I don't see a package, just that weird , oddly stained door mat.....................

What a weird spot for a stair!

I once received a large package from UPS (about the size of a mini fridge). They also opted not to leave it in the office and it was under my welcome mat. I wish I had the foresight to take a picture - it's pretty comical thinking about it.

They forgot the post-it note that says: "There is nothing under this bump"

They've done this to me several times, and I have one of those wirey see through mats too so it's even more painfully obvious. Never thought much of it though, my house is set back a ways from the street and I live in a safe area, it's unlikely someone would steel it off my front porch. Now if I were in a high traffic area like this apartment, I'd be a little upset.

I had a driver throw a small package in my bushes in winter. Needless to say that it snowed and blended in perfectly. I almost reported it stolen until I decided to take one more good look later on.

The perfect capper would be if he'd had a key hidden under a corner of the doormat, and the UPS delivery guy had left it exposed.

My sister lives in a rowhouse where the door is basically right on the sidewalk. They have a tiny alleyway on one side of the house that they use only to take out the trash. The UPS guy delivering my Christmas present (an iPod!) decided that rather than put it on their stoop and risk it being stolen (a definite possibility) he would just pitch the box down the alley. No note on the door or anything. My sister found it 6 days later when she next took out the trash. It was actually fine, thanks to Apple's nice packaging job.

I was under the impression that UPS always required a signature for delivery. At least that had always been the case until last month after waiting all day (I work nights/sleep days) waiting for my smartphone to arrive from Dell.

A little after 4 in the afternoon (IE very, very late for me!) I decided to check the website to see if there was an update on the delivery status. Saw the notation that it had been left at the side door. Never heard a knock or even the truck.

Went outside to find a torn open carton and no phone inside. I did find an old basketball from Lipscomb University near the carton though. Brought both inside, hoping I might be able to trade the back back for my phone if neighborhood miscreants came looking for it (I'm not in the best part of town)

Thankfully Dell shipped out a replacement phone within a week and sent it FedEx overnight. I definitely heard that truck pulling up out front, and opened the door to meet the driver. Oddly enough, he handed me the package and left without getting a signature either. Nevertheless, I did inform Dell of receiving the replacement.

Oh, and yes I still have the basketball.

Well, if it was stuck there that probably was the most "hidden" spot possible; I know it'd be like that at my house. At best it'd keep people driving by from seeing a package out of the corner of their eye.

Chris should have called UPS and complained that he never received the package.

"Check under the mat."

"Thanks. I found it!"

@TheSpatulaOfLove: Naturally you don't see the guy just outside of the picture who waves slowly at people saying "This is not the bump you are looking for"

I can't even get them to come to my office before five o'clock. I've called and talked to the local distro center and they refuse to acknowledge that the driver is never here before six o'clock in the evening. I've had to dispute several ruined boxes of paper that was an utter pain as they were "signed for" by our doorman. Very frustrating.

Plus at home I watched the UPS guy look into our glass front doors and just walk away. Tragic.

UPS did the same thing to me, except I had left a towel on the porch. So they put the package under the towel (not really hiding anything) and then put a post-it on the door indicating the package was "under towel".

(Which considering the package was holding the screen door shut had to be moved to get to said post-it.)

I actually saved the Post-It UPS note, it was just too funny.

@chemmy: I had one like that too. I LOLed when I saw it. Mine was delivered by FedEx though.

UPS has a strange idea of out of sight for me too. I live in a building with 3 units. We have our front doors which are on the side of the building going from the street to the alley. I am in the middle, so unless someone comes all the way to my door, nobody will see packages left by my door. Great arrangement for receiving packages since nobody can see it from the street. UPS has this habit of sometimes leaving packages at my BACK door, which faces another alley that actually gets quite a little traffic for an alley. To make matters worse, we don't have house numbers on the back doors at all, so one time UPS left my package at the back door for one of my neighbors, who didn't notice the package sitting there for a couple of days.

@mianne: I am glad that you're out from under that impression. I hope it was cleaner than the doormat.

Seriously, UPS never rings the doorbell, let alone gets a signature, unless I am home and open the door when I see them coming. Sometimes they'll put a big package at the back of the house, but it's not consistent.

They did that to me before, except the box contained a table saw (If you don't know a tabe saw is a large saw the size of a small table therefore a box that stood as tall as the doorknob sitting under the welcome mat.

@mianne: You know those Lipscomb hoodlums. With their no dancing and their curfews and their chapel.

Stop complaining. Here's the other option... The UPS guy leaves a sticky note on your door and you have to figure out what to do next.

I guess calling UPS and then driving to the UPS facility to pick-up your package is a good use of your time.

We have three inside dogs that bark rather vigorously when UPS makes deliveries. Normally I meet the driver at the curb but I had a PC case delivered a few weeks and couldn't get to the curb in time. The driver actually lobbed the case onto our porch from a distance of about 10 feet away.

I called and complained and haven't seen that driver since.

@ematts: If it keeps an expensive package from being stolen, yes it is. Also, the driver should have left it in the apartment office. That was one of the biggest advantages to living in an apartment for me.

@JRock: Most hidden spot in an apartment is the apartment office.

I love my driver, I think. I've had packages signed for by Garage, but if the back door isn't locked he just puts the package right inside the sunroom. Sure beats having to go to the dist center to pick up a package because it needs a sig.

Better than our UPS guy who left the package on our driveway while it was snowing. Apparently going the 5 ft to leave it on the front porch so it would be hidden behind the bushes and protected from the snow was too much effort.

Not to mention that they and the other delivery services like to play ding-dong-ditch with me. I work from home and by the time I get to the door (about 5-10 seconds) I can hear the tires squealing as they pull away.

@mianne: UPS won't request a signature unless the sender pays them to do that. Even then, it's not guaranteed depending on if you get an asshole driver.

This is merely a game of UPS "Where's Waldo?"

You should have made the image into a "screamer" and had a Bank of America symbol as the scary image or something.

@ematts: No. The option would be the apartment complex.

Stop being a douche.

He could have been using the mat to prevent the package from getting wet, or maybe getting blown away if it was light??? Did the tracking number say "Left 'Out of Sight'" or is that just what the OP said?

Funny looking! But give the driver some credit.

@Nidoking: Had that happen to my neighbor at my old place...I saw the exposed key and picked it up. Of course...they then moved out the next day (I had never met them) before I could get it to them...and the apartment sat vacant for 6 months.

I still have that key.

@ematts: My biggest pet peeve is when they leave it at the door in plain view and don't bother to knock or ring or anything. Unless you're throwing it from the truck (I sure hope not), if you don't need a signature, just tap the damn doorbell to let me know to get it instead of letting it spontaneously combust in this southern summer heat.

@mianne:

Yeah, I dont get knocks on my door.. I have on several occaisions been sitting about 5 feet from the front door, with the curtains to my front window open so that I can see if anyone gets within 3 feet of my door and had the package mysteriously appear next to the door without anyone coming in visual range.. either they are ninjas or they are throwing the package near the door and taking off.. this is both FedEx and UPS..

I once received the contents of my package...no package. Thankfully whoever opened it didn't know what a MiniITX motherboard was, just jammed it in my mailbox, and took the packaging.

@K-Bo: Not all apartment offices keep packages. Mine won't, so my UPS guy usually hides my packages behind a mat like shown, or behind the bush beside the door.

@Scoobatz: Win.

@K-Bo: Lucky duck. In my 7 years of apartment living, I never lived in a place that had an "apartment office." :( Just some crazy old lady who took it upon herself to sign for every single package, then scream bloody injustice if you didn't knock on her door to thank her. Old bat tried to get me evicted when I told the UPS guy not to let her sign for my stuff!

Well it is better than just leaving it on the stoop in plain sight.

@pb5000: I wish I had that problem! My roommates and I are never home during the 9-5 day, so sometimes we're stuck begging UPS to leave a package. I don't have a car so I can't go pick it up at the depot and I'm never home to grab it. We've literally left post-its everywhere on the door saying "Seriously LEAVE IT" with our signatures, to no avail. That's why I'm big on the postal service, at least I can just pick it up at the post office.

You only THOUGHT it was under the mat-you fell for my diversion!!! I actually sold it on ebay!!

I once had this happen. With my new 19" Dell LCD monitor. Back when they cost like $500. A large box, with "Dell" stamped on it in big letters, right on my door step where anyone could see it.

@lmarconi: No joke. I have even called to see about getting a waiver or somethign on file so they WILL LEAVE STUFF at my apartment. But no.

@Ayarkay: You're lucky it didn't RAIN!

I used to work for United Prison System, and half the shit that they did in there resulted in open packages, crushed boxes, no labels on packages.
There are supposed to get a signature for every package, half of them don't even ring your bell or knock on the door.
Also half the people that work they are assholes, especially the managers, supervisors and union leaders. They hire people who has a record and people who just gotten out of jail. Half of them don't even care about their job, they think that there are in a union, they can do whatever they want without any consequences.
Some of them at where I used to work at, came in high, and those assholes management knew that, but they still let them work.

Our friendly neighborhood UPS man just lobs the package over the fence into our puny (8'x10') "backyard" and breezes off without a note. I almost lost $300 in gift cards last year because he whipped the package over the fence and it snowed over the envelope.

@Cubziz: Heh. Around here, FedEx has seemingly gotten very stern with their drivers about leaving notes any time the inhabitant doesn't sign--so they leave the "we left you a package" note on the package. It's pretty funny.

@aloria: Yes, before I moved down here into houseland, we didn't have an apartment office either, nor did most of my friends' units. And we also didn't have cars, which meant taking elaborate public transit down to a dodgy area for the UPS terminal. Mail was often worse, so you'd just have stuff shipped to your office or do without.

@mianne: I know when it comes to FedEx, you should check with them and make sure they don't have your signature on file.

I signed one of those door tags ONCE so they could leave a package without me being home, and from then forward they left EVERY package without me signing. I came home to a Logitech Z-5500 speaker system sitting on my porch one day (the box is large and plastered with pictures of it's contents). I called FedEx to ask why they left a $500 box of electronics in plain sight, and they said that I signed to have packages left.

I had them remove that signature from their files, and now they wait for me to sign. :)

@DaBull: They have actually signed my name for me before. I had specifically requested signature delivery only (it was a $1.2k laptop) and the day it came I wasn't home. When they made a return delivery they claimed I had signed the door slip to have it left on my doorstep if I wasn't home. I took a look at the digital scan of the door tag and not only was it not even close to my handwriting they had also spelled my name wrong! I asked my neighbors just in case one of them had signed and no one had even talked to them that day. Luckily it wasn't stolen.