The street in front of our house has been like glass for the past several days, with the few cars that have chanced it going very, very slowly. We also had a tree fall in our front yard before it snowed, right in front of the porch, and I feel sorry for any delivery people. My wife got a package delivered and I could see the footprints of the delivery person who’d walked a straight line across the yard then had to make a detour around the fallen tree. That’s some real dedication when they could have stuffed it in the mailbox.
My neighbor also makes me feel guilty about delivery people—not just now but all the time. He’s retired and I guess he watches the updates so he knows exactly when they’re coming, and when they arrive he runs out to take the package then asks, “Hey, would you like a bottled water? Coke, Pepsi, regular, diet, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, 7UP, ginger ale, ginger beer, ginger snap, orange soda, grape soda, cherry soda, Cherry Coke, Crystal Pepsi, Fanta, Tab, Mountain Dew, root beer, lemonade, seltzer, iced tea, coffee, chocolate milk, Moxie, cream soda, juice, a banana, an apple, a kiwi, a bag of trail mix, a slice of cheesecake?”
Sometimes I think delivery people avoid our street because he’ll hold them up for half an hour.
Anyway I’ve had a package out for delivery for six years. Or six days. At this point it’s hard to tell, but every day I’ve gotten this notification that “Your package is out for delivery” and should arrive by 10PM. I’ve watched the blue line creep toward the “Delivered” dot, thinking, hey, they just might make it today. And every day at around nine o’clock at night I get a notification that it’s delayed and they’ll deliver it as soon as possible. It occurred to me yesterday that I could cancel the order and re-order it again when the streets are clear, but that seems like a cruel prank on the delivery driver who’s made the Sisyphean effort every day. What I really want is a delivery option that says, “Hey, I appreciate the effort, but this isn’t urgent—just wait until you can deliver it safely.”
Since that’s not available I have been watching how close the delivery person gets so maybe I can thank them personally, give them a bottle of water, and let them get away before my neighbor sees them.
We had the same issue, minus the tree, on our street. Now the big question is, when will they come collect the trash.
I finally got my delivery for the 16th on the 23rd. Like you, nothing urgent, but I was glad to have to stop watching the tracker…
I’m glad to say we’ve now also gotten rid of the tree. I really felt bad for the delivery people who went around it, even with packages that could have been left in the mailbox. I enjoyed the snow for a few days but I’m glad it’s all clear now and probably will be the for the rest of winter, if you can even call the weather we’re getting now winter.
What you deliver to us here, Chris, never disappoints.
Whenever you deliver comments, Ann, I’m always happy.