The driver didn't ring...

A customer writes...

Slightly odd was the courier not ringing the doorbell. Luckily, I had spotted the van and opened the door to find the box left on the doorstep. He returned from the van asking to rescan the item complete with "Sorry you were out" card at the ready. I said he hadn't rung the doorbell and was confused by this. He mumbled an apology. Only letting you know as it looks like odd behaviour to me.

Not odd at all, I'm afraid. We pointed out to her that we recently added a new paragraph to our Deliveries page.  As follows:

The driver may not knock on your door

Please be aware that delivery procedures evolved considerably during the pandemic. We would prefer it if the driver always knocked or rang, but many no longer do and we cannot make them. Instead, the completion of your delivery is usually notified by a text. You need to look out for this text and act on it when received. If your order does not arrive in the delivery window, please call us. We will chase it on your behalf. Our team tracks all deliveries. If we see an issue, we will let you know as soon as possible.

BUT WHY?

1. If the driver is doing 60 deliveries a day and can save a minute on each by cutting out the waiting and handing over, he'll save himself an hour.
2. Drivers are in fact sometimes kept waiting unreasonably. They'd like to avoid that if possible.
3. Now that deliveries are confirmed automatically by text, drivers know they can more easily get away with this behaviour.
4. Drivers know that 99 times out of 100 they cannot lose an argument about whether they rang the doorbell. No matter how stridently you insist otherwise, you cannot prove that you would have come to the door. It's your word against his.
5. And the driver knows that the real issue is not whether he rang, but have you got your parcel? Which in 99 cases out of 100, you have.

So the only way, these days. to ensure the driver knocks on your door, would be to insist on a signature. Which we do not offer because we cannot afford for the delivery not to work first time.

But we still got a smiley from this customer...

I wanted to say that although it arrived a day later than expected, the packaging held up beautifully. The fish remained frozen and I'm looking forward to dinner :)