Hah, I had the exact reverse experience. For years when I had a delivery they would come by once (of course not staying nearly long enough to allow me to answer the door) and leave a notice saying the package would be at their warehouse the following day starting at 17:00.

The warehouse was pretty far. The round trip would take nearly 2 hours by bus. And since they opening hours weren’t ideal, if I happened to have a class or be otherwise busy the one night of the week they’re open late, well I guess I’d better find a solution, because they’ll only keep it for a week.

I would plead with them. Can you come back? Can you leave it at my door? It’s not even worth that much! I’ll take the risk! No. At least one thing they did agree to do was keep my package a bit longer once when I realized I had absolutely no way of retrieving it in time. But they only gave me two days.

It was only when COVID hit that delivery companies started just leaving packages. Sometimes they just wouldn’t tell you at all about it, and you’d have a surprise when you’d open the door and hit your foot on a surprise package, if you hadn’t kept up with the tracking.

Some people complained, because they were scared someone would steal their stuff, but I was so glad they were careless. I’ve worked from home ever since COVID.

Finally, I can order a thing and actually receive it at home.