I know; but I was surprised about implied lack of ubiquity of the kind of lockers that are massively deployed where I live.

They're ubiquitous, but few prefer them over the convenience of delivery to the doorstep. Buyers are never responsible for missing packages so there's little incentive to use lockers unless you're buying a secret gift or live in a very sketchy neighborhood or your home is far enough from the warehouses that same-day delivery is only available at the locker

I was going to counter it, but I guess same-day delivery is what makes this different from my experience. As a buyer, I'm incentivized to not miss packages, because I've already waited between 2 to 7 days for it, and I don't fancy doubling that time over a delivery dispute. But if my packages were all same-day delivered, I suppose I would give less of a damn.

Well not all of them, but I'd say half my packages are delivered same-day in the bay area and most of the rest are 1 day. It depends on your shopping habits and what products are popular in your area. "essentials" like cables, snacks, batteries, hot sauce, etc are always same-day while large items like microscopes can take 2 days

Regarding missed packages, are you talking about stolen packages? I've had a few cases where delivery was one day late and one time I got the wrong order (but got to keep the free groceries along with a full refund for my actual order) but I've never had a package just disappear altogether. Even Aliexpress orders that take 2-4 weeks from China eventually show up.

By missing here I meant missing the delivery, and having the package returned to sender, and/or stashed at the logistics center somewhere in the ass-end of a gravel road far out of town.

I've had a single-digit number of packages never delivered, most of them years ago, from Aliexpress (which, at least back then, had a very buyer-favoring dispute process, so I would get my money back with three clicks or so).

Wait you have to be home for every delivery? How would someone with an on-site day job receive packages?

In the US all carriers drop packages at door (or in the building's locker if you live in an apartment complex). Some packages need to be signed (alcohol, nicotine, gun ammo, etc) but the vast majority of deliveries involve zero human interaction

> Wait you have to be home for every delivery? How would someone with an on-site day job receive packages?

Sort of. Note that I'm a city dweller, living in a flat in an apartment block.

This is a real problem; classical solutions involve having another household member receive the parcel, asking the delivery person to deliver to a neighbor who you know is OK with it (since I started working remotely, I frequently am that neighbor), having them drop the package in front of your door (undesirable, but works in case where there's an extra door between your flat and the staircase), or putting your place of work as delivery address (if your company is happy about it; some are not). Dedicated "package send/receive" stores became a thing, then started disappearing as grocery store chains became package drop points. And then came the parcel lockers.

I imagine this problem was the primary driver of mass, enthusiastic adoption of parcel lockers - for the last decade, I've had at least one within 5 minutes of home, and this let me pick the parcel up at my leisure.

These days, most packages we order go through lockers; the ones are don't are usually medical or plain heavy (10-20kg worth of cat litter, soft drinks, etc.). This works because I work remotely, and my wife is yet to return to work after post-partum period.

Huh, that's fascinating and bizarre

If a parcel I ordered to my house gets sent to a pickup point, there’s an extremely good chance that the sender will be taking that parcel back and I’ll do without or order another one.

Only if I really needed that specific thing pretty badly today would I spend a few bucks and 15 minutes to drive over to come get it.

I ordered some physical thing, not that thing and a quest.

> They're ubiquitous, but few prefer them over the convenience of delivery to the doorstep. Buyers are never responsible for missing packages so there's little incentive to use lockers unless you're buying a secret gift or live in a very sketchy neighborhood or your home is so far from the warehouses that same-day delivery is only available at the locker

Then why so much effort is needed to stop package theft to the point of giving access to your house to strangers? Apparently getting package on your doorstep is not as convenient as you would like others to believe. Using such lockers is convenient and secure, giving package to recipient hands is secure but not convenient, leaving package at doorstep* is neither.

*or any other place convenient for whomever is delivering it

I gave several reasons why someone would want garage delivery. Services like walmart InHome are fairly common in the US. Consumers are willing to pay extra for the service and retailers like not having to refund stolen packages in sketchy neighborhoods