Beyond aggravated with Amazon home delivery

[birdographer]

Does anyone else have this problem?

We have dogs and an inside cat. We often leave the sliding door to the screen porch open. There is a screen door that goes from the porch to the back yard, which has a hook-and-eye latch, but if we are coming and going a lot we often don't latch it. There is a wooden privacy fence around the back yard and a chain link gate leading to it. We live in a very rural area surrounded by a few houses and lots of coyote- and bear-filled woods.

I cannot seem to stop Amazon people from opening the gate, leaving it open, and, if the latch is off, entering our screen porch to leave a package. This leaves an open path for our pets from inside the house to the screen porch to the back yard, and out the gate and into the woods. I have specified delivery instructions in our Amazon account to leave packages "in the garage" (we have a carport) and additional instructions in caps DO NOT ENTER THE SCREEN PORCH. I have these posted outside the back yard:



Since I took that picture, I have added a BEWARE OF DOG - KEEP GATE CLOSED metal sign to the gate. They continue to enter our yard, leaving the gate wide open.

I have called Amazon and was told my concern would be "passed on to the correct department."

I am considering ordering a custom sign that says "THIS GATE IS RIGGED WITH C-4. IF YOU OPEN IT, YOU WILL BE BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS."

We had the same problem with a USPS delivery yesterday. I caught the guy before he got to the screen porch. I said "Did you see the giant yellow sign?" and he nodded. I made a sweeping gesture and yelled ON. THE. TABLE. (Dogs were all at my feet on the porch barking their heads off.) And he left to put it on the table. I came inside and said "Idiot" to my husband. I imagine the guy heard it so we might not be getting our USPS packages any more.

Any thoughts? This is also the gate that leads to the driveway and is how we come and go, so a padlock would be too inconvenient.

[hlthe2b]

1. Seems a lot of those delivery people are very wary of dogs so make THAT sign the most obvious

My problem is my dog is in love with the UPS man and wants to get in his truck and play as she did once or twice as a pup. That dog has NEVER forgotten.

[birdographer]

2. I added that we have a dog to my instructions

That may help. Amazon hasn't been here since the dog sign was added. There is a cool sign I am considering that says something like "My dog can make it to this fence in 2.4 seconds, can you?" Our huge problem is the dogs taking off into the woods. They are not the most trained dogs...

[Srkdqltr]

3. I like the idea of the C-4 sign.

[quaint]

4. I have a large Rubbermaid bin on porch with Amacon instructions to place deliveries in it.

I put a $5 bill in an envelope marked Thank You clipped to the top edge so the bill can be seen.
When they put my packages in the ants and dirt, I get irritated.
When they take the $5 and put my packages in the ants and dirt, I get livid.

[birdographer]

5. It's nice of you to tip them

No way I would do that with the "service" we get (or as a bribe). We have a split-rail fence that goes most of the way down the driveway on one side. It's a somewhat long driveway. We had one Amazon guy leave the package at the far end of the fence, down by the road, where we could not see it from the house. Is there an opposite to a tip?

Maybe I will put my old wooden baseball bat on the porch and grab it next time one of them comes through the gate...

[quaint]

6. Opposite of a tip

Respond to Amazon's how was your delivery and after selecting not so good, select inappropriate behavior for the driver. Might not help, but it makes me feel slightly empowered.

[LudwigPastorius]

7. You just don't have the right sign.

[birdographer]

8. 🤣🤣

That might put repair people off a bit....

[Lulu KC]

9. I would move the table from the carport

over to under where the sign is, and put up a sign that says "Deliveries here." Put a Rubbermaid type container. If you're worried about rain, put a lid on it, but loosely so the delivery person can see that it's currently empty. (I'm hoping they'd have the common sense to put the lid on if it is raining. A leap of faith.)

(I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've had this in the back of my mind since I first saw it and that's what my brain came up with!)

Good luck! I have been there, with the gates being left open and the animals getting out. One of the longest weeks of my life was when a meter reader let my beloved dog, Teddy, out and it took that entire week for him to show up at the dog pound. He never left my side again!

[AllaN01Bear]

10. in my apartment , for a while , the delivery and the usps people got lazy and put packages by the front door

or at the indoor mailboxes untill the manager (when we have one)pusted a note on the front door saying , do not leave at front entrance . most rezes are disabled and or elderly. leave at apartment front door.

[birdographer]

11. Can't fit a table there...

Thanks for suggestion. Carport table is about 15' from gate and clearly visible since carport faces out toward the gate (at a right angle to it). Next to the gate on one side is gigantic shrub and fence and the other side has a very large hose holder with hose, all-house generator next to that, carport table next to the generator (which is just outside the carport). We have had them leave stuff on the generator, which is ok, although it killed a live plant because the sun glares down on the generator and we were gone all afternoon that day.

I just ordered a second sign for the gate. This is the one with an outline of a German shepherd-type dog, print above it says "I can get to the gate in 3 seconds, can you?" in English, with the same thing written below it in Spanish. Just in case they don't speak/read English.

The dogs getting out is really the whole issue. For all this bluster, two weigh 20 lbs, the third 11 lbs. Our front yard is huge, bigger than most dog parks (fully chain-link fenced), so they don't go on walks much, and the freedom of just running down the driveway and into the woods would be irresistible to them. One is a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, a highly stealable dog. They are everything to me. I'm glad you got yours back.

[crosinski]

12. Our Amazon delivery person sometimes just throws the package over our fence.

We live on a corner lot, so finding the package is tricky sometimes. I’m envious of your delivery table!

[birdographer]

13. Amazon doesn't monitor these deliveries at all, do they?

They ask how your delivery was. You say bad, you say why, you submit that. And I'm sure it goes into a junk email account and is never seen. I will also no longer be giving good reviews. If I happen to catch the person and they put it where it goes, I will thank them.

Remember when Amazon was great? Good times. Now you pay for Prime "2-day" delivery and get some things in a week, and lately I have had many deliveries totally fail. They are so kind to offer a refund for the product they failed to deliver...

Oh well.

[crosinski]

14. No, I don't think they do pay attention to reviews, good or bad.

I gave up writing reviews because it felt useless. That being said, I sure would miss them if they went out of business. My husband and I have come to depend on them.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

15. Need lots of fake vomit and dog doo, both sides of the gate.

[birdographer]

16. Just in case anyone stops in here

It's not just Amazon. Had FedEx "deliver" a package today.

Here is the image of the package where he delivered it:



Even puzzled their CS.