The point I'm trying to make is it that's the workforce that we have now. Employers are begging people to come to work now. McDonald's is hiring people at $15 an hour and they can't beg people to work for them.
Yep. I'll even cut my favorite diner some slack, when service is slow, I'll ask the manager how many of his servers and cooks called out sick on a beautiful summer weekend morning -- I gave him the tip to make sure he knew who was FB friends with his staff, that way he could see the pics the "sick" employees posted from the beach.
It is a different workforce now. Not to make excuses -- but the concept of ethics is missing in many workplaces now.
I worked at both Fed Ex and UPS in college as a package handler (the guy who loads the delivery trucks). I hope to add some perspective.
I'm gonna take a stab and assume this was in the pre-COVID era? Because, my understanding is that home delivery increased exponentially during the pandemic and since, with the shipping companies massively increasing their delivery capabilities, so I'd expect it's a different kettle of fish these days.
As several here have already noted, one key is establishing, if not a relationship, at least some personal contact, with one's regularly delivery drivers. Yes, my home is rural, near the end of a very long "no outlet" dead-end road in the woods. But my UPS 5-day-a-week driver is a shooter (he always cracks a smile when he has boxes for me marked "Nitro Express" or "SGA" ... A Christmas card with a cash tip or gift card for your regular drivers (especially your USPS driver) has always worked for us.
It's great to live in a small community too -- when workers know they will be running into customers at the grocery store or church, they tend to be more conscientious.
Again, not making excuses for the stupid, incompetent, lazy or criminal drivers, but it's understandable that the drivers are at the mercy of GPS in most cases, and I'm consistently amazed at how poorly marked many home addresses are on my road alone -- it almost seems as though some folks don't want to be found. I've marked my mailbox (100 yards down my driveway) with an arrow, put up big numbers on the front of the garage and put a post marker alongside my driveway -- so, not to jinx myself, but I've never had delivery issues with UPS, FedEx, Amazon or the USPS.