News ‘Unattended Delivery’ to be considered default option for parcels

thomas · 14 Jul 2025

I guess this only works in Japan: The transport ministry is considering making "unattended delivery" the default option for home parcel services, to cut down on redelivery attempts and reduce the strain on the country's dwindling number of delivery drivers. Under the proposed revision to the ministry's "general conditions of the standard transportation contract," traditional face-to-face delivery would become an optional service, available only for an added fee. The ministry plans to propose formal changes by the end of the year.

Unattended—or contactless—delivery, often referred to as package drop service, involves leaving parcels in a designated spot, such as at the doorstep or in a delivery locker, without directly handing them to the recipient. When unattended delivery isn't an option and the recipient isn't home, delivery workers must hold the parcel and attempt redelivery later, adding to their workload.

Parcel delivery is especially problematic in high-rise apartments. The situation described below is quite typical and, coincidentally, not far from where we live:

Between 300 and 400 home delivery parcels arrive every day at a high-rise apartment building near Musashi-Kosugi Station in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. The building with around 500 units has 48 delivery lockers, which are often filled to capacity. Some delivery agents have forced parcels into mailboxes at the residents' homes when no locker space is available. Delivery work at high-rise apartments is an ordeal for drivers. "I usually deliver 20 parcels an hour, but it's quite common (at high-rises) for me to deliver only three per hour," said a driver in his 50s, who has worked with a major transport company for more than 30 years. "High-rise apartments are actually an 'inferno.'" The man said deliverers at typical high-rise apartments are not allowed to use platform trucks in elevators or entrance halls that are reserved for residents. Instead, they use freight elevators commonly used by cleaning workers. It sometimes takes him 30 minutes to deliver a parcel after pressing the recipient's intercom button at the building entrance. The man said he feels disheartened when a resident complains that he is taking too much time to arrive.

‘Unattended delivery’ mulled as standard for parcel options | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

mdchachi · 14 Jul 2025

Almost all deliveries in the U.S. are unattended. If something gets stolen typically the end customer doesn't have to pay, they just report it as never getting delivered. We've never had anything stolen but I know it's a problem in some areas. So much so that Mark Rober made a whole series of popular videos on the topic.

Grandpa Frank · 14 Jul 2025

Here they always take a cell phone picture of the package on the porch to show they delivered it.

thomas · 14 Jul 2025

Grandpa Frank said:
Here they always take a cell phone picture of the package on the porch to show they delivered it.

That's what Amazon Japan does as well. You can also choose where they're supposed to drop it off (mailbox, front porch, lockers, etc.).

mdchachi · 14 Jul 2025

Grandpa Frank said:
Here they always take a cell phone picture of the package on the porch to show they delivered it.

I almost never see complaints about theft around here. But I see people in the neighborhood groups often posting pictures of their package delivered to somebody else's porch and asking if anybody recognizes it so they can go find it. Or a package got misdelivered to their house and they ask for help finding the person it goes to.

News ‘Unattended Delivery’ to be considered default option for parcels

thomas

Unswerving cyclist

mdchachi

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Grandpa Frank

Sempai

thomas

Unswerving cyclist

mdchachi

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