UPS, FedEx deliver to rural houses?

[oscar111]

hi all,
I am planning to move to a rural house, and i wonder if i can believe these delivery companies when they say they deliver. Do they really? Do they just leave heavy boxes at a roadside mailbox, if you have a long driveway that is not too solid looking? Or just leave things at the roadside even if you do have a fine paved drive?

Let me know the real dirt on these companies. Been burned by corporations so many times.

thanks
oscar

[AndyTiedye]

1. They Deliver to Us At The End of a Short Private Dirt Road

Now if the road is more like a jeep trail or it has a gate, they probably won't.

[TomInTib]

2. It is an hour's drive to the gate.

And that is where FedEx and UPS leaves it (at the gate).

But they give us a call and let us know when a package will be delivered.

Get friendly with your delvery services.

[lindisfarne]

3. I think they may add a fuel surcharge, seeing as distances are so much

greater between rural homes. You may want to investigate before moving if it's a big deal to you - although the US Mail will certainly deliver - and no added fuel charge.

[EST]

4. As a long time consumer of delivery services, amounting to

up to $10 K per week, sometimes and deliveries every day, sometimes twice a day and sometimes overflow on saturday, I've had numerous conversations with delivery services.

They are not obligated to deliver unless there is someone physically present. They are not required to go off the main thoroughfare. There are many things they don't actually have to do, so if you are pretty far out in the country, as I am, be prepared for the occasional fight and keep track of the person(s) who drives your route most of the time. Be aware of substitute drivers and, as with any business associate with whom you work closely, learn a bit about their families, their interests, etc and remember them on holidays. Everyone responds to genteel bribes.

Sweetness and light as well as a little gentle persuasion can work wonders. A shitty, demanding attitude can result in little red stickers on your storm door and lots of time consuming trips to the local ups terminal.

[EST]

5. As a further note to the above reply,

Fedx really sucks, even worse than ups.

[fasttense]

6. We live in a very rural area

I've never had a problem with ordering off the internet and getting things in a timely manner. I would be in big trouble if I couldn't order through the internet. There are so many things around here you can't get from local vendors, like good books. I have to travel over an hour to find a decent book store that doesn't just sell christian crap.

[morningglory]

7. Kinda funny story: We live in a somewhat rural area, where little

"suburbs" have grown up around a smallish town and continued to grow until their "city" limits were touching. Sort of like Atlanta on a small scale, with their Norcross, Lilburn, Marietta. We lived in outer Lilburn, but our postal address was Norcross. Where we live now, every little "town" has a 3rd Street. They don't connect. It is like Peachtree Street in Atlanta, on a teeny-tiny scale. FedEx finds us easily, as well as UPS, but my husband got a $28,000 check, and to be safe, it was sent via DHL, which does not do much business here. It was a week late and a farmer drove up and said "this was thrown on our porch, and we've been trying to figure out where it should go." That is the other thing, they just throw things up onto your porch, because there is not much crime. We have lived in many rural areas and FedEx as well as UPS always can find you. DHL is probably great in an area where their delivery people are experienced.

[SheilaT]

8. Makes you appreciate

that for a mere thirty-nine cents the U.S. Post Office will deliver it anywhere.

Any time someone complains about the high cost of mailing a letter, just hand them and envelope and the thirty-nine cents and ask them if they'd be willing to get it to West Podunk themselves.

And the Post Office will likewise deliver packages anywhere.

Most of the delivery services will not deliver to a Post Office Box. But the USPS will.

[Robb]

9. We have sorta the opposite situation

...No rural mail delivery (free PO boxes in the center of town, so who's complaining). Always have to explain to people you can't send mail to my street address, only the PO box. Unless it's UPS or FedEx, who come to the door. :)

I echo a sentiment above: be good to your rural delivery person, whichever company it is. They tend to be the same person for years, cookies for the holidays and a sixer for July 4. :thumbsup:

[oscar111]

10. right.. Alas tho, most net compaies seem not to allow one a choice of ship

of shippers. So USPS is oft not a possibility. Right? Radio shak uses fedex, no choice, for example. PS i read that some carriers have had a problem with drivers stealing. And, the USPS has also had carriers who steal mail. Or just store it in their garage, overflowing.

[efhmc]

11. They do.

[hipneck]

12. Fedex whoops UPS' butt

I live in a pretty rural area and both services deliver here...I'm sure that they sometimes spend more on gas then the shipping cost.

I used to think of fedex as the "expensive" one, but in many cases fedex turns out cheaper, and they take MUCH MUCH MUCH better care of the packages. UPS has destroyed a bunch of my stuff, but with fedex it always comes to me intact.

[newfie11]

13. Ha! It depends on the driver.

When our daughter was in high school the UPS guy would go to the school, find her truck and leave the package in it. When she graduated he started either hanging the package on a tree of near a tree at the beginning of our driveway and calling. The drive way was a mile long with two gates to open. That was in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Now we moved out on a farm in the Nebraska panhandle. They sometimes bring packages & if we are not home come in and leave it in the kitchen. I might add we have 3 full grown Newfoundland dogs and a Pom that greet them.

If the package is small they tend to take it to the post office in town and it is delivered by the mailman the next day. I have never figured that one out.

[Kare]

20. I agree it depends on the driver

We have gotten packages from both fedex and ups out in the country. No problem delivering them at all. I will say the fedex guy was afraid of the puppy we used to have (sadly hit by a car) and would not leave his truck just sat and waited for you to come get it from him. Not sure what he would have done if no one was home.
Not so the UPS driver, I know him well and he is a really friendly guy who used to put the packages in the door for the people who lived here before (their outside dogs would eat them). Our packages end up on the porch and are just fine for it.

And he uses the right door I might add. Out here no one actually uses their front door. Mine is never used it leads right into a bedroom (used to be living room before additions). When we first moved out here I came home to find the insurance inspector wandering around my yard, he said that he knocked on the door (the front door) and no one answered. My husband and dog were both home so it amazed me a little that he wasn't heard at all. Anyone else who visits knows to use the side door which we actually use.

[LWolf]

14. They deliver to me.

They pick up a county dirt road off the highway, to my private dirt road. If the gate is open, they'll come down the 100 yard driveway. If not, they leave it at the gate. Inside the gate, if it's not to heavy to put over. Outside, if it is.

The mailbox is about 3/4 of a mile away, on the county dirt road.

[Kali]

15. ah rural life

two year old conversations? :rofl:
So Oscar, did you move? How is the package delivery situation?

[bvar22]

16. Think its gonna rain?

Yep.
Always does.....sooner or later.



On Edit:
Both UPS and Fed Ex have routinely delivered to our cabin.
We moved way out in the woods in 2006. I fully expected to have to drive to town to pick up a package I had ordered. I was really surprised (and a little disappointed) when the UPS truck pulled up in my front yard.
I asked the driver if he had any trouble finding our place.
He said "Nope", and pointed to a GPS map display in the cab.
"If you have an address, I can deliver."
I told Starkraven we needed to move even further out in the woods.

We have to drive a couple of miles to get our mail, but UPS and Fed Ex delivers to our door.

[Kali]

19. snort

yep usually later for me

[buckettgirl]

17. My good friend delivers for FedEx

and he delivers to rural addresses, at the house, not at the mailbox.

[RedLetterRev]

18. Yes, they do, but

ya takes ya chances. I live far enough out there's no cable or DSL. My drive looks like something out of a haunted-house horror story, but UPS does deliver here. Sometimes they tear up the drive getting here, and one time the driver got stuck getting out, but yeah, they do deliver. Now, what they do with the packages once they arrive, there's another question. A solar water heater was lovingly placed out of the weather (even though it's designed to be out in the weather). My chin-cello was left out in the snow (viols really don't like damp and cold).

Speak to local dispatch when you can, it does help.