How can I make my address exist?
5I have issues with 4 out of 5 of packages delivered. It’s getting old being told my address is invalid and delivery wasn’t even attempted only for it to sit around for week and then finally show up with a hand written note saying “Address is Good”.
So here’s the problem, I live in a duplex on a corner lot. One unit has an address of 3333 XXX St, and the other unit is 222 ZZZ Ave. Officially the lot address is 3333 XXX. Unfortunately, I live on the ZZZ side. USPS has no trouble giving me mail and packages but all the other delivery services have problems most of the time, even if they had successfully made a delivery a few weeks earlier.
Most the time it gets sorted out in a few days and eventually shows up, but a few times packages have been returned to sender and then canceled, which is really not ideal.
I think at least part of the problem is that when using any map application when entering my address the pin is dropped in the middle of the intersection outside the house and not connected to any building, let alone being somewhere close to where I actually live.
I want to figure out some sort of permanent solution because no matter how many times I call fedex and tell them that the address on the box is, in fact, where I do live, and that they’ve made deliveries here hundreds of times, it still is a problem the next time.
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Do you have a mailbox on the street (make sure house number and name are prominently displayed on the mailbox) or does your mail come to a slot in your door. Your best bet in that case is having the house number big enough and visible enough to read from the street.
My address pins about 1/4 mile away on google maps, but my house number and name are on the mailbox so it invariably gets to me any way. Of course it helps that we numbered the houses for 911 service so every 1000 numbers represents a mile of road, so 3200 xxx street means it’s 3.2 miles from the start of the street. If you can find any house number you can get a good idea of the distance to your destination.
@chienfou The mail box is mounted to the house, about 20 feet from the street, there is number on the box itself and big numbers on the building above the house. I feel like a majority of the time they don’t even drive down the street, they just put the address in navigation and when it doesn’t look right they don’t bother.
@metaphore
yeah, that sux! I think some of it is they are feeling pressed for time so unless it’s way obvious they just blow it off…
@chienfou My house is on a county road in a rural area, but it just happens that our house number (32222) is 3.2 miles from the start of the street. But it’s just coincidence; ours is the only one on the road that aligns that way - the numbers go up as they approach the starting point.
@macromeh
When I first moved to our current house it had an RR and box number. As they would add new houses they would put a letter suffix added to the box number. Eventually if houses ended up being built in between those houses the letters got out of order (so box 350-e might be between 350-b and c). It was a giant cluster when you were trying to find a house for a fire or EMS run. When we re-numbered for 911 it made it so much easier once we standardized the addresses. So now next door neighbors do not have numbers that are one digit apart. But they are all sequential.
By the way using our format you would be 32.2 mi from the start of the road!
@chienfou @macromeh By the numbering system of many city grids (like Miami or SLC), that would be 32.2 miles from the origin axis line relevant for the direction that the road runs. In SLC, 3827 S 22nd E would be on a N-S street 2.2 miles east of Main, and the address would be 3.83 miles south of S Temple, regardless of whether the street actually began at S Temple. Miami’s grid is slightly less intuitive; you have to know that Streets and Terraces run east-west, while Avenues, Courts and Places run north-south. Flagler St and Miami Avenue are the axes of the grid. Named streets are less instantly locatable than numbered ones, of course, but all of it is less of a fustercluck than the mess here in Houston.
@chienfou @werehatrack We live in a rural area of windy mountain roads in NW Oregon - they definitely do not follow any grid. Proceeding in either direction from our driveway, you encounter U-shaped bends and twists that follow the hilly landscape. (And be sure to keep an eye out for deer and the neighbor’s escape-artist cows!
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First, try going into Google Maps and sticking a publicly visible map pin on your end of the duplex, and giving that pin your address. Sometimes this will propagate into their database properly. Since Google Maps gets used by a lot of delivery drivers, that may help. I don’t know if the other major mapping providers offer similar data entry capabilities. For deliveries coming via Amazon’s in-house delivery system, you can enter default delivery instructions that could include “at the other end of the duplex that is at [the other address]”.
@werehatrack I had previously poked around on google maps but I was only finding options for adding a business to an existing location. I thought there might be better options. And now I’ve found and edited the pin, let’s see if it takes, and if they will convince drivers its a real place. Thanks!
@metaphore @werehatrack here is the Google article on that.
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/10010575?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
My address shows up in the middle of the back field but the delivery drivers have figured it out so I’ve never tried it.
How’s your relationship with the people in the other half of the duplex? Could you (using your example numbers) address things to “3333 XXX St., Unit 222 ZZZ”? That way they could get delivered right if someone actually looked at the house, or they would go to your neighbor, but either way it might work.
I used to live at 888 16th Avenue, and there was a garage apartment behind us whose address was 888-and-a-half. You couldn’t see that building from the street at all. Mail worked fine (there were two mailboxes), but packages invariably just came to us at the front.
@kostia That has always been an option but not ideal. The mailbox for that unit is on the fence out by the street and somewhat regularly boxes will get dropped just inside the fence next to the box. If I can’t find another solution I might have to go that route but I would prefer to avoid that.
Is there a packaging store or other business that you can have hold your packages for you? I’ve never done that, I’ve just heard of it being done.
@Kyeh With stuff coming via FedEx Ground, you can often have them held at a nearby Walgreens, but the shipper needs to know to use that address. Some of the FedEx Office locations also do hold-at-location for Ground, but not all. UPS - not so much.
Before I started working from home, if I knew a package was going to be delivered while I at work, especially if it required a signature like a Casemate order, I had them rerouted to Walgreens. Not sure if there is a Walgreens near you, but perhaps there is a similar option, even picking up at a Fedex location – which I have also done.
@heartny some companies are ok with you having packages delivered at work. Probably check before doing it though
@unksol On my last job I used to have packages delivered to work because it was a small company. My current job is with a big company and the building is huge. They don’t want us receiving packages or even mailing letters because they don’t want any responsibility if they are lost or stolen. I’m only going in 2 days a week now, so coordinating office delivery might not work well.
@heartny @unksol I know one national pharmacy does fedex and you can have your package delivered there for that servicer. I forget which one though. Sorry.
@Kidsandliz I have had packages delivered to Walgreens. The one near me is open 24 hours, so it works out well.
@heartny yeah I meant the the OP but it just depends.
I’m always home/work from home and they are pretty good about automatically sending a text when it’s dropped off. Don’t get many of those brown you weren’t home notices anymore. I used to have a USPS guy who didn’t try to deliver just put that in the box.
Occasionally one gets left at the end of the drive in the rain with no notice. Oh well
Editing Google maps was the best advice. Try signing in to FedEx, UPS, and Amazon accounts to add special delivery instructions.
@callow Yes that is a good idea and give explicit instructions where you live.