If you are waiting for a package from the UPS, and are not patient to wait for it to be delivered to you, you may be wondering if you can go pick it up yourself before it gets delivered to you. And although you may be thinking that while it is more convenient for you, you may be doing the UPS a favor, in reality it is more trouble for them. In this article, we will be covering the cases in which picking up a package from the UPS is allowed, before it is actually delivered. 

First thing to consider, is that the UPS driver will hit the road at 8AM. Which means that if you have any chance at all of calling the UPS to have them keep your package from loading it on the truck, that would need to be done before 8AM. Up until 8AM, drivers will be waiting for all packages for the day to be received at the facility, both ground and air packages. 

If you request that they hold your package after 8AM, then that means that they will simply not deliver it to you, in order to take it back to the UPS facility. If however your call to keep the package took place earlier than 8AM, then the package would be pulled and held in order for it to be picked up once the customer counter would open up. The time for that varies a bit, so make sure you do your research online or try calling in. 

Getting Your Package On The Road

If you happen to be call in after the driver left the facility and do not want to wait until the driver completes his route that day so you can pick up the package in the evening, in some rare cases, you can request an on-road pickup of your package. Depending on who it is you reach, your request may be accepted or declined. Possible reasons why they would decline your request, are the security of the driver. 

Try and get along with the person that is on the phone with you and if you are speaking to the right person, you may be able to arrange that you pickup the package in this format. Another thing to consider, is that they may be able to have the driver drop off your package earlier to you than scheduled. 

Tracking Your Package With UPS MyChoice

A few years ago, the UPS debuted a new tracking mechanism that will allow you to track packages that were shipped via UPS Air Service, on a map in real time. The position of the delivery truck is updated once every three minutes. So what you could try and do, is find the location where the package is at and try and track the driver down. Of course, you may want to be a bit careful with this approach, as the driver would need to have some way to verify that you are the real owner of that package. Also, drivers are frequently on very tight deadlines, and every second could matter depending on the type of packages they are carrying. 

Finally, just because the tracking map is speaking of a package that is in a particular truck, does not actually mean that it really is there. For the most part it will be, but the way the packages are scanned is not based on whether they made it to the truck or not. Scanning happens earlier in the process, so there is a possibility that the package you are trying to get, is not in the delivery truck that is on the map. 

Picking Up The Package From A UPS Store

This is something that you will want to draw your attention to, especially if you are not familiar with the UPS. When you try and call the UPS to hold your package, you are not calling the UPS Store but rather the local facility that has your package. The UPS Store is independently owned by a small business owner and has nothing to do with package deliveries that you are expecting. 

If you belong to UPS-MyChoice, then you can opt in to have your packages routed to any UPS Access Point in your delivery zone. Access Points do not just include the UPS Store but many other pack & ship stores. In some cases, grocery stores, gas stations etc are also part of delivery zones like that. 

UPS Delivery Intercept

The UPS has an important feature called UPS Delivery Intercept, which will basically allow you to intercept the package delivery schedule, in the case where you need to make some change to a package before it is delivered. Below are some of the changes that UPS customers can make through the UPS Delivery Intercept system.

Getting A Package At A Virtual Address

If you want to ensure that your package is going to be delivered safely at a location where porch pirates cannot get to and where rain and other weather conditions cannot reach, then you may want to consider a virtual address. Virtual addresses are warehouse locations with on staff personnel and 24/7 security surveillance systems.

These mail processing facilities, authorized by the USPS, have tens of thousands of customers who rely on them for their mail. Any package that arrives in your name, will be placed in your secure mailbox and from there, you will get an image of it in your virtual mailbox.

Once you have seen the package that arrived for you online, you can decide to have it shipped to you with up to 80% off retail rates or you can even pick it up from the virtual address location yourself.

More & more people have been opting into virtual address solutions for mail and packages, for safety reasons, better pricing and an overall more streamlined process. No need to hunt down your UPS driver any longer; a virtual address will collect your package on your behalf.

US Global Mail ahs been the leader in virtual addresses since 1999. For more information and to get started for free, click here.