OPINION: You can make Christmas package deliveries smoother

If you need a break from election banter and political discourse, this column is for you. The holiday season is in full swing and Christmas Day is only two weeks off. We all know the reason for the season is not to pad the annual retail sales of businesses. However, rest assured that there’s still plenty of time for you to make those last-minute purchases and get them under the tree.

I’m all for buying locally. But, let’s face it: Our options have been drastically reduced in the past few years here in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. Many, including myself, have increasingly turned to online shopping for the convenience of locating desired items at a reasonable price with doorstep delivery.

In retirement, I have a part-time job delivering packages. I love the work for several reasons. Most everyone is happy to see me coming because I have the items they are expecting. I also like the fast pace and the feeling that I am a cog in an apparently thriving economy. It’s nice knowing that I am being helpful and productive. Jobs of this type are available to those willing to work. It’s not all a bed of roses though. All delivery jobs have difficulties and the hours can be long, especially during the holidays when package volume naturally increases. Also, at this time of year it gets dark earlier, which poses its own additional set of challenges.

Most people have heard or have made complaints about package deliveries at one time or another:

“Package tracking says ‘out for delivery’ but it wasn’t delivered.”

“The delivery was made to the wrong address.”

“I received notice that I have to go to the post office to get my package.”

No delivery system is infallible. There will be problems from time to time. Systems involve electronic manifests and GPS navigation, which can experience glitches or be outright incorrect. Delivery personnel must always remain vigilant, double-check addresses to confirm accuracy and make every effort to properly deliver each package. Humans make mistakes, especially after 10 or 12 hours on the job. Often during the holidays, delivery services bring in extra personnel from outside the immediate area to assist with increased volume. These extras do not always have the intimate knowledge of the delivery area that a local person might have, thus increasing the delivery time and potential for mistakes.

There are a few things individuals can do to help delivery personnel complete their jobs more efficiently. When ordering online, make sure the shipping address is completely correct. For example, in Lewiston many apartments are lettered A or B, etc., rather than numbered. We also have streets with letter designations, such as Eighth Street A or Eighth Street C, etc. If an address is xxxx Eighth Street C, I might waste 15 minutes on the wrong street trying to locate the address when all along it was actually “xxxx Eighth Street, Apt. C.

Please, if it is an apartment, use the abbreviation apt. or the number/hashtag symbol # in front of the letter when filling out your address on an order. If the package is bound for a business, include the business name in the address line. This increases driver safety on busy business streets because the deliverer is not trying to see small or nonexistent address numbers. It’s much easier to see the business name on a sign or window.

More importantly, have your address marked in a clearly visible location. Many homes and businesses have no visible address. Some are painted the same color as the building. Some are hidden behind trees, vehicles or other obstructions, and some are nonexistent. Also, many roadside mailboxes have no visible numbers because they have faded out, fallen off or never existed. This might not be a problem for your regular mail carrier, but it can be a big problem for a substitute mail carrier or your package delivery person. Many times a day, we have to become detectives trying to figure out an address. Addresses do not always follow a tidy pattern. This slows our delivery rate.

This problem is even worse in the dark. If possible, leave your porch light on or otherwise light up your address. Please go out to the street to see if your address numbers are visible and make the necessary adjustments. If you have an on-street mailbox, make sure the address is visible on the outside of the box. These small steps will make deliveries more efficient and accurate.

Here’s hoping all of your treasures arrive as expected.

Gee, of Lewiston, is a retired special education teacher.