UPS vs My Driveway

I like a company that keeps track of your orders.  When I had bookmarks made for my new Barringer's Pass series, Earthly Charms told me when it shipped - Monday - and when it would be delivered - today.  UPS seemed to be running late, as it hadn't arrived by late afternoon.  Then I got an email from the company - did I receive my bookmarks?  UPS said they couldn't get all the way up my driveway and left it by a tree half way to the house. They wondered if perhaps deep snow made the driveway impassable.

I hopped in the truck to check it out - sure enough, there were two parcels wrapped in plastic and propped up by a tree.  The other package was the edits from NY on my next book.  If it really had been snowing, I might never have found them.

In fifteen years of living here, this is the first time a delivery didn't make it to the house.  This is the treacherous driveway he couldn't handle.  The package is at the base of the tree on the right.

A previous UPS driver had told me that company policy says they're supposed to park on the road and walk up to the house.  Obviously, if he did that in my neighborhood where most houses are far off the road, he'd never get done.  But that was the rule - walk it up to the house. 

I went to UPS.com and used every character permitted to me to explain my dissatisfaction with their service.  They're supposed to answer within twenty-four hours.