UC Group expert Hans Hulsinga found an angry note from a parcel delivery driver on his doormat. The note expressed frustration that no one had been home during a pre-communicated time slot to receive a package that was far too large. When Hulsinga posted the note on LinkedIn, he was shocked by the reactions. His post went viral. In this blog, he reflects on his experiences and highlights the lessons learned.
My wife had ordered 4 new dining chairs from an online furniture store. She hadn't been given a choice for a delivery date, but a few days later, we received a message from PostNL in the morning stating that the chairs would be delivered that afternoon between four and six. I was in the middle of a renovation and was home that afternoon, but at half past five, I really had to leave. When I returned, there was a note from a clearly very angry PostNL delivery driver. I pretty much understood what had happened. The poor man had probably first taken the chairs out of his van and placed them in front of the door, then rang the doorbell, assuming we would happily open it. The fact that this wasn't the case, and he had to load those large packages back into his van without success, apparently made something in him snap.
But the story isn't over yet, because now it was *my* turn to get to work. I now had to pick up our new chairs myself at the PostNL collection point near us. This is located in a Bruna store on a car-free street with hardly any parking spaces. I decided to double-park quickly. “Ah, there's the man with the large packages,” said the Bruna store employee. To prevent damage to the furniture, they were packed in large cardboard boxes, which took up an enormous amount of space in the store's already not-so-large storage area. A little later, it turned out they wouldn't fit in my car while still packaged, so I had to unpack them on the street first before I could load the chairs and the large amount of packaging material into my car.
This incident was so bizarre, I had to do something about it. In my indignation, I decided to post the anecdote, along with the delivery driver's note, on LinkedIn, hoping it would reach the right people at PostNL. The post went viral! Nearly a hundred thousand people read it, it was ‘liked’ and ‘shared,’ and – to my surprise – it received a lot of sharp commentary from many. Some people thought I was an idiot. They felt I shouldn't have ordered furniture from a webshop, that I shouldn't have aired my grievances on social media, and that I should have more respect for the hardworking parcel delivery drivers, who are already so exploited.
In hindsight, I have to agree with some of these critics. It's indeed not very classy to immediately publicize such an experience on social media, even if my main intention was to reach PostNL (who, by the way, still haven't responded). However, the accusation that you shouldn't order furniture and other large items online is, of course, utter nonsense. After all, if you buy these kinds of products in a regular store, they are often delivered to your home as well.
Home delivery of large items like furniture and white goods belongs in a dedicated network. I checked with the furniture store in question; one chair just barely fit within PostNL's specifications, but sending four large chairs through a network designed for small packages is, of course, asking for trouble. Webshops really need to pay more attention to this. Companies like Coolblue even choose to deliver many of their items themselves while simultaneously offering excellent service. What also went wrong is that the correct delivery options were not offered during checkout on the website.
But apart from that, PostNL also dropped the ball. Alarm bells should have gone off immediately when these four large chairs were processed. They should have been routed to a different network. In the last mile, everything revolves around service and communication. What would be very helpful is if, as the receiving party, you not only get a notification that your order will be delivered at a certain time but also have the option to change that time. I also would have liked the option to pick up my order somewhere other than that hard-to-reach Bruna. And finally, it's convenient to receive an SMS, for example, fifteen minutes before the driver arrives at your door, or to be able to see on an app where the driver is and how much longer it will take.
And then the two main characters: the angry delivery driver and the indignant customer. Of course, a delivery driver should never put such a note in someone's mailbox, no matter how frustrated they might be. Coincidence or not, PostNL announced shortly after this incident that they would stop leaving notes in mailboxes.
But I also have to admit my own fault. Of course, I should have made sure I was home during the time slot PostNL indicated, or otherwise, I should have contacted them directly. And in hindsight, I should never have posted this on social media. This is how we all learn something new every day, which is the beauty of e-commerce.
The above article was written by Hans Hulsinga, who held logistics and management roles at various leading companies throughout his career. He has been with UC Group since 2020, where he is part of the team of e-commerce experts. They pragmatically assist companies with issues related to omnichannel, warehousing, and logistics. Are you looking for help optimizing your last-mile process? Feel free to contact us.
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