Should couriers leave parcels In bins?
Posted by Hurstywurst@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 91 comments
I had an issue with a recent delivery, and I’m wondering if I’m overreacting or if my concerns are valid. I had a SodaStream (with syrups) delivered, which is a Christmas gift for my kids. I’d specifically nominated an outbuilding as my safe place for deliveries, but the courier instead left it in my black bin.
While I know there are instructions for safe drop-off points, the courier agreed to leave it in the outbuilding if not home, not the bin. The problem is that the item wasn’t packaged in a way that would prevent the outside of the box from touching the bin, which is a hygiene concern for me. I’m worried that the box could have been contaminated from the bin.
Am I being too fussy for caring about this? I know it’s not the worst issue, but the thought of giving my kids a gift that might have been in contact with unsanitary conditions has me a little frustrated.
Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this!
WildKey9307@reddit
Deliveries should not be put in a bin. I would never accept anything placed in my bin
Miketroglycerin@reddit
We regularly get parcels left in the blue bin, which is card and paper round here, so comparatively clean as bins go, but never the black. Can't understand how any delivery driver would think that's an acceptable place to put it.
chabybaloo@reddit
You need to complain to them. Lost a package this way. I got refunded from the seller, but it annoys me that it totally got wasted.
giraffe_cake@reddit
I've had them placed in the blue bin on blue bin day.
Bye bye parcel 👋
toilet-breath@reddit
I might be stupid here, but if my bin isn’t “out” then it’s not collected. So what’s the issue?
chabybaloo@reddit
They don't always leave a note to say where it is. You might get an email that its been delivered ir nothing at all. A recycling bin full of cardbaord and paper, its not obvious that there is a cardboard pacakge in there.
draenog_@reddit
We just had that happen this weekend. We don't mind it with the green bin, because we rarely even use it, but why would you put a cardboard box in a bin full of cardboard on collection day and not leave a note?
Timely_Egg_6827@reddit
We lost parcels that way.
knight-under-stars@reddit
No, of course not.
Placing parcels in a container that is not only dirty but is designed for the sole purpose of disposing of rubbish is fucking moronic.
coolsimon123@reddit
Yeah and royal mail flat out refuse to put stuff in the bin even if you nominate it as your safe place
chabybaloo@reddit
They did this twice to me.
First time It was bin day .
Told seller it was not delivered.
Second time a few years later, they scrawled something on a letter to say they left it in my paper recycling bin. Managed to get it.
Longjumping-Jump-481@reddit
Royal Mail following rules? That'll be a first
Appropriate-Bad-9379@reddit
My bins are always out on the pavement ( there is no rear access to my terraced house, so we have no option). Delivery guy always dumps my parcels in the bin. Doesn’t leave a card ( just an email of my photo on the bin). Neighbours are at work, but he wouldn’t bother asking them anyway. He’s a miserable sod and only knocks once- I’m disabled / or sometimes upstairs,so I can’t run to the door. I have complained to Evri but no response… just hope he doesn’t deliver on bin day when I’m out…
oktimeforplanz@reddit
No they shouldn't.
Hygiene issues aside, there's also just the risk of the item being binned accidentally which the courier is liable for since a bin is not a safe place.
The Royal Mail specifically state in their guidance that a bin is NOT a safe place and will tell you as such when you try to set a safe place, and their staff won't (or at least should not) leave anything in a bin.
Imtryingforheckssake@reddit
I actually caught a postie putting my parcel in my regular black bin and I pointed out to him that I couldn't even get it out because of the depth of the bin (and being disabled) plus it obviously wasn't a clean, safe, sensible place to put it. He did sheepishly take it out for me but I do think it's awful.
hairybastid@reddit
I had my contact lenses delivered last month, on a Sunday, by the royal mail parcel service, as I don't get regular post on a Sunday. Left in the recycling bin. Cheers then....
AssumptionEasy8992@reddit
Thanks mate. Let me just open that and put these IN MY FUCKING EYES 🙂
-You_Cant_Stop_Me-@reddit
Aren't the lenses sealed in sterile packs? I'm not saying it's fine to put them in the bin, I don't wear them so I just assumed they'd be kept sterile.
chemhobby@reddit
Yes but you still need to handle the packaging with the same hands that you will use to handle the lenses as you're putting them in your eyes
-You_Cant_Stop_Me-@reddit
Aren't the lenses sealed in sterile packs? I'm not saying it's fine to put them in the bin, I don't wear them I just assumed they'd be sterile.
CyGuy6587@reddit
My postie always leaves my parcels in the recycling bin and I'm okay with that, unless it's only recently been emptied, which makes it a literal pain to retrieve (pulled a shoulder muscle couple of times 🤣 )
SuzLouA@reddit
It’s still not convenient, but I find lying the bin on its side and tipping so the package slides up to the top much easier than trying to reach it from above?
PantherEverSoPink@reddit
But then the other contents of the bin would also slide out?
SuzLouA@reddit
The other person seems to have deleted their comment now, but they said they’d pulled their shoulder trying to reach a parcel when the bin had been freshly emptied and so the parcel was the only thing in there. So my comment was based on being in that situation.
horrible_goose_@reddit
I got an email from Royal Mail telling me to expect a delivery on a day I knew I wouldn't be home. Went through the stages to set a safe place and saw the notice stating that a bin is not a safe place.
Came home later that day to find that the postman had put it in the bin
-TheHumorousOne-@reddit
Depends on the delivery company. Evri and Amazon use self employed workers, who are paid per slot. The slot is typically quite optimistic so the drivers tend to ignore instructions, wait a grand total of 5 seconds before putting it into a bin or any other place.
I had a small stint at evri and by the second day I was doing all this unethical stuff. However, I never left a parcel in a black bin, that's quite disgusting and crossing the line even for a crap delivery service.
I suggest you invest in a cheap parcel box, we have one and delivery drivers use it all the time.
AffectionateJump7896@reddit
Return the item to the vendor as damaged, explaining.
You are not the courier's customer, so they don't care about you. What you can do is pass the problem to the company who's customer you are, and if it happens too much, perhaps they'll realize that the cheapest courier is a false economy.
-You_Cant_Stop_Me-@reddit
I'm lucky that my door is recessed enough that you can't see it until your almost in front of it and there's enough space to tuck a little yellow bin under the letterbox and out of sight for parcels if I'm out.
HermitBee@reddit
Ever since we put signs on our bins saying “Please do not put parcels in the bin” delivery drivers have stopped putting parcels in our bin.
We did have to make another one a few months after our council started doing food waste collections though 🙄
pokekyo12@reddit
I actually stated on my amazon account "if we're out place in one of the blue bins, except bin day".
Our blue bins are not filthy, and get jet-washed once a month to maintain cleanliness.
WholeAccording8364@reddit
So you order stuff knowing you won't be in when delivered. Buy it at the shops and you won't have this problem.
Isollife@reddit
I kept having this with Amazon parcels and complained multiple times. It's now stopped so perhaps it got through (or whoever was doing it prob got complaints from others as well and got fired).
They kept leaving it in my brown garden waste bin. So the packages were all wet with grass and compost. One I missed and it actually got taken out with the bin. I was fuming!
PuzzledRaggedy@reddit
The closer we get to Christmas every year the worse this seems to get. Amazon drivers are literally chucking packages on the front step and hightailing it back to their truck - they’ve taken off before we even get to the door.
They’re the worst but it’s similar with other parcel carriers. So many in our rubbish bin when there’s a dedicated parcel bin just two bins to the right and clearly marked as such.
I just wish they’d follow instructions. If the delivery allows me to give instructions why ignore them?
intothedepthsofhell@reddit
I am sympathetic to delivery drivers, it's an awful job. But when they leave the parcel and don't even ring the doorbell? Does my head in.
PuzzledRaggedy@reddit
Definitely. For us the place they drop the parcel on the front step has a doorbell literally three feet above it and it’s lit up 🤣
Gauntlets28@reddit
Our doorbell glows. And yet still somehow some people miss it.
Traditional-Job-4371@reddit
True story, I won a raffle to buy a Banksy print for £500 a few years ago:
https://www.hookedblog.co.uk/2017/10/banksy-sale-ends-print-release-lottery.html
The courier, who I won't name, left it in my neighbours paper recycling bin.
He was one day away from having it emptied.
The print was worth 30k-50k.
I got it eventually, undamaged.
Violet351@reddit
I’m too small to get anything out of the bin. I have to turn it on its side and then tilt it to get it out. It’s really annoying
Euffy@reddit
Of course not. A bin is not a safe space. Neither is anywhere in the garden that isn't a proper porch or parcel box tbh.
fleurmadelaine@reddit
I had a courier leave a parcel in our bin on collection day. Didn’t even get home before it got collected. £600 clothes order straight to landfill.
deadeye-ry-ry@reddit
No. I'd be living. Amazon once did this to me so I put a formal complaint in.
If it gets delivered and put in a bin who says the bin men wouldn't come and take it away being unaware & it's fucking unhygienic
hhfugrr3@reddit
Why would you put a parcel in a bin? It's just asking for it to be collected with the rubbish.
Acrylic_Starshine@reddit
Blue/paper bin is normal here and is fine with me if it fits and the paper inside isnt wet.
Black bin is general waste and will have rotting items inside.
BabyAlibi@reddit
I worked CS for DPD drivers are strictly told not to leave parcels in bins.
They forever ignore that rule and leave them in bins. Bins get emptied. Bye bye parcel. Driver has to pay for replacement.
yourmomsajoke@reddit
I've had loads of parcels put in bins no matter how many times I say there are at least 5 safe placesin my garden to store the bloody things.
Worst thing is when they don't actually tell me where the parcel is or on one case they said it was in my parcel box but it was in my recycling bin and I found it a week later 😬
I have also had 2 that I can remember actually taken by the bin men because it's been bin day.
I'd really like if they'd just put them in the place specified. I did have one I loved who'd play hide and seek with me, parcels would be under the swing cover, in the lawnmower storage, the sandpit with the lid over, he was so funny and always made sure they were protected from the elements.
He took pictures for the tracking as he's meant to do meaning if I couldn't find them myself I could check for "answers". Top bloke.
ylime161@reddit
I don't think they should, it's unsanitary and leads to accidental throwing away of the parcel.
However, it's better than the other week where an Amazon driver left one on my doorstep. I was away for the night so it was there for 24 hours. They'd marked it as handed to resident which I stupidly assumed meant handed it to my neighbour as we always take each others parcels in. Complained to Amazon and got a £10 voucher.
On the positive side, I love my royal mail postman! When I had a newborn we had an agreement where he'd just open the door, shout parcel and put it in my hallway for me. I always get him nice biscuits for Christmas as a thank you!
Devify@reddit
They put a clothes order into my food bin. On top of all the rotting food which was put out for collection. Thankfully the rubbish collectors saw it and didn't empty the bin. Unfortunately I had to keep the rotting food waste for another week, the clothes smelled like rotting food because it was there the whole day and I received a warning note about incorrect waste...
real_Mini_geek@reddit
Any parcel you find in the bin id claim you’ve never had it .. wait until after bin day to tell them then report it missing
TCGislife@reddit
No. As far as I'm concerned it isn't delivered until someone of the household has it in hand. If there is no one home and no safe space you take it back to the depot. This trend of just leaving things in bins and on the doorstep is bullshit. I've come home to missed you notes and on it they've put that they left the parcel in the food waste bin. My last parcel from Amazon the idiot courier left it on the floor behind a street level fence and when I came home it was nowhere to be seen.
Timely_Egg_6827@reddit
You really don't want to pursue that line of thinking. You know your bin is a bit icky but so are delivery vans and warehouses. The cardboard box is to protect the sodastream from crushing, the interior plastic wrapping keeps it hygenic. Whether in bin or not shouldn't really matter. TBF our delivery men only use the green or brown bins.
MaleficentSwan0223@reddit
Amazon by any chance? I was once waiting for a parcel. When it was 2 stops away I waited by the window (no extra delivery info was given). The van pulled up onto the street, never got out and declared it had been delivered.
We rang Amazon to complain/find out item and for 2 weeks they insisted it was in the bin and that our delivery instructions weren’t specific enough. Also I’ll add this parcel had a onetime code (therefore needed to be handed to us when we gave the code) and it took 4 people that we spoke to for them to admit the code hadn’t been taken. Took them a month to give us a refund and by that time the sale wasn’t on so the item we wanted was 40% more expensive.
Our delivery instructions are now as follows -
Get out of van, retrieve parcel, walk down our 5 steps, knock on the door or press the bell.
polly-esther@reddit
I had a delivery of coffee pods left in my black bin in the height of summer the day before bin day. They stank so bad but once I aired them it was as they were boxes in a box and hermetically seals pod, however Amazon refunded and send me new coffee because it was a food item.
ExoticMangoz@reddit
Just remember that “delivered to your bin” is oxymoronic.
Hitonatsu-no-Keiken@reddit
Only if you've specifically told them to, otherwise no, never.
Emergency-Aardvark-6@reddit
Report courier
hitiv@reddit
apart from people dying and shops no longer being open 24/7, the next biggest thing that was ruined by covid is the courier deliveries.
our amazon drivers dont even knock or ring the video doorbell when dropping parcels off.
ComprehensiveAd8815@reddit
No. The end.
-Gadaffi-Duck-@reddit
Nope, absolutely not acceptable at all. I've had no end of trouble with lazy delivery drivers dumping parcels where they see fit instead of my designated safe place.
In the black bin with no card? Check! Thrown over the fence with no card? Check! Left on my doorstep in full view of the street? You betcha!
I started reporting them as undelivered every single time it's not in my safe place because I got sick of either losing stuff to the bin men, items ruined in the rain or stolen. Or I can't reach it from the bin because I'm short and no way I'm climbing in for it.
Now, if it's not in my safe place or my hand, it was not delivered.
We all know Amazon are the worst for this too
SingerFirm1090@reddit
While I can understand your point, the outside of the package has been through many hands before it reached your bin, I'm sure some of those hands were not 100% clean.
Unless everyone in the chain between supplier and customer has regularly washed their hands or worn gloves...
Just wipe over the package with some anti-viral / bacterial, it will be fine.
DivasDayOff@reddit
I can top that.
I ordered an item off Kickstarter. Months later, they delivered and I'd completely forgotten about it. I didn't see the card, and I wasn't expecting deliveries at all. I found an email over a week later.
The courier (Amazon) delivered it to my black bin, and by the time I'd figured it out, a £50 item had gone to landfill.
I did get a free replacement, since they couldn't confirm the delivery.
USS_Barack_Obama@reddit
I ~~thought~~ hoped your story was going to end with the bin men bringing the parcel back
intothedepthsofhell@reddit
Me personally, I'd rather they leave it in the blue bin (paper/card) than either behind the bins (in the rain) or in the porch (where everyone can see it / nick it).
But everyone's different, and the delivery people can't win - what's ok for one person isn't for the other. And it's a shit job doing 100 drops a day with a robot bleeping at you telling you to go faster.
By the way, a Sodastream is amazing. I bought one for the whole family a couple of years ago and everyone loves it. Never really found any good syrups from Sodastream though, I tended to buy the Monin syrups from the supermarkets.
No_Technology3293@reddit
Is there photographic evidence parcel was left in the bin and have you confirmed receipt of it from the company you purchased it from?
If the answer is no, then there is a very obvious thing to do here... You know maybe it was your bin collection day before you could get to the parcel...
Hurstywurst@reddit (OP)
They have photographed it and it’s there in the app. I’m not going to lie however. I just don’t want my parcel stuck in a bin 🤣
No_Technology3293@reddit
In my experience the only way couriers and the likes learn is to hit them financially, not that I'm suggesting lying of course that would be a shocking thing to do...
toady89@reddit
No, my bin is usually empty and I’d have to climb in to get it. Thankfully I’ve had no problems with them understanding that when I specify ‘rear porch’ I mean the back doorstep, if it’s raining DPD will put it under the garden table instead.
RoyalMaleGigalo@reddit
Royal Mail posties are explicitly told not to do this. Lots of customers request it and even when they request it we are still not supposed to do it. The problem being the bin men take it away and you get a denial of receipt.
Douglesfield_@reddit
Paper recycling bin yeah to protect against the elements but never in the black bin.
Awkward_Chain_7839@reddit
Same as us. It isn’t the designated safe place, but always gets left there if I’m out. We generally plan deliveries for when I’m there if we can, but not always an option unfortunately.
NormQuestioner@reddit
They shouldn’t leave them anywhere. They should keep trying until they’re able to give it to the resident of the house the parcel is for, trying at least 4 times.
teethofgod@reddit
Had a delivery driver leave a fan heater in my compost bin once. I have outbuildings and even a porch. Imagine digging potato peelings and rotten fruit out of the small fan slats 🤢 (They shipped it least packaging as possible for the environment I guess I dunno man)
BppnfvbanyOnxre@reddit
I had this with Amazon a few weeks back, the only reason the bin was outside is because it was collection day on the following day. Wasted 40 minutes getting through to Amazon to complain, it was sheer chance I saw the delivery message before I went to bed otherwise it would have gone when the collection came early. That's twice they've done it, if there's a next time I am just going to keep whatever is left and claim it got trashed.
Curlysar@reddit
Definitely not. I once had a parcel left in my neighbour’s bin, and I was very upset about it. I don’t know why anyone would think that’s ever an acceptable place to leave a parcel.
alrighttreacle11@reddit
Put bin locks on so it doesn't happen again
BuncleCar@reddit
I've had Amazon parcels left in bins and behind them. Once my neighbour rescued one behind the bin from the rain.
JocastaH-B@reddit
Once the delivery email said it had been handed to reception (my house doesn't have a reception 🤣) eventually I found it behind the bins
RevolutionaryPace167@reddit
I was thinking that you lived in a mansion with servants
yeahlikeasquirrel@reddit
I don't mind if they leave it in the bin when I didn't give them any other instructions, most of the bin contents are bagged anyway so I'm not too worried about contamination. Just as long as they tell me where they've left it! I've had a few cases where the delivery person thought it was Easter and just hid my parcel somewhere without telling me where exactly. If I specify a safe place I'd expect them to honour it.
Shout out to UPS who thought that even though there were better options, that it was most appropriate to stuff a parcel in a full food bin. They wrote me a card but still, have some common sense.
Sea_Confidence_4902@reddit
No, never. To me, it's not just about unsanitary conditions. What if the bins get collected and your parcel is in it?
Warburton379@reddit
My black bin is full of dog shit. I'd be fuming if someone left a parcel in there
Many_Yesterday_451@reddit
The door handles in your house have more germs than your bin! Could be worse, you could have had a parcel thief.
cougieuk@reddit
Recycling bin fine. Rubbish bin no.
McDeathUK@reddit
No, its f**king dumb and very unhygienic
West-Ad-1532@reddit
I don't care as long as I receive what I've ordered.
CherryLeafy101@reddit
They shouldn't. There are quite a few stories of Hermes drivers leaving them in bins and then the bins being emptied, meaning the parcels were lost.
DandyWhisky@reddit
This annoys me so much! No I don't want to dig my nice shiny new thing out of my minging bin that passers-by put all sorts of horrible stuff in. Should be illegal.
Buddy-Matt@reddit
So many reasons no - but the fact you nominated a safe space and they ignored that makes it even worse.
Can do what my old boss once did when their instructions that their item had to be signed for were ignored. Claim the item undelivered. Courier will be unable to prove they followed your instructions, and will be on the hook to get you your second soda stream.
squesh@reddit
lucky it wasnt bin day!
Polz34@reddit
It does bug me when they ignore the info you have given, I live in a ground floor flat with my own front door and opposite my front door is a large black ottoman (literally you just have to turn around and it's there) and this is 'drop off choice' if I'm not in yet still some delivery people will just leave the package on the floor in front of my front door... Luckily I live on a quiet road so nothing has ever gone missing but if it rains that's always fun.
Worst I ever had was I had some glasses delivered to my house and the packaging was similar size to the glasses, so not very big at all (probably could have gone through the letterbox) anyways this delivery person put the package at an angle in the cat flat, so the cat was trapped inside for however many hours!
Emotional-Ebb8321@reddit
Of course they shouldn't leave goods in the bin. That's a dick move, and I personally would consider it a failed delivery attempt, and complain.
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