Oh FFS, not another one!

Yes, Jalima our neighbours usually call to collect their parcels - I don't go delivering them for them . Once, though, we had a bulky parcel for a couple of days and I was on the point of knocking on the addressee's door to check that they were there. Then the fellow knocked on our door and asked if we had it. Apparently, they'd had a card through the door which told them, unhelpfully, that their parcel had been left at No. 40. They live at No. 40 . So they'd been up and down the road trying to find it (we are several doors away and their parcels don't usually find their way to our house!)
Heavens, you were lucky with your dinner service delivery! My DD has had parcels left in her wheely bin a couple of times, with no card through the door to tell her - she just came across them when she went to the bin.

And when I had a delivery of part of a dinner service when we were out, the delivery person threw it over our wall into the back (on to concrete!). Luckily it was well packed and nothing broken.

Funny you should start this thread Indinana - I said to DH just this morning that we should rename our house PO Box No 33

The neighbours do usually come and collect them because there is usually but not always a note pushed through their door.

Goodness knows what they do when we are away!

A somebody who also works from home - and who needs to concentrate on what they are doing instead of running up and down the stairs every five minutes to take in yet another parcel - I have had to put a complete stop to this, as it was starting to take up too much time.

Just because I am here does not mean that I have nothing better to do than act as an unofficial Post Office for the entire street and I can see nothing wrong with politely saying no. Companies do deliver to work/office addresses so there is no reason why these people cannot arrang their deliveries accordingly.

Where did I say it was a terrible burden? Oh well, I suppose that's one thing that is guaranteed - no matter what is posted on GN, there will always be some who are hostile, if not downright rude

The fact is, I don't really mind because I know how difficult it is to organise deliveries when you're working full-time. I always had things delivered to my work address, but I know not everyone can, especially if they have to carry something bulky home on a bus.
I do have lovely neighbours and they do appreciate me helping them, so I will always take things in for them. I was frustrated at having to come downstairs to open the door twice in quick succession to take in parcels for neighbours, that's all.
Sorry, folks. I am nice most of the time. Obviously, in order to please some people, I'll have to work at being nice all the time

As someone whose neighbours sometimes have to take in my parcels (for which I am enormously grateful btw) I would have assumed that collecting them when I knew they were at home (eg outside cleaning the car) was the best time to do it. Now the OP has said what a terrible burden it is to "turn the hose off" I'll make sure I ring their doorbell at 5am when I get home from my nightshift!

I work from home so have quite a lot of deliveries and pickups (currently waiting for FedEx as I type). The delivery people know where to leave parcels on the odd occasion I'm not home but one day I came back to find he'd put one box in the bin!! I don't really mind taking in my neighbours parcels if they're out but it's then having to go round myself to deliver them when they're back which is a bit annoying!

Vans with deliveries for the terrace of houses where I live have to stop in view of my kitchen window. If I see a driver returning to his van with a parcel, I open the window and offer to take it in. Some of them know me now, and ring the doorbell. The neighbours are always grateful and I am happy to do it. I well remember the problems of having to pick up things from the depot when I worked full time, even getting to the Post Office was inconvenient.

These days, for Ebay items there is often an option of picking up at Argos within the local Homebase store a couple of miles away. This has made life much easier for many as they have long opening hours.

As the terrace is set back from the road, behind landscaping, we all put our wheelie bins on the kerb side, but guess who takes them all back to their frontage, especially when it is windy? On alternate weeks it is 3 bins per property!

We have a shared car park and I am the only one willing to clear snow. Am I a mug, although I enjoy keeping busy?

Indinana You say your neighbours are all so nice and so grateful to you and there is one sure way to change all that and that is to refuse to take in any more parcels. I think you would really prefer to keep the friendliness going and you are clearly being a blessing to them all. If you are busy and it is inconvenient to stop what you are doing when they pop round then just ask them to come back in another 10 minutes when you are finished. You need to be the one to set the rules so you have to take charge and do that. We only get just so many gaskets to blow!

So they should be Indianna. Difficult - if it were the odd one or two I guess that just happens, but if there is a regular delivery - the wine - could you politely suggest to your neighbour that he has it delivered to his place of work? Lots of peopole seem to do this nowadays - and there is the click snd collect option for a local pick up point too. Perhaps you could say 'It was lucky we were in ... '

You are not being uneasonable - 'b****y check!' comes to mind.

The thing is, all our neighbours are so nice, and so grateful to us...