Carrie12345 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I’ve grumbled before about delivery people, but I’ll recap. We get LOTS of deliveries. The majority go just fine but, sometimes, delivery people walk right through our backyard and up to our sliding glass door, which freaks out every human and dog in the house. Especially when evenings are dark. Our driveway is side-loading, so I do understand having to pause for a second, but the backyard is pretty clearly a backyard. Gazebo, garden, toys, pool, woodshed, fire pit… and, yk, a sliding glass door. We had a backyard fence built last week, and one delivery person walked right through the fence that was actively being erected by 3 workers! Yesterday, FedEx brought a package that needed a signature. I was fiddling around in the garage and thought dh was walking in, but it was FedEx sticking a notice on the door because they couldn’t get a signature. Based on all the walking I heard that I thought was dh, it seems he was contemplating opening the fence gate and decided against it. But he never went to the front door to ring the bell! Anyway, I’m trying to come up with wording for a laminated paper sign before ordering a custom proper sign. Everything sounds stupid to me. ”BACKYARD friends and family only Please leave packages at garage or use front door <——— for signature.” Alternate suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Back gate—do not enter. Beware of dogs front—deliveries at this door 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 (edited) Back gate: DELIVERIES TO FRONT DOOR ONLY. Thank you. (You can also add FRONT DOOR as a second address line for a lot of orders.) Edited July 3 by 73349 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 My Amazon account does say garage, but drivers don’t always look at the instructions. Mostly it’s from other carriers of random orders or company ordered stuff for dh. I really prefer garage drops b/c the big dog doesn’t try to hunt down the strangers from there. Now I’m realizing maybe I should put a remote doorbell on the garage to solve the signature issue! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I’d probably just keep it simple and have a sign that says “DELIVERIES” and an arrow pointing in the correct direction. Too many words and they’ll just ignore it, I suspect. So maybe the sign would go on your backyard gate?? Pointing to the direction of your front door. I’d probably give up on the garage delivery, and just go with front door bc I think the garage will get them too close to just going to your back door (if I’m picturing any of this accurately in my head lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 This is what we’re working with. Backyard to the right, front yard to the left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I’d probably put multiple red, capitalized signs pointing to front door as a temporary measure. As a long term measure, bringing more contrast to the front door might help. A different paint, one of those hang over rain covers or even a full on small porch might help. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 2 minutes ago, Katy said: I’d probably put multiple red, capitalized signs pointing to front door as a temporary measure. As a long term measure, bringing more contrast to the front door might help. A different paint, one of those hang over rain covers or even a full on small porch might help. The front door is bright red on a White House, with a decent sized front porch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Deliveries (arrow left) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 My suggestion is a clear sign that says Front door with an arrow pointing toward it. My boss recently added an electric gate to his property in the country. There are giant rock pillars on either side. His delivery instructions say ‘behind the rock pillars’. When they fail he has put a note on the rating page every time. It has only been a few months and it seems to be working. I think they get dinged for not following instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 My friend has a similar driveway to side of house set up as you and had the same problem. Delivery guys showing up at glass door scaring them to death. She put up a nice wooden sign that said deliveries please and an arrow pointing where they should go. She said it didn’t solve all of the problem but definitely cut down on people in the backyard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 12 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: Deliveries (arrow left) 9 minutes ago, Scarlett said: My suggestion is a clear sign that says Front door with an arrow pointing toward it. So, if I put an arrow on the gate without specific instructions, the first door someone would come upon would be the garage man door. Not that that’s a bad thing if I add a doorbell. I’m just saying it’s unlikely to get them to the front door if they already can’t recognize a backyard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 (edited) Without being there in person, it looks like flow to the house would naturally go to the right. Edited July 3 by Meriwether 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 1 minute ago, Carrie12345 said: So, if I put an arrow on the gate without specific instructions, the first door someone would come upon would be the garage man door. Not that that’s a bad thing if I add a doorbell. I’m just saying it’s unlikely to get them to the front door if they already can’t recognize a backyard. Can you put the sign with an arrow just to the right of the roll up garage door? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 BEWARE OF DOG! Dog is contained by electric fence. Dog has free range of backyard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 You could also put a big box outside with the sign "Please leave deliveries here." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 A "keep out" sign on the gate to the backyard and a couple of "delivery" signs pointing to where you do want them to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 1 hour ago, SKL said: You could also put a big box outside with the sign "Please leave deliveries here." Yep. Buy a plastic deck box for deliveries if you do this. If you go with the sign, I think it should be placed left of the garage so that it’s clear they need to go around the side of the house. Most delivery people are in a rush, so pick something convenient for everyone or things will just get left at your garage. I agree with others, it is completely unclear from the side view from the driveway how your house is oriented. People are probably just picking a path so that they can drop it somewhere and be on their way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 1 minute ago, prairiewindmomma said: Most delivery people are in a rush, so pick something convenient for everyone or things will just get left at your garage. I WANT things left at my garage, lol! I’m not arguing against that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 7 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said: I WANT things left at my garage, lol! I’m not arguing against that. Then I’d go the deck box route, with a “deliveries here” sign. I’d make a sign saying “front door” or “entrance” or “welcome!” with an arrow so people needing signatures know how to find the door. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I assume friends and family know they can go in the back. I'd work on your landscaping to make your front door more obvious - and welcoming so that delivery people will go that way, and less obvious towards the back/sliding door. Add a sign pointing to "the front door/entrance" if you need to. There should be an "instructions" section in your order for the delivery person. Incld. "USE THE FRONT DOOR"! . . . . I've never used that box, but I've had delivery people who make me think I should. I have a similar problem, partly because we're on a steep hill - and we have a NARROW path out to the street for our own convenience. It jags (with trees) so you really can't see the door from the street where the mailbox is. And the deck with a pavilion that is obviously set up like an outdoor living area. . . they walk through it right up to my kitchen door. Some have even thought this must be a duplex. All because some delivery people don't continue *down the hill* to the clearly visible, wide, private road for our six houses and turn into our driveway - right next to our front door. The one that I did complain about was the one who left my package on top of the 'mailbox house' . . . in their notes to amazon they said it was left in the "mailroom'. . . My street gets a fair amount of pedestrian traffic as it's part of a trail system. I absolutely called and complained about that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 13 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said: I'd work on your landscaping to make your front door more obvious - and welcoming so that delivery people will go that way, and less obvious towards the back/sliding door. I’m hoping to meet with some companies to propose front walk ideas, but I don’t know how high to get my hopes for creating something more obvious from the driveway. A sign just seems a lot clearer. Our property starts at a curve in the road, but we’re required to put our 911 house number sign at the driveway. I wonder if I’m allowed to put an unofficial house number sign before that, and it might cause drivers to look up and see this: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drama Llama Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Am I correct that that’s a door next to the garage? I would put a doorbell there and a sign visible from the drive the says deliveries here. I agree that the front of your house looks more like the front than the side does, but if I drove up I would automatically go to the right to try that door, and then I would automatically continue on in that direction, and I would never see the front. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 8 hours ago, Carrie12345 said: I WANT things left at my garage, lol! I’m not arguing against that. Oh I thought you wanted them to go to the front door. I agree a container for packages should work . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Btw your house is gorgeous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Instinctively, approaching from the driveway, I would go to the right from the driveway, too. I think the positioning of the garage with the lower roof line makes it look like the left side would be the back of the house and the right side would be the main entrance/front. Also, beautiful house! Your sign should say "Deliveries" with an arrow. And maybe another one with "Deliveries Here" at your designated spot. People will not read more than about 3 words. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 If you want packages at the garage, I would go with the deckbox, a sign saying "deliveries here", and a doorbell. But know that it won't help all the time. We have what I consider a super obvious set-up. Our garage is out at the road with the driveway next to it. At the back of the driveway is a gate into the backyard. There's a sign right next to the gate that says "Deliveries". Our "front door" is actually through the gate and around the back of the house. We have a "backdoor" that's on the opposite side of the house from the gate. To get to the backdoor drivers would have to go around the cars, behind the garage, along the back of the house, halfway up the side of the house and around a small corner from the laundry room to see the door. There is NO path going in that direction, no indication that there's anything around that side of the house. Yet it happens all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHP Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 On 7/3/2024 at 7:59 AM, prairiewindmomma said: Deliveries (arrow left) This. Keep it very simple. The more words the less chance it will be read. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 I assume there is a path from your driveway to the front door. To make it more obvious before doing landscaping - maybe place a big (big) planter with bright flowers and a LARGE stake sign saying "Welcome" where the path meets the driveway. Enough to get the attention of people walking up the driveway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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