Royal mail parcel dumped on doorstep

[styles]

But two pages have been expended saying awful the other couriers are as well as Royal Mail! Plus with better regulation Royal Mail could start to offer a better service rather than be in a race to the bottom

Some of the other couriers.

And even then it is regional.

And even then this entire post was created to highlight how badly Royal Mail have treated a customer to has made repeated complaints.

I have not once had a problem with DHL or UPS. I am happy to give them my money and be confident they will deliver me a good service, better than RM/Parcelforce have in delivering parcels, sometimes for more money and sometimes for less.

There is loads of capacity on the UK road and air networks and companies should be free to ply for business.

For some context, here is what Ofcom found last year about courier customer satisfaction, and Parcelforce and Royal Mail are in the middle, not the top. A quarter of people are dissatisfied with Royal Mail: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/post/deliv...firms-for-customer-satisfaction-revealed-2025

 

[35B]

But two pages have been expended saying awful the other couriers are as well as Royal Mail! Plus with better regulation Royal Mail could start to offer a better service rather than be in a race to the bottom

What does “better regulation” mean, and how will it be delivered?

The example that started this thread was about Royal Mail, which a) doesn’t allow what happened and b) is regulated. The issues still happened, and the company isn’t doing anything about it.

How will monopoly rights and regulation change that, when staff already refuse to do their job properly?

 

[AdamWW]

What does “better regulation” mean, and how will it be delivered?

The example that started this thread was about Royal Mail, which a) doesn’t allow what happened and b) is regulated. The issues still happened, and the company isn’t doing anything about it.

How will monopoly rights and regulation change that, when staff already refuse to do their job properly?

Perhaps because a monopoly would enable them to charge a lot more and thus reduce the pressure to cut corners.

I have not once had a problem with DHL or UPS. I am happy to give them my money and be confident they will deliver me a good service, better than RM/Parcelforce have in delivering parcels, sometimes for more money and sometimes for less.

As you say, it's regional. I have not have good experiences at all with DHL.

There is loads of capacity on the UK road and air networks and companies should be free to ply for business.

I wouldn't say the "loads of capacity" argument applies in all cases to local deliveries - though of course a few extra courier vans aren't going to make much different either way.

But in congested areas it would be more efficient from an overall point of view not have multiple vans all covering overlapping areas.

 

[35B]

Perhaps because a monopoly would enable them to charge a lot more and thus reduce the pressure to cut corners.

Possibly. Or maybe see it as an opportunity to make greater profits by holding costs down and take more income. Their history is not a good one - DPD had tracking features years before Royal Mail/Parcelforce got anywhere near them.

The parcels delivery market is not a natural monopoly - the existence of multiple suppliers is evidence of that.

Final mile letter delivery is more of a natural monopoly - and there are wholesale arrangements in place to allow other firms to pay Royal Mail to do the doorstep deliveries.

 

[AdamWW]

Possibly. Or maybe see it as an opportunity to make greater profits by holding costs down and take more income. Their history is not a good one - DPD had tracking features years before Royal Mail/Parcelforce got anywhere near them.

Indeed. But I'm not sure that high prices would go down that well even if they were used to provide a much better service.

The parcels delivery market is not a natural monopoly - the existence of multiple suppliers is evidence of that.

Final mile letter delivery is more of a natural monopoly - and there are wholesale arrangements in place to allow other firms to pay Royal Mail to do the doorstep deliveries.

I imagine that having a single long distance network wouldn't make much different in vehicles on the road at least until you get to the further flung parts of the country.

It might make it more feasible to use rail though.

 

[35B]

Indeed. But I'm not sure that high prices would go down that well even if they were used to provide a much better service.

They wouldn't - and don't. But the point is that in the absence of competition, prices will tend to rise because companies will price based on cost, and not be challenged over other cost drivers like efficiency. Regulation has a poor record in this area - consider the water industry, or the view of rail staff over some of ORR's determinations of how much can be spent.

I imagine that having a single long distance network wouldn't make much different in vehicles on the road at least until you get to the further flung parts of the country.

It might make it more feasible to use rail though.

The core costs of a large distribution network are depots, not transport between them. Parcels (and letter post) tend to fill vehicles before maxing out the weight limits (think why parcels vans could be passenger rated), and it's more efficient to process lots of little loads all the time rather than a small number of big loads.

The critical issue here is that Royal Mail have to deliver to more premises, but with a continuously shrinking volume of mail. And even the shift to parcels doesn't help that much - letters are much more profitable, if you can get the volumes.

 

[WesternLancer]

I can't comment on the other couriers, but I've worked for Royal Mail and even though I wasn't out delivering parcels, I had to sit through training on this. RM call it 'doorstepping', and it's not allowed. I watched countless training videos on why it's not allowed.

In reality, the likes of Amazon and Evri do allow it from their couriers and the public get used to it. Posties then feel empowered to do it themselves.

I think both sides are a bit extreme - never leaving it in a safe place if requested, nor leaving it on the doorstep after multiple requests not to buy the recipient.

I personally am happy for couriers to leave things outside, though they do tend to stash them rather than leave them on the doorstep, and if I'm getting anything of value delivered I change that to be something else like collect from a pickup point or deliver on a date/time I know I'll be home. DPD manage this but I suppose offering this choice, and syncing preferences down to courier PDAs in realtime etc costs money, which RM, Amazon, Evri don't want to get into.

Anyway, I would personally ask for your latest complaint to be escalated and point to the multiple complaints you've made and that it's still happening. RM can presumably add notes about specific addresses or something to communicate to posties. I've never actually been a postie but if they're handling parcels and they've got PDAs on them, I'd be surprised if there wasn't something they could do. But at the moment you're probably hitting the same local delivery manager each time and they just template reply to these things saying sorry

Yes. I reckon there is different practices by different posties or perhaps cultures at different delivery offices?

Our posties use the process you describe. Try to deliver and if not in take it back to sorting office. They seem to do this twice then leave a card.

They Never leave stuff on doorstep or in a ‘safe place’ of their definition of safety.

But the round has 2 or 3 regular posties and they know the area inside out. Helps create consistent quality of service and low staff turnover due to presumably decent pay / pensions and conditions also helps.

This experience is not replicated by some other couriers esp evri who don’t bother putting stuff through our letter box even if it would fit through! Walking the extra few meters to the letter box is obviously time their employer does not want to pay them for. I avoid anything to do with them whenever possible and would avoid a retailer that used evri if I was aware in advance.

If I’m buying second hand on e bay I try to specify vendor uses Royal Mail because the item I’ve bought, condition or price wise, might not be possible to replace like for like if it went missing.

 

[styles]

But the round has 2 or 3 regular posties and they know the area inside out. Helps create consistent quality of service and low staff turnover due to presumably decent pay / pensions and conditions also helps.

This experience is not replicated by some other couriers esp evri who don’t bother putting stuff through our letter box even if it would fit through! Walking the extra few meters to the letter box is obviously time their employer does not want to pay them for. I avoid anything to do with them whenever possible and would avoid a retailer that used evri if I was aware in advance.

If I’m buying second hand on e bay I try to specify vendor uses Royal Mail because the item I’ve bought, condition or price wise, might not be possible to replace like for like if it went missing.

Where I previously lived, the Evri courier was fantastic. He knew people by name, he knew your preferences, and for some people he even knew their work patterns and would take the parcel home and deliver it in the evening when he knew you were home. Again, I'm sure taking parcels home and redelivering later is against policy, but it worked.

Where I live now, Royal Mail are the only ones to provide the same staff member every day. So I know him and he knows my preferences, but Amazon, Evri, etc - no chance. Amazon seem to care the least but I suppose they're just large enough to take the bottom line hit when a parcel gets nicked, and it's mostly low-value stuff people are ordering anyway. Evri are probably the worst for us and they'll leave stuff in plain sight on the doorstep. We don't have a wall, hedge etc so you can see the parcel from near enough the other end of the street. We're fortunate enough to live in a 'nice neighbourhood' and don't get 'passing traffic' except people who live on the estate, so it's probably never going to be an issue, but the Evri couriers do make a pretty big assumption. What annoys me is actually that we have a video doorbell which they never seem to even attempt to ring. They'll very lightly tap the door then just abandon the parcel.

 

[WesternLancer]

Where I previously lived, the Evri courier was fantastic. He knew people by name, he knew your preferences, and for some people he even knew their work patterns and would take the parcel home and deliver it in the evening when he knew you were home. Again, I'm sure taking parcels home and redelivering later is against policy, but it worked.

Sounds like an individual going well over and above there.

I guess such quality of service ends up with someone like that getting themselves a job with a better organisation eventually.

Where I live now, Royal Mail are the only ones to provide the same staff member every day. So I know him and he knows my preferences, but Amazon, Evri, etc - no chance. Amazon seem to care the least but I suppose they're just large enough to take the bottom line hit when a parcel gets nicked, and it's mostly low-value stuff people are ordering anyway. Evri are probably the worst for us and they'll leave stuff in plain sight on the doorstep. We don't have a wall, hedge etc so you can see the parcel from near enough the other end of the street. We're fortunate enough to live in a 'nice neighbourhood' and don't get 'passing traffic' except people who live on the estate, so it's probably never going to be an issue, but the Evri couriers do make a pretty big assumption. What annoys me is actually that we have a video doorbell which they never seem to even attempt to ring. They'll very lightly tap the door then just abandon the parcel.

 

[Strathclyder]

If I’m buying second hand on e bay I try to specify vendor uses Royal Mail because the item I’ve bought, condition or price wise, might not be possible to replace like for like if it went missing.

This has happened to me in the past week, albeit RM was the courier in question and it wasn't stolen (though for all I know it has been by now since it was shown just stuffed/wedged halfway through the letterbox), just delivered to a completely different door/address despite me getting 2 emails (one from RM, the other from eBay) proclaiming it had been delivered.

Bought a new/sealed game for my Nintendo Switch (was between £45-£50 including shipping, so it wasn't dirt-cheap) and I always stay in the house when expecting deliveries. It wasn't the only package off eBay I was expecting on the day of delivery (the rest of which did arrive) plus I haven't been feeling 100% (bad cold) this week, thus it didn't immediately register that I hadn't received it until yesterday (3 days after the supposed drop-off date) when I went to play it and couldn't find it in the game pile. A momentary flash of panic that I had somehow thrown it out with the packaging later, I realized that something had gone wrong on RM's end and that I hadn't received it at all. I ruled out a errenous delivery to a neighbour pretty quickly, as if it had been delivered to one of our neighbours, I strongly suspect they would've knocked on the door with it that afternoon/evening or slid it through our box, as has happened before.

Sure enough, when I checked the tracking number on their site, the proof of delivery photo was of a totally different door/address in what appeared to be a completely different building - the tiles on the floor and the colour of the door were a dead giveaway; the 'close' in my building doesn't have blue doors for one. Besides which, we have a outdoor porch and front garden). This despite RM delivering at least two other packages to my front door that morning. Barring a tracking error being the cause (the cynic in me doubts that), this one is a classic, but hardly a surprising one given RM's determination to race to the bottom and beyond. I would've been annoyed, but by and large understanding if the package was taken back to the local sorting office and sent out again the following day if it was unable to be delivered on the promised date as has happened before, but nope, that's clearly asking too much of RM in it's current state.

Instead, an overworked & underpaid postie shoves it through a totally different door in a completely different building to meet a borderline impossible delivery quota, leaving me frustrated, without a game and out of pocket and a excellent seller on eBay in the lurch, but I got what I paid for I suppose. Have fired off a 'Item Not Recieved' complaint on eBay requesting a refund in light of all this, but seeing as this is a Bank Holiday in addition to it being a Sunday, I doubt I'll hear anything back before Tuesday and when I do, the fact that it was marked as delivered on the system, not helped by me not flagging the shipping error for nearly 3 days, will likely result in it not going anywhere with the refund request being refused. Just as well there were other copies of the game available on eBay and in anticipation of the complaint going nowhere, I have bought another, slightly more expensive copy of the same game and just have to cross everything that this doesn't happen again to it or with any of the other packages I'm expecting in the coming days. Not something I wanted to do, but all it takes is one screw-up of this nature for one to lose all faith and trust in a broken system that had somehow not backfired in my face like this until now.

 

[WesternLancer]

This has happened to me in the past week, albeit RM was the courier in question and it wasn't stolen (though for all I know it has been by now since it was shown just stuffed/wedged halfway through the letterbox), just delivered to a completely different door/address despite me getting 2 emails (one from RM, the other from eBay) proclaiming it had been delivered.

Bought a new/sealed game for my Nintendo Switch (was between £45-£50 including shipping, so it wasn't dirt-cheap) and I always stay in the house when expecting deliveries. It wasn't the only package off eBay I was expecting on the day of delivery (the rest of which did arrive) plus I haven't been feeling 100% (bad cold) this week, thus it didn't immediately register that I hadn't received it until yesterday (3 days after the supposed drop-off date) when I went to play it and couldn't find it in the game pile. A momentary flash of panic that I had somehow thrown it out with the packaging later, I realized that something had gone wrong on RM's end and that I hadn't received it at all. I ruled out a errenous delivery to a neighbour pretty quickly, as if it had been delivered to one of our neighbours, I strongly suspect they would've knocked on the door with it that afternoon/evening or slid it through our box, as has happened before.

Sure enough, when I checked the tracking number on their site, the proof of delivery photo was of a totally different door/address in what appeared to be a completely different building - the tiles on the floor and the colour of the door were a dead giveaway; the 'close' in my building doesn't have blue doors for one. Besides which, we have a outdoor porch and front garden). This despite RM delivering at least two other packages to my front door that morning. Barring a tracking error being the cause (the cynic in me doubts that), this one is a classic, but hardly a surprising one given RM's determination to race to the bottom and beyond. I would've been annoyed, but by and large understanding if the package was taken back to the local sorting office and sent out again the following day if it was unable to be delivered on the promised date as has happened before, but nope, that's clearly asking too much of RM in it's current state.

Instead, an overworked & underpaid postie shoves it through a totally different door in a completely different building to meet a borderline impossible delivery quota, leaving me frustrated, without a game and out of pocket and a excellent seller on eBay in the lurch, but I got what I paid for I suppose. Have fired off a 'Item Not Received' complaint on eBay requesting a refund in light of all this, but seeing as this is a Bank Holiday in addition to it being a Sunday, I doubt I'll hear anything back before Tuesday and when I do, the fact that it was marked as delivered on the system, not helped by me not flagging the shipping error for nearly 3 days, will likely result in it not going anywhere with the refund request being refused. Just as well there were other copies of the game available on eBay and in anticipation of the complaint going nowhere, I have bought another, slightly more expensive copy of the same game and just have to cross everything that this doesn't happen again to it or with any of the other packages I'm expecting in the coming days. Not something I wanted to do, but all it takes is one screw-up of this nature for one to lose all faith and trust in a broken system that had somehow not backfired in my face like this until now.

This scenario is really frustrating. It will be interesting to see how Royal Mail handle the complaint (if e-bay refund you I assume it's the vendor that is owed the compensation by Royal Mail).
You would think that mis-delivery is common enough for the 'computer says no' approach to be over ridden. And it's not unreasonable not to be able to turn your hand to flagging it for some days after delivery for any number of reasons.
Did you provide images of your correct door / hallway etc so that these could be compared with the images Royal Mail have of where the item was delivered, thus demonstrating the items was delivered to the wrong place?

On the odd occasion I have received post for the wrong address, if it's not immediately close enough for me to put through the correct letter box I make sure I put it back in a pillar box, but I know some people would just not bother doing anything with it - even if they didn't actively steal it.

 

[Strathclyder]

Did you provide images of your correct door / hallway etc so that these could be compared with the images Royal Mail have of where the item was delivered, thus demonstrating the items was delivered to the wrong place?

I flagged it through eBay themselves through their Customer Support (I did it directly from the item's delivery page, which didn't have an option to attach images for the purpose you outline), which will notify the seller who in turn should hopefully start prodding RM over what course of action, if any, can be taken in the coming days and if a refund of some kind can be sorted out. I did try to go through the RM site beforehand, but it kept sending me back to the same pages I had seen several times beforehand, so I just cut my losses there.

 

[joncombe]

Sometimes the delivery photo is accompanied by a map from, I assume, a GPS tracker. If there was one that might help track down where it was actually delivered too. Of course whether whoever got it still has it is another matter. To be honest I find Royal Mail the worst of the courier companies these days. They seem to be the slowest and least reliable and the most expensive. If I am not in it's always a lottery as to where a parcel will end up. The worst case is the delivery office, which only opens 1 hour a day!

 

[Strathclyder]

Sometimes the delivery photo is accompanied by a map from, I assume, a GPS tracker. If there was one that might help track down where it was actually delivered too. Of course whether whoever got it still has it is another matter. To be honest I find Royal Mail the worst of the courier companies these days. They seem to be the slowest and least reliable and the most expensive. If I am not in it's always a lottery as to where a parcel will end up. The worst case is the delivery office, which only opens 1 hour a day!

Predictably, the map option on the site only shows up after I see your post about it here, hasn't been there the last few times I've looked. Turns out it was delivered to a flat on the next street down from mine. I may go and enquire about it now, but as you say, whether or not they still have it is another matter altogether.

 

[WesternLancer]

Predictably, the map option on the site only shows up after you post about here, hasn't been there the last few times I've looked. Turns out it was delivered to a flat on the next street down from mine. I may go and enquire about it now, but as you say, whether or not they still have it is another matter altogether.

Definitely worth going and calling on the flat concerned. Leave a note for them in their postbox or under flat door too, in case you get no answer.

Many people happy to do the right thing so worth a try.

 

[Strathclyder]

Definitely worth going and calling on the flat concerned. Leave a note for them in their postbox or under flat door too, in case you get no answer.

Many people happy to do the right thing so worth a try.

I have done exactly that. The folks living there were in and still had the package. It had been opened, but the game and the protective bubble-wrap was still inside and hadn't been tampered with (the game was still sealed with the extras that came with it), so I overall was satisfied with how things turned out and grateful to those folks despite the delivery cock-up.

Now just to hope and cross everything that this doesn't happen to the packages I have sat waiting at the main sorting/distribution centre in Glasgow right now (if not for the Bank Holiday, they likely would've been sent out for delivery today). Don't like the fact that I'm now all paranoid about this, but it's not entirely without merit.

 

[WesternLancer]

I have done exactly that. The folks living there were in and still had the package. It had been opened, but the game and the protective bubble-wrap was still inside and hadn't been tampered with (the game was still sealed with the extras that came with it), so I overall was satisfied with how things turned out and grateful to those folks despite the delivery cock-up.

Now just to hope and cross everything that this doesn't happen to the packages I have sat waiting at the main sorting/distribution centre in Glasgow right now (if not for the Bank Holiday, they likely would've been sent out for delivery today). Don't like the fact that I'm now all paranoid about this, but it's not entirely without merit.

Good to hear you have obtained the stuff.

 

[Strathclyder]

Good to hear you have obtained the stuff.

Indeed, I was very grateful.

But now something else has cropped up when I went to check the status of another package I have ordered off eBay:



From Googling the highlighted text and quickly glancing at the Royal Mail sub-reddit, I shouldn't be too concerned about this and that the package will be making it's way through the system as normal. But given my experience of a cocked up delivery with RM in the past week, I'll be shooting a text off to the seller just in case. Not taking another chance on RM here.

 

[AdamWW]

Indeed, I was very grateful.

But now something else has cropped up when I went to check the status of another package I have ordered off eBay:

View attachment 204883

From Googling the highlighted text and quickly glancing at the Royal Mail sub-reddit, I shouldn't be too concerned about this and that the package will be making it's way through the system as normal. But given my experience of a cocked up delivery with RM in the past week, I'll be shooting a text off to the seller just in case. Not taking another chance on RM here.

Sounds as if they turned up to collect it and couldn't do so. Presumably they will try again.

 

[Strathclyder]

Sounds as if they turned up to collect it and couldn't do so. Presumably they will try again.

Have been in touch with the seller and they told me that it was picked up, but sometimes the items aren't scanned at point of pickup. It may start tracking as normal as it goes through the system. Will be keeping a close watch on it from tomorrow morning onwards either way.

 

[contrex]

I've had issues with Amazon recently not using delivery preferences if I'm not in, they dump it on the doorstep and don't even bother hiding it - like behind a bin.

I did have an issue with Royal Mail once a while back, they left the parcel on the pavement! Luckily I saw him do this so I could collect it. Some time later I received an official letter from Royal Mail asking if I had received the parcel, I'm guessing they were under investigation plus it was around Christmas time so they could have been a temp.

I now only buy Amazon items that can be delivered to a pick-up shop (my local Post Office, 5 minutes' walk, luckily). They also do eBay which is handy.

 

[Strathclyder]

Have been in touch with the seller and they told me that it was picked up, but sometimes the items aren't scanned at point of pickup. It may start tracking as normal as it goes through the system. Will be keeping a close watch on it from tomorrow morning onwards either way.

And lo and behold:

Should be in my hands by tomorrow.

 

[WesternLancer]

And lo and behold:
View attachment 204905
Should be in my hands by tomorrow.

I suspect the weak link is the 'final delivery' - ie if the person who does the round to your letter box got confused before they may repeat the same mistake again....
Instinct tell me this is where the risk lies

Which kind of tallies with points on the thread where eg for me Royal Mail deliverers are really good, Evri really poor - bit other contributors up thread have had opposite experiences.

 

[Strathclyder]

I suspect the weak link is the 'final delivery' - ie if the person who does the round to your letter box got confused before they may repeat the same mistake again....
Instinct tell me this is where the risk lies

Which kind of tallies with points on the thread where eg for me Royal Mail deliverers are really good, Evri really poor - bit other contributors up thread have had opposite experiences.

I suspect it was less about confusion - the postie doing the rounds in my part of Faifley has been a regular for a good few months now and our front door/garden is pretty distinctive - and more about it either being a tracking error or something of that nature, as it was marked as delivered twice in fairly quick succession. Plus the fact several other packages for me did arrive via RM that day. Though amusingly one of those is still showing as 'Out for Delivery' on both eBay and RM nearly 8 days later (this all happened last Wednesday). Hoping it doesn't happen again as he's generally been reliable.

 

[PeterC]

Good quality delivery really depends on having regular, motivated, staff who know the area and their customers.

My regular postie recognises me and has been know to stop me in the street to tell me that he has a packet for me.

That sort of service requires good management at the depot and low staff turnover.

 

[WesternLancer]

Good quality delivery really depends on having regular, motivated, staff who know the area and their customers.

My regular postie recognises me and has been know to stop me in the street to tell me that he has a packet for me.

That sort of service requires good management at the depot and low staff turnover.

My views exactly.
Also requires decent / fair remuneration and a package of benefits that taken together help create low staff turnover (a half decent pension scheme for example)

The race to the bottom low cost employment model is the enemy of this.

 

[Strathclyder]

Good quality delivery really depends on having regular, motivated, staff who know the area and their customers.

My regular postie recognises me and has been know to stop me in the street to tell me that he has a packet for me.

That sort of service requires good management at the depot and low staff turnover.

My views exactly.
Also requires decent / fair remuneration and a package of benefits that taken together help create low staff turnover (a half decent pension scheme for example)

The race to the bottom low cost employment model is the enemy of this.

Indeed, and Evri/Hermes are the embodiment of everything wrong with package delivery in this age of 'low-cost employment' rot.

Got a package from them that was due to arrive today (was 'on it's way to the courier' at about 6 this morning according to eBay after getting to the delivery centre last night, but apparently has been delayed; was flagged up as such at 9:41 this morning, but I only found out in the last half-hour). What are the chances it'll arrive within the next 72 hours? Given Evri's rock-bottom reputation, who's to say? Could be next week, next month or next year. And I'm not even gonna try putting a complaint in as all I'll get to talk to yet another sodding AI bot.

 

[AdamWW]

Indeed, and Evri/Hermes are the embodiment of everything wrong with package delivery in this age of 'low-cost employment' rot.

As has been said above, it really depends.

We used to have a really lovely Hermes lady and deliveries were never a problem.
Not any more, sadly.

 

[Strathclyder]

As has been said above, it really depends.

We used to have a really lovely Hermes lady and deliveries were never a problem.
Not any more, sadly.

Yeah it does, I don't doubt that. And I've clearly drawn the short straw here. Banging my head against the wall is bound to be more productive that expecting this to arrive anytime soon considering this has appeared on eBay:



'Delayed Due To Major Event' could mean just about anything. Meanwhile I'm left sitting here with no earthly clue when this is gonna arrive, that's if it will and with 66 quid tossed into the ether to show for it. Never using this courier company again if I can get away with it.

 

[Forty29]

Whenever l order something for delivery and see it's being delivered by Royal Mail l know it will never be left at the doorstep because if no one's in they take it back for redelivery, unless instruct them to leave in a safe place which I generally do.
Yesterday evening l was sat in my lounge when suddenly a package came flying through the fly netting across the kitchen door into said room. Looking outside the Amazon delivery driver was down the pathway between my and neighbours house so must have launched it from there.