I like a chat with my human delivery agent

I don't want to talk to or even see my delivery person, but I do have stairs up to my house from the sidewalk, so that thing is as useless as a classic Dalek for reaching my front door.

As well as having to deal with stairs there is also rough ground, overgrown shrubbery, badly parked cars blocking access and kids bikes a other toys scattered on the path up to the door.

A chat? Round here you'll be lucky to find one that speaks enough English to understand "there should be 3 boxes, not 2".

If I rush to the door I can often shout "Thank you!" before they drive away. I respect the fact that they are short of time but would be happier if they actually had time for at least one short break during their shift.

You’re why delivery people don’t ring doorbells anymore ;-P

What ?

They've got more than a billion people and they can't find a thousand youngsters to deliver packages ?

Starship delivery robots in various towns and cities around the world continue to deliver top up groceries and have done for years now.

We call them "Prosecco robots" because of what we mainly use them for.

Grocery delivery robot numbers are increasing steadily round here, in the towns at least (doubt they'll ever reach this semi-rural backwater).

They do have their problems though, such as one sitting by a pedestrian crossing waiting for someone to come and press the button so it could cross! That could easily be resolved though.

Sure thing. Let it cross and may the fastest car claim it.

Round my area, Royal Mail have largely switched to electric vehicles. And what a difference to noise and, most especially, diesel exhaust - which can be very bad when they restart the engine multiple times even in our short road.

From that point of view, I'd very much appreciate one of these delivering rather than the diesel vehicles Amazon (and most others) use. But how would Amazon handle the sixty miles from their nearest depot to where I live? A local depot which employs people to transfer packages from vans or lorries to Scouts seems the only possibility. Which would require considerable numbers of transfer depots to cover even the urban areas of a country. With staff. And lots of Scouts so they can still deliver in a sensible time even at busy periods. And particularly so when they have to wait, possibly for many hours, for the customer to unload them.

So this seems feasible to use only in specific areas which match how they operate. No wonder Amazon are not expanding the project.

And I very much agree with those who prefer a brief chat with a human.

Having products in a country where dissent is not allowed helps a lot to avoid negative feedbacks.

== Bring us Dabbsy back! ==

I have never wanted an experience - just to have my parcel delivered with minimum fuss and intrusion into what I'm doing when it arrives (which, incidentally, is why I have a large letter box)..

I seriously wonder where the idea that everything has to be an "experience" came from. Most of the time it really means making simple activities complicated and annoying. But I suppose pissing off the customer is one way to gain attention (rather similar to what babies do to the same end).

a "unique delivery experience" usually involve cutting a hole in the bottom of the pizza box?

The reason for failure is obvious - they don't have an arm to launch parcels over the fence or stuff them in a nearby rubbish bin?

That said, most delivery people work damn hard for bugger all money and most do a good job. Shouldn't tar them all with the same brush.

“We are ending our field tests and reorienting the program. We are working with employees during this transition, matching them to open roles that best fit their experience and skills.”

What the heck is Amazon going to do with the 250 midgets who were inside those coolers?