The Missing Packages

This is a rather minor quandary, but it has been weighing on me. I do a decent amount of online shopping. However, a couple of times a year, packages go missing. The shipping information I get online will say that it was delivered, but I never get it, so I assume that either someone in my apartment building took the package or the carrier left it outside and it was taken by someone in the neighborhood.

All of these orders have been from large companies, and I’ve just let the company know and they send me a replacement order. I haven’t thought much of it — after all, I am a pretty consistent customer of these places and I know that they must factor a certain amount of replacements into doing business. Recently, though, it happened for the second time in the span of a year with the same company, and I have mixed feelings about asking for another order. I’m starting to feel like it’s irresponsible of me to keep ordering things if I know there is a chance it will go missing.

On the one hand, I am costing the company money to resend me items when they aren’t at fault. On the other hand, I certainly can’t afford to throw money away if I don’t get my order, so the alternative seems to be to stop ordering online altogether. It gets more complicated for me when I consider what I would do if this happens with a small company or an Etsy seller. So, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? — J.

I used to subscribe to the weekend edition of The New York Times because I imagined that waking up on Saturday mornings and reading a hard copy of the paper with a cup of coffee and an everything bagel would be a fine way to relax. And it was — until the paper stopped showing up at my door. There were days when I got up very early just to make sure I got it before it was stolen, and on the weekends that I slept in past 8 a.m., I knew the paper would be gone before I cracked open my door. I ended up canceling my subscription.

When a package that was delivered to my doorstep disappeared, I knew I had to figure something out, and the solution came in two forms: A friend who lived in a much more secure apartment building offered me up her address if I wanted things shipped there, which I thought was kind of her, but I also didn’t want her to feel like she had to keep an eye out for my packages. The other solution was so obvious to me that I didn’t know why I hadn’t already thought of it: I asked my office if it was okay to have personal packages delivered there, and they said yes. It didn’t fix my newspaper problem, but I was fine with occasionally picking it up at the newsstand or just reading the digital version online.

So: See if you can get packages delivered to you at the office. Maybe you have a friend who is willing to accept packages for you. And if all else fails, know that you’ll move eventually. I did, and I’m in a more secure building now. Maybe I’ll order the paper again.

Email me your WWYD experiences to me with “WWYD” in the subject line. See previous installments. Photo: Keith De-Lin

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