Learning from a trade I am currently involved in, that what I thought was a common practice, is not so common in fact. I've had some traders put a request to pickup their shipment at their local FedEx shop (HAL) in the past, and I started doing this as well. It's convenient to stop by after work, and keeps boxes from sitting outside, and/or pissing off my wife if the driver wakes up our napping baby. Well, today I had a scary wakeup call, when I had my sender texting me worried that the delivery exception FedEx posts for this HAL meant they knew it was beer, and were either disposing, or redirecting package. That's the last thing my trading partner needed to start his morning! It was completely my mistake that I did not let him know I put in this HAL request. I just want to share this story with the community, in hopes that it clears up any future scares. TL;DR Communication is key as always, please notify trading partners of any delivery requests you make on your end. Cheers!
I do the exact same thing due to the fact that packages in Baltimore routinely disappear of the stoops in my neighborhood if left too long. Haven't had a problem with with not notifying partners but will definitely make it a point to let people know ahead of time moving forward.
I, too, panicked the first time I got an exception when my recipient held the box at their local office. Once I got his explanation I then knew what was happening when others did the same thing.
I will only go the HAL route when I am out of town, else wise I worry a little bit, when it hits a FedEx office, you sometimes get 'hero' employees that shake the package then open it and return to sender or 'lose' the package for illegal shipment.
Agreed on communication. I had a trader ask me to add Signature Required, which adds on an extra $4ish. Then has it held for local pickup. I wasn't mad really, but not sure why they would have me spend more money if it wasn't needed
I had a bottle break, the remaining package was returned to me and FexEx left me a note saying "adult signature required for shipping alcohol." So when I re-sent I added it, just because perhaps I was nervous that they would check for it. Maybe your guy had a similar past experience?
No, there are options for Direct Sig Required or Adult Sig required. They wanted the sig because their door was basically on the sidewalk and were afraid it would be stolen if just left by the door
