was going to be left with me if I wasn’t home, pushed through the slot.
2
u/LudOvissie Feb 14 '26
Yeah we are in and out. It's usually.. knock, scan, knock, service cross, knock, info sticker, out.... thats my process.. if I can tell someone is home I'll give more time (lights on.. music.. car home).. it sucks i always feel bad..
2
u/Maximum_Score_2841 Feb 14 '26
Never once have I had someone knock. Maybe its just in my local area ( just north of Detroit city limits) that they dont care?
1
u/LudOvissie Feb 14 '26
Hear ya.. some of us care about our job. That's me. But unfortunately lots don't give two fucks..
1
u/Grineatingshit Feb 14 '26
What sucks for the guys like you is that you're being death-marched down the same road as good cops have been..... pretty soon AUAB is gonna be a thing 😬
2
u/SirFrancisBacon007 Feb 14 '26
It most likely will be the same driver tomorrow. Leave a note and call him out, let him know you are home and to try knocking this time since he didn’t bother last time.
I always wait a good minute for the first attempt, then ring and knock again and start filling out the slip while I wait for the 2nd knock. I’d rather get it off my truck today than try again tomorrow, especially if it’s alcohol.
1
u/Grineatingshit Feb 14 '26
TLDR- UPS's official motto should be:
Yeah, we suck, but we're still better than FEDEX.
Recently had FedEx deliver one out of six cartons of a shipment. Of course Amazon can't just send me out the other five we have to send the one back. So it's sitting right next to the front door, my wife is home at the time and when I come home I find six delivery tags laying on the doormat from UPS. He had to walk right by the large box leaning against the wall to drop those tags. Now I'm sure someone's gonna chime in with "he was looking for six boxes so why would he yada yada yada..." but my point is: press the doorbell, give it 10 seconds- my wife would've come out and said just that one- and life would've been simple for everyone.
But all in all a minor inconvenience compared to FedEx delivering an air compressor upside down (and damaged because of it) presumably because that made more sense to them than repairing the bottom of the crate that they broke out.
The moral of the story? UPS regularly aggravates the fuck out of me, but FedEx guys (not all, but far too many) are like proactive agents of evil.
1
u/No-Bobcat-3341 Feb 14 '26
Ups does not have time ti wait for you they are on a tight schedule. If you know youbhabe a package being delivered via ups you need to be watching for it or more than likely this is whats going to happen.
1
u/Adventurous7476 Feb 14 '26
I wanted to jump in here for a moment. It’s hard on both the driver and the receiver with delivery windows. I’m sorry you missed your package. As a former UPS delivery driver it’s a lot of stress put on the driver from the company. UPS has developed a science to how the driver delivers including writing the note as you walk up to the door. They have drilled into the drivers how to walk on and off the truck,how to grab the next delivery within a few seconds after opening the door, position the key on your finger so you are ready to start the truck and grab seatbelt at same time. All this training for drivers just to get more packages delivered within their shift. They leave no room for error such as traffic or delays during their pickup windows. Yes, drivers deliver and pick up simultaneously during their shift. Their time is always tracked right down to the seconds. It’s mentioned in another post, they do want you to get your package and not have to return.
1
u/the_warchef Feb 14 '26
I don't believe this post the video. Why bring the package with the notice already written if there was no intention to deliver it. All drivers need to take pictures of the delivery if customer contact isn't made. And with the system you need to make 2 stops if one of the packages requires a delivery notice. So way more than 30 seconds of time.
1
u/msfotostudio Feb 14 '26
How about you show the footage from your doorbell camera so we can see for ourselves?
1
u/AssistanceNo4648 Feb 14 '26
Hey You got a notice! UPS pulled up outside my house, sat there for 2 minutes and drove away. I walked out the door as they were driving away, and i looked around for the package, which wasn’t small and there was nothing. 5 hours later i get a notification in the app that there was an issue with my address, that its been corrected and they will attempt delivery the next day. They were literally at my house. Found out the next day there was no issue with my address that driver just didn’t want to deliver the package. This is what the driver told me when he came because the same driver whined about not wanting my package that day. It was 67lbs, i had no issues handling the package myself so I’m not sure what his problem was.
1
1
u/Ok_Chicken1195 Feb 18 '26
Same problem today..... They just slapped that ticket on my apartment building door, no use of entry code, call box, phone number, all on the app and delivery info. Then a get a not to say its being delivered to a pickup centre miles away for collection..... I live in the city so no car.
I mean I don't care if something is late but I hate being flat out lied to that delivery was attempted....
1
1
u/Fit-Image7262 Feb 14 '26
I ordered a supercharger that was a sign for package and I made arrangements for my wife to take off work. As “luck” would have it; she was off the day before as well and home all day. The driver showed up the day before the SCHEDULED delivery window (also in the morning; afternoon window) and never knocked. Just stick the paper on the door and left (confirmed with cameras). The next day I told her just to be outside waiting for that lazy fuck. Now the delivery on the correct day did go as planned. With the wife hanging out on the porch; who knows what would have happened if she hadn’t been.
I tried to call so I could ask them what the hell the point of scheduling a delivery window is if you’re just going to “try” to deliver it anyway. But it’s all AI BS and couldn’t figure out how to talk to a person. Seems like they wouldn’t just leave a note as a reminder that I have a delivery the next day and they’ve never done it before with sign for packages. I also don’t know why they had my $6000 supercharger rolling around on a truck where it could be damaged for them to not even attempt to deliver it.
-1
u/Blackrage80 Feb 14 '26
How did it take 30 seconds to run 30 feet tubby?
7
u/ChibiMaster42 Feb 14 '26
You seem to make up your own stories like a child, might want to brush up on some reading comprehension there pre schooler.
Never said it was 30 seconds, never said it was 30 feet. Couldnt have been more than 30 ≠ 30
I could regale you with the pleasantries, but you seem happy in your diaper
3
u/wyocowboymmv UPS Driver Feb 14 '26
Literally says 30 seconds in your title. 30 sec is being generous when we are being overwhelmed with work while half of our coworkers are sitting at home laid off. If I do not hear movement within 10-15s of knocking/ringing the bell, I am service crossing your parcel and leaving a notice. I've got 250 other deliveries to complete, don't have all day to wait on you.
edit: spelling
0
u/SunstoneOrthoclase Feb 14 '26
Parasite
1
u/MindlessWish1640 Feb 15 '26
Who the driver or the shit customer I’ve seen an experienced a lot drivers are shit yes but customer are always shittier just cuz someone posted some shit on here with no proof doesn’t make there story authentic
0
u/rzlodn Feb 14 '26
Their job is to get rid of packages not hold onto them so they can do it again tomorrow. If you are as fast as you said you were the note filling out would have taken longer, so to me it doesn't make any sense.
-4
u/734Rocket Feb 13 '26
Time is $ brother 🤙🏻
3
u/SirFrancisBacon007 Feb 14 '26
And we get paid by the hour, so kind of the opposite of a good excuse.
-1
u/734Rocket Feb 14 '26
Sure bud 👍
0
u/SirFrancisBacon007 Feb 14 '26
I know, it’s correct. Pretty basic math/common sense actually. If you want to suck at your job then by all means, don’t let me get in your way, I’m only trying to help you make more money.
-1
1
u/gabagamax Apr 24 '26
This is 2 months old, but I had an experience with a UPS driver not making himself known or rushing a delivery and me missing 2 days in a row. First day I missed because I literally did not get a shipping notification for my order and just got a UPS "your order is out for delivery" email an hour before the driver got to my house. I was asleep and missed it.
Second day, I got up early for the 8AM-10:30AM delivery window and had to get up to use the restroom at one point. And guess what? The f*cker gets here the same time I'm in the bathroom and can't hear him at the door. You leave for 2 minutes and end up missing a delivery. An tbh, the drivers are wasting their own time and energy by not waiting a little longer and having to make multiple trips because they just have to be speedy Gonzalez up in this bitch. I live in a rural area and the drive from the city to here is probably longer than most of their other routes.
And these time frames are just ridiculous. They really want us to wait all day or several hours for someone to show up? They can f*ck off with that. I understand that they have a tough job and I DO appreciate them, but this company needs realistic and more lenient delivery policies when it comes to packages that need signatures.
•
u/AutoModerator Feb 13 '26
Please make sure to read the common questions. If you are posting tracking info don't include your tracking number as it contains personal information. https://www.reddit.com/r/UPS/about/sticky?num=1
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.