The holiday shopping season is upon us, and, like many of you, I'll be spending a lot of it online. But I am one of the millions of New Yorkers who lives in a building without a doorman. So receiving packages requires some planning, especially since previous experiences have left me a little traumatized.
In my last doorman-less building in the West Village, I once ordered a landline phone that was delivered to the lobby in a box printed with the phone company's name. By the time I got home, the package was gone. (Did someone think there was a cell phone inside? If so, the joke's on them.). Neighbors often posted signs about missing packages too.
Since then I take as few chances as possible. In my current pad in Hamilton Heights, if something is being delivered by UPS, I find a UPS Access Point–like the friendly Best Graphics Press near me on Amsterdam Avenue–and have my package sent there.
But there is one problem I have yet to solve: shopping on Amazon. Yes, I can have my purchases sent to an Amazon Locker, the company's self-service delivery kiosks typically located inside city grocery stores or gyms. But right now the closest one is more than a mile away. So it's about a 20 to 25 minute walk, or I have to get on the bus. (In comparison, my closest locker in the West Village was a six-minute walk from my apartment.)
Amazon is a behemoth online retailer that aims to have the best prices and the speediest delivery. Now it just has to get its act together in Upper Manhattan (and presumably other parts of underserved New York), where many buildings don't have doormen.
Amazon, if you can hear me, please get more of your lockers up here stat!
