Does this apply to university students living on campus?
Our front office has a hold on the package and will not let the students receive their delivered package until they process it - I've been waiting 3 days to get my delivered package.
I can't get beyond the concept that rent regulated tenants have more rights than market rate tenants. Already being subsidized by landlords and market rate tenants..how are they entitled to further special treatment? Curious! As far as package delivery, in my 274 unit building, USPS, FedEx, UPS all deliver to door - it works fine. Of course, we all own our units and therefore don't expect anyone else to take care of our needs.
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@Torioski it’s basically because when you have a stabilized rent apartment- the lease is basically a template written by the city gov that is the same for everybody (minus small details like rent cost things like that)
This is to protect landlords from using obscure ways to kick out or aggressively push the occupants out. Rent stabilized tenants are unfavorable to landlords because they can’t maximize profit off of peoples homes. Like if a neighborhood becomes extremely popular and they cannot raise rents to market value. It’s really the only way the city can protect these tenants. It’s unfortunate that the market operates like this but it’s good thay at least some renters have protection
I agree with another commenter. Amazon has neighborhood lockers to pick up your package. Or befriend another tenant in your building who is home during the day. Or get a P.O. box. Yes, I know the landlord is being a jerk, but what is going to make him stop being a jerk?
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for literally decades maybe a century or two manhattan low service apartment buildings and co-ops without doormen and other frills didn't offer package reception services and people managed. i believe you can always contract with a UPS delivery and reception store for such services. It may cost a few bucks and you'll have to decide if it is worth it. better yet get off your couch and go out and shop.
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@northfork investor That’s so nice of you to advise people including those with disabilities they should simply get out and shop rather than be able to receive packages at their home.
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Sounds like a pretty terrible place to live that only wants to collect rent and not provide anything beyond a modicum of service. Buildings have unattended entrances throughout the day; you lock the front door and only residents/authorized key holders get in. What is so hard?
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In Boston, many convenience stores (such as 7-11) will accept packages for a very small fee.
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I am so glad we don't live in such a place. Our building, a good sized one in a complex of similar buildings, in a Boston suburb, accepts packages, and the USPO deliverer marks each one with its flat number with a large marker, no matter which company delivered it, and arranges them in ascending numbers. We get up to 30 packages a day, and they are gone by late night. There is no concierge or anyone else in the entry area.
It sounds like Manhattan is failing.
(We moved back from Cape Town recently.)
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Moved out of the city a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier with my decision. Seriously, it's insane to pay thousands of dollars a month to live in a place that won't even allow you to receive mail. My old apartment building's recommendation was to send stuff to our work...yeah, it's really fun to schlep things for an hour one way through 2 different boroughs on the subway.
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@Beeze -
Packages are not "mail" unless they come from the USPS.
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@Joan P And that is, in part, the solution to this problem. Have all packeges delivered by the USPS; building/property management will more than likely agree to accomodate the deliveries.
@Beeze not to mention some employers don’t want you using their mail services. My old one talked about no longer permitting personal packages to be received there!
get a PO box. Unless theyve changed policies if the package is tpp big to fit in your box they'll accept it and put a slip in your box letting you know to come to the counter.
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My building accepts packages, and has an email notification when it is ready for pickup, but I still find myself occasionally using a convenient Amazon locker nearby. I think the Amazon locker concept is very good, but just needs to be more open source to other senders.
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In most buildings leaving any packages, boxes, large amounts of giant Poland Water bottles stacked up 8 deep outside a door in the hallway is a Fire Code violation. Not to mention food encourages rodents.
Landlords refusing acceptance should be treated as the same as blocking delivery of US Mail which is illegal.
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@Clive Kandel Federal Express and UPS are not part of the USPS so refusing those deliveries is not illegal.It's been my experience most packages come through those carriers with only smaller ones coming through the USPS.
In your first paragraph it seems you have issues with deliveries, i.e. violation of Fire Code ,but in your paragraph second you doesn't. What am I missing?
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I live in Jersey City and we have 24hr concierge. Our building was built in 2000 and we have a small storage room next to the concierge desk. However, I don't think builders could anticipate the growth of deliveries. Today, it's not unusual to have upwards of 75 packages a day and at Christmas time the concierges can barely be seen behind walls of packages.
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I avoid this problem by reducing my consumption and buying local whenever possible. I only go online to make a purchase when I can’t get the item I need locally.
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@Bryan if you do any online shopping (or get any packages at all), you don't actually "avoid this problem". The letter writer says that no packages are accepted, regardless of if it's something that you can get locally or not.
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@Lizbeth
I think he meant actually going to the physical store, buying and carrying home himself rather than using any type of a delivery service!
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@babysladkaya "I only go online to make a purchase when I can’t get the item I need locally" -- to me, that reads as doing his best to buy locally, but if something is unavailable in a nearby store, he orders it online. Therefore, he'd at least occasionally need packages to be delivered to him, which means he isn't avoiding the situation the letter writer is in--just encountering it less often.
It's not that complicated.
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Considering that people now order everything from live crickets to weapons delivered, I can understand this policy.
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I'm sure all the tenants feel the same way as you. Why not have everyone who agrees with you sign a petition and send it to the LL. As market rates tenants you're probably paying high rent. Tell the LL if he doesn't fix the situation of pkgs. everyone will start to move out. He'll do something quickly.
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Telling the LL you’re going to move out over a package issue in a city where housing is already tight will be laughed at. Trust me, they won’t care.
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Good time to find a person in the same building who stays at home during the day and offer him/her a compensation for receiving other people's packages.
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In my area, package delivery services will work with shippers to schedule delivery within a two-hour block (for some companies and the post office, four hours). For large items, the delivery person will call when he/she is in the area and ready to make the delivery to verify the recipient is at home. In general, if delivery is attempted but no one is available to receive it, the company leaves a note with a phone number and tracking number. If the recipient calls before the end of business that day, delivery can usually be rescheduled for the same day at a more precise time.
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@Tokyo Tony
That's adorable. You don't live in NYC, do you?
I've experienced:
--notices left claiming that delivery will be re-attempted, but it never is
--notices left when someone was actually home to receive the package
--no notice left, package at post office
--no notice left, package left outside the building (yes, on the sidewalk!)
--packages delivered to the wrong building
Where I live now, the super accepts packages and keeps them on shelves in a camera-monitored area. It only gets overcrowded around Christmas, usually.
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Amazon is often the vendor. Perhaps they could amend their ordering policy to specify a particular day for deliveries. Then the buyer could schedule deliveries for a day when he/she would be at home. But of course, then the buyer would have to go down to the lobby to get the package. Whole Foods has lockers for Amazon deliveries but then you'd have to go to Whole Foods to get your delivery.
But I really love ordering on line so I don't have to search six stores to find just what I want.
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@memosyne amazon just allowed this. You can have an "amazon day" that they'll use to deliver your packages.
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@memosyne
Amazon just announced this... you choose the day for your package(s) to be delivered. available for prime members. Its called AMAZON DAY and is in the prime membership settings
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One more reason why rent stabilization and rent control are important for more than keeping rents affordable - if you live in a "market rate" apartment you really have no rights. Same goes for coops - you are at the mercy of the board of directors.
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@Ken My five market-rate tenants have many, many rights - they are all written down in our leases. Fortunately, over the past 20 years that I've been a landlord in this small building downtown, I've not had any disagreements or had any questions arise about our lease agreements... probably because it's all written in the lease. (By the way, I'm one of the good landlords - I even have two tenants that have been here 17 years). It's always a good thing to actually read your lease before you sign it.
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That 24-hour lobby attendant is already there, so what's the landlord's issue? It's not rocket science to set up a system to handle packages, but there does have to be room in which to put all the packages.
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as someone who has had packages purloined from a previous address' lobby, i agree with your landlord requiring tenants to be at home to accept deliveries. if that is inconvenient, amazon, fedx, ups & the usps have facilities for holding your packages until you can pick them up. additionally, consider having packages sent to your work address.
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Likely coming via Fed Ex or UPS, so you probably will have to have packages held at one of their pick-up locations. Safer too.
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@Matthew
But in NYC so many people don't have cars, so that might be very difficult. A better solution: arrange with a neighboring business to accept packages for you.
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@Andrew Porter
I was assuming the packages would not be big enough to require a car.
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Would your employer allow personal deliveries at the workplace? I know some places in my community allow it, but, I don't live in New York.
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This is a very big problem for many NYC Apartment buildings. Today just about everyone orders online. These older buildings especailly those prewar buildings are scrambling for room for packages.
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Since some deliverers refuse to send to a Post Office box, you may have to utilize a package receiving store, obviously for a fee. Or, if your work allows it, you could receive small packages at work.
Or you could leave your windows open and wait for a drone to drop it in.
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@akamai: The Post Office now offers you a street address to use, which goes along with your p.o. box, so packages can be delivered directly to your post office branch and then picked up. I don't know if this service is available everywhere. It's relatively new.
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In my building we have an unwritten rule that you bring packages up for your neighbors on your floor. Enjoy your concierge!
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if you work in an office have your packages delivered there.
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@David: And drag them home by subway or bus. Or, if you have to take a taxi, that likely cost you whatever money you saved ordering online.
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@David
Many offices do not allow that, and excessive use of this might even get you reported to HR because someone will surely complain that you are utilizing corporate resources for personal use. Have seen it happen.
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@David We are no longer allowed to have personal packages sent to our office for security reasons.
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Have the package addressed and delivered to your workplace and take it home with you.
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@RLS as the person at my workplace who signs for, and is responsible for, WORK packages, do not make me responsible for your personal packages as well. A few Christmases ago, a handful of workers decided to have their Amazon Christmas shopping delivered here at the office, where we do not have the space (or the time) to handle those packages. Guess who got the blame when a package went "missing"? Turns out it was delivered to another company on another floor. I am not your concierge (unless you want to tip me at the holidays as well).
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@RLS: I'm with Kate Beckett on this one.
A former employer of mine finally has to tell employees that they could no longer have packages delivered to the work place as the mail room personnel were spending too much time on the handling of those personal items.
It was fine until some employees with very large families took advantage and had all of their holiday shopping packages sent to the company. I believe one person alone had at least 50 items sent to the work place that season.
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In a smaller building there may not be space for storage and adding additional staff is expensive. And following fire code you can’t just leave many boxes in hallways even if theft weren’t a concern. In our small building theft has been an issue and no one wants their property to show up as high crime on searches. Your landlord might be willing to repurpose a basement storage area if tenants were willing to pay for the storage and such a space even exists. In our small building there simply isn’t any fire code compliant storage area.
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The rise of package deliveries has produced a rise in package thefts. I suspect the landlord does not want to be exposed to liability if something disappears from the lobby or hallway. If you did not have a lobby attendant, perhaps the liability fear would not be an issue.
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Over twenty years ago I had a package stolen from the area where our super kept everything that was delivered.
It was my 6-pack of different jams from the Vermont Country Store. Was I ever miffed.
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@B.
Yum Yum. They were tasty!
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Only a scoundrel would steal another man’s jams
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