I've had yet another courier fail - card left, despite me being at home and listening for a knock. SOB must have tiptoed up to the door to leave it in the jamb. From other posts on GZ, this is far from a unique occurrence. CourierPost this time - if I was inclined towards conspiracy theories, I would almost suspect they were doing it on purpose to make the ParcelPod thing more attractive [takes off tinfoil hat].

We've got a secure backyard - fully fenced at least 2 meters all around. Access is currently down the side of the house via a 2m gate that we currently have latched with a bolt. I thinking of replacing the bolt with an outdoor-rated digital combination lock. Do you think that providing the combination to the courier would result in them actually delivering the package to the back door?

There's not much of value in the back yard that isn't already otherwise secured, so I'm not worried about twits leaving the gate unlatched or wandering around or anything like that.

Some of the better e-commerce sites I use actually have an option for authority to leave (which I always do for the low value stuff), but it's not universal. I usually find the small stuff I could care less about results in cards to call, while relatively expensive stuff gets left at the front door. And at least twice thrown over the aforementioned 2m gate.

Any other good solutions for useless couriers? We're in Wellington, and we do seem to get a wide assortment of different drivers so having a word hasn't worked so far. Delivering to workplaces/other locations etc. isn't an option right now for a couple of reasons, but might become more practicable later.