Lost parcels, wrong porches and a dog bin drop-off have turned winter deliveries into a rural guessing game, as North Dorset villagers turn detective
For years, village Facebook pages debated which postie would be the last to surrender their shorts to winter. This December, the talk’s turned to something new – the thrilling neighbourhood game “Where’s My Parcel?”, We’ve all been there: you receive a text saying your parcel has been delivered to your porch … only to find it balancing precariously on the garden wall. Or the local Facebook page will start getting busy as it’s not actually YOUR porch where your parcel is languishing, and everyone starts trying to match front doors with the one in the photo sent by the courier. There’s even a request on NextDoor to start up a dedicated group for lost parcels as there seem to be so many.
‘Does anyone know where this ditch is? My parcel is somewhere in it…’
What is going on?
In Okeford Fitzpaine, a dog walker started finding packages in the dog waste bin – apparently a local courier had had enough of unmarked houses.
In Buckhorn Weston, the village WhatsApp group recently lit up. Local resident John Grant outlined what happened in what will be a familiar scenario to many: ‘There were 60 or 70 messages on the village group chat. The phones started to buzz – and it was all people looking for parcels. About seven people were affected, all on one day. The parcels were eventually found in a pile in the middle of the village – and still more were delivered to the wrong houses. We put together a list of all the incidents and contacted Evri.
‘Everyone always blows up and says they won’t use them again, but it’s not that straightforward.’ says John. ‘Getting through to someone was difficult, but two days later they came back with an apology. It turned out they had used a third party as holiday cover. Evri acted promptly on the complaint and removed those couriers from their business. They also told me they were implementing stricter oversight to make sure it didn’t happen again. It’s so difficult to get through to them, but when you do they are very helpful.’
A rural round
Evri is, of course, only one of several delivery companies operating in the area. Delivering parcels in the wilds of North Dorset is not easy for non-locals, given the state of the roads, lack of signage, and no street lighting when it gets dark. In addition there are un-gritted roads in winter and when you finally do get to the right house, no one is in to accept the delivery. An Evri spokesperson gave The BV an insight into the huge volume of parcels they deal with:
‘We’ll deliver over 900 million parcels in 2025 – around four million parcels a day during our busiest weeks.’
We might hear a steady stream of horror delivery stories, but Evri told The BV that their record was actually good. ‘Our “Consistently on-time” performance exceeds airlines and railways! We deliver more than 700,000 parcels each week just across Dorset: typically a courier has a regular patch of around a square mile, though this does vary, depending on geography.’
In the busy days running up to Christmas the volume of parcels will inevitably increase. Evri is just one company, and others will have similar volumes of post to deliver across the county. And it’s not all bad news – though social media threads full of frustration are common, there is also plenty of praise from those taking the time to mention their village’s fantastic delivery driver. There are even one or two kind folk across the Blackmore Vale who keep a flask of hot water and mugs in their porch so delivery drivers and post office workers can make a warm drink while rushing from village to village (and no, we’re not telling you where they are in case they get raided for their free coffees).
Above – These are all examples of ‘proof of delivery’ images sent: from a random letter box in Donhead St Mary to the blue door which was the ‘proof’ for at least five different parcels. There’s the ‘three white doors’ surprise – and of course, we had to include this Plain Red Square conundrum
More common, however, are those who continue to ask if anyone recognises a particular doorstep in Shaftesbury or a letterbox in Hazelbury Bryan …
You can help yourself
There are several recurring issues that delivery drivers find challenging. For example, newly-built estates – new residents will order items, but no one on the ground will know the street name when asked for directions, as they have not been set up by the post office for deliveries. Evri told us that the challenges are similar across the country, but there are practical steps customers can take to help ensure their parcel finds the right doorstep:
Make sure your house number is visible, and turn outside lights on if it’s dark when you’re expecting a parcel delivery.
Keep pets secure: while most couriers love dogs, some four-legged friends can be a bit too excited that your parcel has arrived.
Add a map pin via the Evri app – this is particularly helpful for remote locations where postcodes might not take a driver to the right place, or for addresses with multiple entrances.
Choose a safe place or divert your parcel if you’re not going to be in. You can nominate a neighbour, pick a safe place, or send it to a ParcelShop or Locker – all in the Evri app.
As online shopping increases, the volume of parcels sent by couriers will naturally increase. And while many of us have excellent and courteous delivery drivers, there will inevitably be issues getting some packages to the right place.
When you see the messages pile in on the local Facebook page, spare a thought for the courier on a tight schedule trying to find the right door in the dark. They’re working as hard as Santa – but without the sleigh.
