I saw this on reddit recently and thought buyers here might appreciate some of the trials and tribulations of those who try to deliver the OzBargainer's eneloops.
Delivery driver (non postal but anyhow) here:
The vehicles will have a GPS tracker fitted. Routes are worked out by computer, the company can't push the drivers to speed so they push unrealistic handling times.
30 seconds for a house, 2 minutes for an apartment complex including parking is on the very generous end.
It just doesn't work out in real life. Signage is a killer, you need to spot the street number from the road while keeping your eyes on the road. Not driving around looking for it, you need to spot it first time on approach. Maybe 10-20% of places have clear enough numbers. Untrimmed bushes, uncollected junk-mail, cars parked in front of the letterbox/fence & numbers of a similar colour tone as their background (i.e black numbers on a grey/brown background) will all keep that from happening.
Next along is whether you're in a house or an apartment complex. Apartment complexes are notorious, on top of buildings being 'named' rather than 'numbered' to flatter prospective tenants there's a frequent lack of relevant signage about either visitor parking or entrance location or unit position in the majority of places & no standard method of assigning unit numbers. More often than not they will not proceed in logical order.
Before you can even get to this there's often multi-layered security. Buzzer at the gate to the complex, buzzer at the entrance to the building within the complex, buzzer for the elevator. It's a double edged sword trying to get someone's attention. The worst thing that can happen is to get the attention of someone who dawdles. Then it's either 'they left when I said I was coming down' or 'they were rude and pushy'. You cannot force people to hurry up from outside. You can never explain to people in time politely 'please just say what level you're on & buzz me in' since you can jog up faster than they want to walk. Every single day there are people who can't work out how to buzz the door open or allow the elevator to come up. Who tap the buzzer instead of holding it. Every single day there are unmaintained buzzers (it makes the 'buzz' sound but won't unlock) & intercoms (they can hear you but you can't hear them is a great one. 'I told him I was coming down, he just acted like I wasn't there!').
Stairs would be great but you can't rely on the internal ones being able to be opened from the outside, frequently they're only there as fire escapes, a way to get down or if you've got a key. The amount of time you spend waiting for an elevator is again more often than not more time that you're allowed in total.
Any lack of signage or barrier to access gives the driver a reason to give to their boss when asked why they left a card.
The best thing I can advise short of calling for legislation about signage (which will additionally benefit people like Ambulance drivers) or talking to the property manager where you live is to leave delivery instructions on the box in shorthand.
'Park onsite, bldg @ back via stairs going up on right, unit on far left around cnr. My-phone-number-here.' is a good example.
Authorisation to leave without signature can help with many companies. You probably want to put 'Cheap, replaceable' next to it if that's the case.
Contract delivery drivers piss me off.
A review of Australia Post's delivery contractors has found the company did not know what subcontracted post and parcel deliverers were being paid by delivery contractors.
It was commissioned after one of the company's major delivery contractors was raided and charged by the AFP over an alleged immigration racket, and also followed a series of reports by 7.30 which exposed widespread under-award payments to subcontracted post and parcel delivery drivers, and the use of foreign student labour.
Australia Post has no oversight of subcontractor wages, Ken Lay review finds
tl;dr sub-contracting -> attempts to suppress wages/working conditions -> increase productivity/efficiency -> increase in worker stress -> inevitably, corners have to be cut to meet targets -> delivery people leave a card instead of knockin' on yo' door
I would like to nominate Contractor and Sub-Contractor as the most popular word of 2016 as more cases of worker abuse, below minimum wage jobs, and foreign student/tourist/worker abuse comes to light. Contractor is just a euphemism for "double benefit of workers being paid less and we having plausible deniability" in my eyes.
Great post