Wouldn't it be cool if ParcelForce could tell you EXACTLY where your parcel was? They have GPS in their vans don't they?
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8 years ago
GPS on parcel vans
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- posted
8 years ago
They're stuck back in the ark.
But DPD do exactly that.
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8 years ago
You mean if I track a DPD parcel coming to my house, I can see where it is?
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8 years ago
Yes. Although it depends on the service the sender has selected. It tracks as with all the other carriers until it leaves the local depot. Then you can see the van's location, and how many deliveries are left before yours, and how long it will be.
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8 years ago
Cool. I knew they were better than others (they give you a 1 hour delivery window), but I didn't know they were that good.
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8 years ago
But should the driver happen to arrive before the start of the 1 hour window, the hand held device won't let you sign for it until the window has started. DAMHIKT
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8 years ago
So I've heard.
The other thing to watch out for is that once it starts to say '15 minutes away', they could arrive any time soon.
It's still pretty good.
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8 years ago
I have had that problem before. The driver was most irritated but got around it. I think he signed for it himself later on. Quite why DPD thought a customer would not like the parcel delivered early is beyond comprehension.
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8 years ago
Because the customer might not be at home until the start of the allotted hour.
And once you get out of sync it only gets worse.
Our usual DPD driver is very efficient - almost always at the door on the minute. Occasionally we've had double deliveries (ie. packages for me & separate ones for my wife) and there has been a few minutes delay between deliveries...
And as far as I'm aware, the GPS position is updated at the same time the driver pushed the 'ok' button after the pad has been signed, so it's not quite real-time but close enough. I can usually tell when the van is one stop away and wander down, open the door, etc.
Gordon
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- posted
8 years ago
So what? You can't be that stupid. If the customer is home (as I was), why the hell should the computer system stop me from signing for it?
I recently had three consignments from parcel force, with a new guy. I was out at the time, and he delivered parcel 1 of 1 from consignment 1, and parcels 2 of 3 and 3 of 3 from consignment 3 to my neighbour. Then returned at the end of his round when he realised there were three more parcels for me in his van. Not his fault really, for some reason new parcel force blokes have to use pen and paper for a while before they get promoted to using a handheld device.
You must have a huge mansion and not be able to answer the door in a a timely manner when he rings the bell. Maybe you should get a sensor installed at the end of your driveway?
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8 years ago
Because the customer might have had to come home specially to receive it.
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8 years ago
Bullshit. I am told the parcel is to arrive between 1pm and 2pm.
If I am not home at 12:30pm and the driver comes then, well that's the driver's problem, he'll have to have a coffee break.
If I am home at 12:30pm, I might aswell sign for it.
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8 years ago
I suspect there's some arcane reason to do with fiddling 'customer not in' statuses.
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8 years ago
Nope. If the driver comes at 12:30, he cannot enter that status, as I should not be in. If the driver comes at 1:30, then he should be able to enter that status, as I wasn't there. With the current system, he can still arrive at 12:30, find me correctly not in, then enter the customer not in status an hour later. So the system achieves nothing. There is no advantage whatsoever in preventing the customer from signing for the parcel at any time.
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8 years ago
The stupid system failed anyway. He gave me the parcels early, swore at the device, then told me he'd sign it himself later on with an unintelligible squiggle that looked like my name. Nobody can sign properly on those things anyway. My signature never looks anything like the real thing.
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8 years ago
Ideal for a hijack, then.
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8 years ago
Dave Plowman (News) scribbled
WTF wants to steal parrot seed?
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8 years ago
Standard compensation for parcels going missing is cheap, but handhelds are expensive to replace if the driver is careless or dishonest?
Owain
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- posted
8 years ago
In message , at 22:15:24 on Thu, 10 Sep 2015, Tough Guy no. 1265 remarked:
If you are out of the house, and heading home in order to be in when the parcel arrives, being early isn't any good. Unless in those circumstances the driver waits until the time you were given.
DPD deliveries I get are almost always right at the beginning of the window, so perhaps they've been waiting round the corner for the clock to tick on.
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- posted
8 years ago
One of the courier companies (I don't think it's DPD, and it certainly not Parcelforce or UPS) *does* allow you to do exactly this: you get an email from Amazon (or whoever you've ordered from) with a URL that allows you to see the location of the van and the number of deliveries that he has to make before he gets to you. I was once watching and saw that the spot on the map made a strange detour rather than taking the direct route, even though I was next on the list without an intervening delivery being shown. The driver was amazed when I said "was there yet another accident at X junction" (a notorious accident black spot) and said he'd forgotten that his van could be tracked.