I don't live in Brooklyn, but since we moved into this house almost ten years ago we have been getting letters addressed to a former female Navy officer. She lived there before the family we bought the house from did. And they lived there for four years!

You do know that UPS is a private company that has no connection to the post office?

Maybe he doesn't like you! Seriously, I get all of my mail, and all of my UPS packages, but then again I don't live in a Pottery Barn-ordering neighborhood.

UPS and other delivery services always seem to knock around here (Los Angeles).

I wonder if they have pressure to deliver an extraordinary amount of packages in Brooklyn - so much so that they don't want to spend the time waiting for someone to answer the doorbell?

And why can't I indent paragraphs?

Here in Skokie Illinois, I'm constantly having this same problem with UPS. First time by, they put the door hanger out and leave without knocking. I've complained before and gotten the same schtick - veteran driver, no prior complaints, are you sure you were listening? It happens again and again. It's maddening. If companies that I buy from offer an option, I ask for FedEx. Great service, and at least my local FedEx distribution station lets you drop by and pick up packages in the evening if you miss a daytime delivery.

I live in Texas and they don't knock on the door here either.

At Christmastime, I'd look out the window when I heard a truck start up to see the UPS truck driving away. Sure enough, if I checked the porch there would be a package sitting there and (s)he never knocked. My desk is less than 10 feet from the door, so it's not like I could have missed it. This is even on things that I had sent with signature required, like electronics.

Holy crap, YES! MAJOR mail delivery probs in Brooklyn 11201. I'd constantly get my mail crushed, torn, or wet. When it did arrive in one piece, there was always a chance it'd be delivered under the stairs, behind the locked gate to which only the landlord had the key. Magazines were constantly MIA. Obviously sensitive documents (credit cards, bank statements, airline tickets) would be left on the stairs instead of in the mailbox.

I've never had such bad USPS service. I complained to 800-ask-usps at least seven times over two years. Someone from the local office (Cadman Plaza) would call me back, initially try to blame the problem on substitute carriers, but when pressured, this person said, and I DIRECTLY quote, "We have trouble with our delivery staff. I'll try to talk to them in the morning before they go out, but I'm afraid there's not much more I can do."

I moved away from the area about two months ago, and mail forwarding hasn't been much better. While *some* of the mail is delivered on time, other pieces take 6 weeks to get here. One friend got the letter to me returned to them (make me wonder what other stuff has been returned!).

Cut to the carrier for my new apartment. She couldn't be sweeter, and offered three different ways to deliver the package I told her I was expecting.

Screw you, Cadman Plaza. I don't wish violence on anyone, but I can sure begin to understand what "going postal" is all about.

Wow. I have moved three times over the last few years in and around the same LA neighborhood. I still get my mail from three apartments ago and am not even dealing with the same mail carrier. My new mail carrier came up to me in my lobby and, knowing I was new to the building, introduced herself.

As far as UPS, I have never, ever had them knock or ring the bell. Kinda like Time Warner cable installers...

I also live in Texas and these bastards never knock. My husband, who works evenings, has to sit "UPS watcher" duty at the front-facing window when we're expecting a UPS package to make sure we don't see the UPS truck speeding away after hearing the engine gunned from our curb. Often, after waiting all day at the window only leaving for rapid pee breaks, and giving up and leaving the house at, say, 8PM, we return 30 minutes to find a sticker on our door saying "8:07PM" ARGH! I swear they hide in the bushes until they see us leave!

Should write a note on your door that says:

To Mr. Delivery Person,

I know how much extra work it is to push my doorbell or knock on my door, but I would really appreciate that you do before you decide to leave a "failed to deliver, will come back tomorrow" tag on my door.

If you do decide to go ahead and just leave the tag without trying to notify me, I would have no other choice but to bring file a complaint against you with the video recording of you at my front door.

Thank you and have a nice day.

//krunk (^_^x)

To say a good word, I live in 60622 in Chicago and the Internets tell me that it is terrible USPS delivery. I've never had a problem in 2 years. A hooray for government services improvement!

Of course, this means I jinxed the whole thing and I will never receive another piece of mail on time again.

I live in a large apartment complex in Northern California, and the UPS delivery person never knocks anymore. I'm usually out during the day, so I assume he's just gotten tired of unloading the packages and having to reload them on the truck, and unload them again at the front office (the leasing office accepts packages for us) once he's through with my building.

I think he just creates a delivery slip in his truck and sticks it on my door without ever taking down the package. It's only been really bad one time my personal signature was required, since I left work and waited at home around the time deliveries usually come. I saw the truck come and go without dropping anything off, and when I walked outside, there was a slip on my door. It took about 4 delivery attempts and 3 trips to UPS to get that one delivery.

I've never had anything lost or misdelivered, so despite the annoyance, I'm quite happy with UPS overall.

If you know when the delivery person is coming, I would suggest opening your front door and watching for him. If you talk to him in person, you may have a bit more luck in the future.

I have had the same problem with UPS. My solution, and it seems to work, is to track my packages. On the night before it should be deleivered, I tape a large note to my door that says, "UPS: I am home, ring the bell, thanks!" So far it has worked.

I was just yelling (at no one) about this today because when I left for work I found a UPS note on the door, which I knew was not there an hour before, yet I never once heard the doorbell ring. I live in Prospect Heights and have so many issues with the mail--I literally had to put pieces of tape with the apartment numbers written in thick red marker over the mailboxes in the lobby, and we still get the neighbor's mail, or someone else's mail who lives blocks away. My boyfriend's parents once sent him a filled prescription for medicine that he needed and it took two weeks to get here from Pittsburgh, even though they paid for an overnight shipment. When his parents went back to the PO to ask what was up, the lady working basically just rolled her eyes and laughed when she found out it was going to Brooklyn ;(

The mail service in Chicago also sucked. Every time I moved, I filled out the mail forwarding forms, and they never once forwarded any mail to my new addresses. This was in 60616, 60618, and 60626.

I never had any problems with mail delivery or mail forwarding in Raleigh though, and UPS and FedEx has always been pretty good for me.

Here in London, I had a problem with some mail (DVDs) not making it to my home address unless they were going to arrive on a Saturday... I tend to guess Saturday had a different carrier. I had to switch the deliveries to my work address. Rather annoying.

I live in New Jersey. I sent a wedding invitation to friends in Carroll Gardens (Union & Sackett) and, I kid you not, it arrived in their mailbox on the same day that I received a RSVP from a friend who lives in Hong Kong. Yep - round trip to the Far East took just as long as getting to Brooklyn. Amazing!

don't worry, UPS sucks everywhere. in my old LA neighborhood, Koreatown, i swear to god i had the WORST UPS driver in the history of UPS drivers.

i lived in a security building, so he would have to buzz me to be let in. he never buzzed me + i'd always get delivery notices. one time, i'd won a duvet cover on EBay and never got it. when i checked the tracking info, it said 'left at front door'. well, nothing was left at my front door, which he wasn't supposed to do since it wasn't secure. and if he'd left it at the downstairs front door, where anyone walking down the street could grab it, then he was just a complete assh*le. it never turned up + i had to file a claim with the seller to get a refund.

another time, he delivered one of my packages to another address. not down the street, or one block over, but blocks away. to someone with an Asian name. mine is Italian. and their street name didn't sound anything like my street name. seriously, there was no rhyme or reason to the mix-up. UPS said they would send the driver back to that address, collect the package and redeliver it to me. i knew the driver was a total idiot, so i wasn't that surprised that he'd made such a big screw up. i was more amazed that someone accepted the package, kept it for 3 days, didn't open it, but never called UPS to say that it wasn't theirs. maybe they thought no one would notice and they would eventually open it.

and don't get me started on my passive aggressive mailman. he sucks a**. he never rings the bell when we have packages, he hides mail inside magazines + advertising mailers. he always delivers other people's mail to us. he also refuses to pick packages up from our front porch. when i questioned him about this, he tried to say there was some 9/11 rule that prevented him from doing a pick-up. he was totally lying and i knew it. i mean, come on, how many times a night do i see a post office commercial where two packages talk to each other at an office, or on a front porch and then one gets picked up by the mailman! i printed out the info from USPS.com on package pick-up and showed it to him. he said the info was incorrect. i ended up calling his supervisor to complain. she admitted that they had a lot of complaints on this guy and said she would talk to him. but, nothing has changed. still no package pick-up, still hiding mail in magazines. i'd even say it's gotten worse since i complained. my boyfriend thinks he is punishing me.

Same problems here with UPS. I have literally been in the kitchen, washing dishes, when the UPS guy has walked by my window (and, unless he's deaf, heard me washing the dishes) and left something on the ground right outside the kitchen door -- no "hello," no "UPS delivery" announcement, nothing. And by the way, had I not KNOWN he had been there, I might have missed the package altogether before someone else walked off with it, because I probably would've walked past it when I left the house.

Our USPS guy is pretty good, but we have had problems with UPS and FedEx (like ideagirl we put up a sign saying "UPS/FedEx please knock loudly" on our screen door and leave the regular door open). When no one is home they usually leave the packages under the door mat (like that is going to conceal anything).

And on a bit of an unrelated note, I once had a package come from China (not sure which carrier it was) and had the door closed but not locked and the delivery guy just walked in to my apartment and was knocking on the hallway closet door. It seemed completely innocent, but was just a little weird.

UPS here in the sticks works great, and the guys and gals know where I work so if I am not home they swing by the office.

I'm in Brooklyn. Here's the worst part about UPS for me: if you miss it, the pick up place is nearly impossible to get to. It's at 104-01 Foster Ave. Luckily, I have a car. It's still a an hour back and forth. Even still, I check HopStop and the closest subway stop is no where near it.

And another thing... if I'm not there at 3pm on Monday, what makes you think I'm going to be there at 3pm on Tuesday and 3pm on Wednesday? How about mixing it up a little.

I've actually had pretty good luck with both USPS and UPS up in Washinton Heights. FedEx is the one that pisses me off. They always knock on my neighbors' door, and tell them that it's the final delivery attempt and that it will be sent back if they don't accept it. Bullshit! It's the first attempt. And anyway, my super will accept packages as long as he is around. He's really great. (It doesn't hurt that I tipped him extremely well this year).

@dariaclone: ((waves at fellow Wicker Park resident))- My carrier in the same 'hood is great, the post office itself on Division not so much. Long waits, and they've screwed up mail holds I placed while I was on vacation twice. They would deliver the entire week I was gone (with the poor mail carrier stuffing it in tighter and tighter), and then the week I got back would deliver nothing.

My UPS guy here in this neighborhood (unlike my old) is great. Always buzzes, always friendly, and on the third delivery attempt has purposely changed his route to come later in the evening in hopes of catching me once I get home from work.

My favorite is when UPS leaves my St Louis Cardinals season tickets on the porch even though the package explicitly says not to.

UPS in San Francisco was notorious for leaving door hangers in my neighborhood (Mission @16th & Guerrero) instead of packages. I caught the guy red-handed one day, bounding up my front steps with a door hanger in hand and no package. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but from that point forward he always knocked on my door.

Of course my next place of living was a small town in the Midwest with fantastic UPS and FedEx service. The delivery guys knew the cars driven by the locals, so if he missed you at home but found your car on Main Street, he'd just toss the package in your back seat (no, we never had to lock our doors).

We have the same issue with UPS in our area. For the last 2 years UPS Deliveries to our residence the UPS guy NEVER even rings the bell. Just drops the package where ever he want's and is off.

We have contacted UPS a number of times regarding this and they say it's not policy to do that and they will talk to the guy.

Never happens, so I've gone to using other shippers.

I used to work in Brooklyn 11217 and we always had a problem with mail and packages. We used to get tons of other peoples' mail. One time, I had ordered $200 worth of books from Amazon that people at our company needed to bring some of our projects up to standard (books on construction codes, etc.). I paid extra money for faster delivery and kept tracking the package online. One morning, the package was showing as en route and the expected delivery date was the same day, so I waited all day for it to come and then checked the status online around 4 p.m. The status said "delivered" at 1:30 p.m. No one ever came to our office, and they couldn't use the excuse of thinking no one was there because we had huge picture windows and a huge glass door and we all sat at desks in an open floor plan. Anyone in the office could see out and anyone outside the office could see in. The funny thing is, our weekly meeting was on Fridays from 1-2 so not one person in the company was at lunch or out of the office because we were all in a meeting at the time of "delivery".

I complained to UPS but they didn't really do much. Luckily, Amazon credited the entire amount to our company card and we reordered the books.

I've had mostly good luck with USPS, UPS, and FedEx. In the Philly suburbs, I used a UPS Store (mostly while still Mail Boxes, Etc.) for almost five years after I had a bad experience with a shipper who promised to ship Express Mail but actually used FedEx, which left me without a key package on time because I did not stay home to sign for it (as I was willing). Again, shipper's fault.

FedEx Ground, though, is another story. I awaited a package from Overstock.com, and when they resent it, my original package magically appeared. I now have enough disposable toothbrushes for a few decades.

I'm in SF too, and my wife has caught our guy just walking up to the door w/ a yellow stickie in hand. She also once saw the guy parked across the street and asked him if he had a package for us. He said no. Then he left a yellow stickie on the door. We complained and never had a problem since.

USPS on the other hand is another story. We had to cancel Netflix because he kept jamming discs in our little box and breaking them.

For one thing, I'm sure the mail is pretty complicated in our fair boro -- there's a superdense population and people move a lot. You might consider renting a box at a commercial mailbox joint. That's what I do now, and I really think it's worth it. I'm safer, my mail's safer, and there's always someone "home" to receive my packages.

Brklyn mail is BAD BAD BAD. We had mail missing for 3 days last week (and not the snowy ones). Getting magazines a week later has become standard issue. they never ring the bell with a package slip. I've gotten mail, dirty and four months late before. God forbid you ever try a change of address in this town!

11201 has gotten so bad, I'm moving my entire company to Manhattan. It will be worth it just to get the checks that the post office isn't delivering.

The 11211 post office is probably the worst in the country. In fact, every postal worker in NYC I have ever spoken to will attest to this fact.

I tried to get my mail forwarded once because I was attending to family matters out-of-state. For whatever reason, the post office never processed my change of address. They didn't process it the first time, the second time, the third time, or the fourth time. The local post office out-of-state then called the 11211 post office to see what the problem was. After spending ten minutes on the phone with them, the local postmaster turned to me and said, "I'm really sorry, but you have the dumbest postal workers in America in your neighborhood."

While we're on the subject; I once had something FedEx'd from England to my parent's home, which is in a rural area in the South. The FedEx guy actually left the package sitting on a tree stump on the side of the road a half-mile from the house. I saw it driving home one day and couldn't believe it. To their credit, FedEx was very nice when I told them what happened. The head of the regional office called to apologize and the next day, the company delivered a nice gift basket - which they left at the door.

I also once missed an important FedEx delivery and was told I could come pick it up at the local distribution center. I had no way to get there other than a car service or the subway then about three buses. The FedEx manager was very nice. He found a worker who lived in my neighborhood and actually had the guy drop the package off at my house on the way home.

I'm lucky now because I live above a business. USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL will leave packages with the business, and someone from there always calls to let me know a package has arrived. My mail service has improved slightly, but I recently put a check to my accountant in the mailbox and it never made it to her all the way across the river in Manhattan.

This is just standard UPS. They never knock, even when I'm at home. Just run up, drop it off, leave. I can sort of sympathize because it will take 10x longer if they knock at every door, but on the other hand the company claiming this 'isn't policy' is also complete and utter bullcrap. That's just a lie they tell you when they call, like the 'no prior complaints'.

Strangely enough, this is typical of FedEx here in Seattle. USPS always manages to get it right (and leaves packages with the apartment manager when we're not home). UPS is mostly flawless, although on one recent occasion they didn't even ATTEMPT to deliver it, even according to their tracking system.

When I lived in Santa Barbara, CA, this happened ALL the time. The UPS driver was so lazy, in fact, that he didn't even come down the street at all.

I'd check the tracking status of my package online for 3 mornings in a row... Each morning, right before 10 a.m. when package should have been delivered, the tracking site would change to "Attempted Delivery. Will re-attempt tomorrow." WTF? I was sitting not 2 feet from my door, looking out the window.

No truck in sight.

Finally, it would say Final Attempt and I'd just have to go down and pick it up. No one there would ever hear a complaint.

I hate UPS.

Well I'm sure I'm about to get flamed... I am a UPS driver.

Policy is to honk the horn (most don't do that), announce "UPS!", ring and knock at the door. But, honestly, management works the CRAP out of us and sometimes we take shortcuts. I don't always knock, especially after dark...at 8:00 p.m. people aren't always nice when they come to the door. I don't always ring the bell either. I probably ring and knock about 75% of the time...If the package is "Signature Required" I ALWAYS knock. If you have had a "Signature Required" left with out you signing for it track the package, find out who signed for it and call in a complaint.

Is UPS and their employees perfect? No. I've had complaint called in on me I KNEW were bogus, and I've has some that were true. I tried to learn from my mistakes, and to work with my customers. Its always easier when your customers like you! We do have some drivers who are just idiots, who don't learn and don't care...you probably have people like that where you work.

We try to do our best...well, some of us do!

Out here in BFE North Carolina, UPS and FedEx just look at my mountain road, turn around, and mark it "Wrong address" without even attempting to drive up the road and deliver to my house. No note, no call, and after 3 days, it goes undelivered and ends up back in the hands of the person who shipped it. I'd rather they did what they used to, and throw it in the ditch on the side of the road. Then at least I could look for a package...

@laughingdove: Interesting, here in WV the UPS and FedEx drivers take perverse pleasure in getting their trucks in all sorts of places and then back out.

Happily, the mail man who delivered to our office retired. He routinely refused to deliver packages or letters. We ended up convincing the postmaster to redirect everything to our PO box and picked it up there.

UPS DRIVERS ARE PAID TO NOT KNOCK YOUR DOOR.

With all the pain in these comments, I threw that sentence up there to get your attention. You've seen the electronic signature pad. You know the trucks have satilite tracking. You think these drivers aren't deaing with strick metrics? Think about how long it takes to hang a door tag versus knocking and waiting for you to show up at the door, receive and sign for your package. UPS isn't telling these drivers "give good customer service" they are telling these drivers "you are aloted X seconds per deliver, X minutes and X seconds to drive from delivery Y to delivery Z, and if you don't meet these metrics it affects your pay". Its not the driver's fault, its UPS.

@mad_oak:
Too bad another metric, perhaps an even better metric to use, would be customer satisfaction. These places seem to conveniently forget that without customers they have no business. Metrics or not, without customers, the revenue does not occur. And with satisfied customers it occurs much better and often.

Humblish: I had the exact same problem with at at an apartment complex in Alexandria, VA. The UPS guy would drop off all the packages at the resident services office, then go to all the buildings and put yellow tags on the doors. Caught him red-handed when I noticed the tracking info changes to "delivered" but no knock on the door. Opened the door to see the driver walking away from my door, no package in his hand. Called and complained to UPS, but nothing changed. I just got into the habit of having things delivered to my office instead.

I live in south florida (Ft. Lauderdale/Miami metro area) and UPS refuses to knock on the door. TO the extent that I put a note on the door once that said "I assure you I am home, please knock hard." I watched the UPS guy from the window walk up to my door, put my $400 camera lens on my porch and walk away. No knocking, nothing. Thats why I try my hardest not to ship UPS, but sometimes you have no choice.

I live in central NJ and the same thing happened to us. I was expecting my new computer from fedex. My girlfriend was home ALL day and no doorbell. I come home to a tag left on the door saying no one was home. The package must have been in the truck when they came and I can only assume the guy didn't feel like lugging a computer and monitor all the way to the door. we complained to fedex but who knows what that will do. I eventually had to pick it up myself from the fedex shipping station

@mad_oak: I agree, it's UPS's fault and they just BS us with "no prior complaints", "It's against company policy" and "We'll look into it / talk to the driver."

However, while I'm willing to give the drivers a *little* slack, there is some responsibility here. If a driver is consistently having to door-hang or drop-and-run packages without knocking, he or she should bring it to the attention of management and continue pressing them on the issue. That's part of being in customer service, and sadly the ability to take this initiative is what's sadly lacking in today's customer-facing labor staff.

It's completely UPS's fault. I've never had a problem with FedEx except once during a blizzard. These people don't know how to ring a doorbell. It's really not that hard. So what if they have to have a 90 second turnaround time? It's just more work for you tomorrow if you don't deliver it today.

I've shipped several thousand packages for my Ebay business, the vast majority via USPS. I've had exactly one package go completely missing and it was going to Brooklyn. I wonder where all this stuff ends up??

@ella:

Brooklynites: Complain to your congressperson. Out here in LA we got Henry Waxman hot on the trail of the USPS and things improved.