Lars Pind

internet software, coaching, and entrepreneurship

Lars Pind - internet software, coaching, and entrepreneurship
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I so want to live in a doorman building

November 21, 2006 · 5 comments

Or a house, I guess, where the UPS guy can just dump stuff in front of the house. Though a 30” monitor would still cause me some anxiety to have sitting there the whole day.

In this day and age—you know, UPS and TNT and all the rest of them are great, but the fact that you have to be home between 9 and 5 is simply untenable. I don’t have an office. I go places, meet people, hop around. What is a guy to do?

A doorman building seems like the best option, if price wasn’t an issue. Oh, and the fact that they don’t exist in Copenhagen. But a doorman is like having a receptionist. Handy dandy.

But the price? Think about it—if you want 24-hour coverage, that’s going to be at least 4 full-time people to account for vacation and sick leave. That’s a lot of salary to pay. Bummer.

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5 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Alper // Nov 21, 2006 at 04:38 PM

    I work at an office some four days a week and that is the most ideal solution to have stuff delivered to. If you don't work at an office, having friends who work at offices or at home may be the next best thing. It may be bit of a logistic hassle but seems easier than trying to decipher UPS's notes and instructions when they can't make a delivery.

  • 2 Peter Marklund // Nov 22, 2006 at 09:12 AM

    I've had *huge* problems getting deliveries from TNT when ordering from Apple Store here in Sweden. A lot of it was because of them being uncoordinated and disorganized, but as you say, the fundamental problem is that you need to be available all the time during a full working day. They don't even guarantee that they'll call your phone so basically they need to be able to walk up to the receiver from the street. I think the whole approach is flawed. I would much rather pick up my packages at my local post delivery kiosk, that works like a charm when I get packages through normal mail. I also can't see why that approach would be more expensive. How can it be more expensive than all the hassle that I have today with deliveries?

  • 3 Lars Pind // Nov 22, 2006 at 09:24 AM

    You need to be at least two people at the address, or you can't make a dash out to get some food or go to the bathroom. Okay, maybe the bathroom if you can hear the door from there. I'm definitely going to try to get it delivered to my wife's office the next time, but then she'll have the hassle of getting it home on her bike, or will have to take a taxi home with it, which will effectively add to the cost of shipping. The post office experience is dreadful here in Denmark, though, as it mostly is in the US as well: Long waits, unfriendly staff, unfriendly opening hours, and then you have to lug it home from there. It's not an easy problem to solve. Get a real job in a real office and drive your car to work seems to be the logical answer, but that's so last century ;)

  • 4 Dan August // Nov 23, 2006 at 05:14 PM

    Danish Postal Service bring back deliveries, if you're not at home. You can than plan and schedule a pick up (within opening hours, off course). In addition they sometimes schedule deliveries for household addresses late in the evening when more people are home. I find that a nice service. I'm not aware whether UPS, TNT or the like offers those services.

  • 5 Peter Marklund // Aug 28, 2007 at 06:16 PM

    I suppose I doorman wouldn't do the job either, at least not with Apple Store in Sweden. According to UPS Apple is very strict about you having to sign the package in person... So you basically have to be glued to the door all day long to be sure to get your package, don't go to the bath room or you might miss it... Another great thing - it takes Apple 24 hours to change delivery address with UPS, which means there is a good chance UPS will try two days in a row to deliver to say your home address even if after the first try you communicate to Apple that you want to change address to say a work address. You can't change address directly with UPS mind you, you have to go via Apple, and Apple needs a whole day to communicate a new address to UPS apparently.