UPS Charges To Reroute Your Package If You Won’t Be Home

by joeheg

Over the past few years, we’ve gotten used to getting things delivered to our homes. While it was easy to accept packages when we were spending all of our time at home, that’s no longer the case. So it’s important to know how to reschedule a package if it’s due to be delivered when you’re not going to be at home.

Now that we’re leaving our homes more, maybe for days at a time, there’s a greater chance that deliveries are scheduled for when you’re not there. I previously wrote about how to delay or hold shipments from USPS, UPS, FedEx and Amazon

Since writing that post, UPS has changed its policies, and changing a scheduled delivery will now cost a significant amount.

Previously, anyone with a UPS My Choice account could reschedule deliveries or get them sent to a local UPS Store or pickup point for no charge. That’s no longer the case and if you want to re-route a scheduled delivery, you have to pay.

With a basic account, you can track deliveries and get a notification when they’re delivered. You’re also supposed to be able to tell the driver to leave a package with your neighbor. But what if you’d want to pick up the package at the UPS Store when you get home?

UPS lets you tell them that you’re not going to be home over a certain time period and where to deliver packages for you to pick up when you get home. At the bottom of the screen, there’s a place to enter your payment information.

a black text on a white background

Every package that UPS delivers to an alternate drop-off point while you’re away will cost $9.99.

Jeesh!

Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until UPS attempts to make a delivery and leaves one of those sticky notes on your door. You can input that bar-code number into the UPS website to tell them to hold the delivery. But if you’re not home, how can you get the number from the sticky note????

There is a way to not have to pay for rerouting each package. By upgrading to the UPS My Choice Premium package for $19.99 per year, you control how your packages get shipped.

a screenshot of a list of pricing

You can get packages delivered on another day, delivered to another address, or use a UPS Access Point location. You can also upgrade UPS SurePost packages so they don’t get handed off to the USPS.

If you’re frequently traveling and getting packages delivered to the house while you’re away, the price might be worth it. For me, I can’t see how it’s cost-effective for UPS to send drivers to houses where the people are not home to leave sticky notes on their front door instead of dropping off a package at its company stores.

I’m willing to pay the $9.99 for one shipment to see how the system works before forking over $20 per year for a service other carriers provide for free.

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14 comments

dm33 November 3, 2021 - 8:17 pm

The other option is to not use UPS.
It makes no sense that you can’t refuse a package on the UPS website, but they can go through the effort to deliver, and if you’ve left a note on the door telling them you refuse it, then they’ll return it.

Which doesn’t help if you don’t want criminals to know that you’re not at home.

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Daniel Shankster November 1, 2022 - 2:37 pm

Except they charge you twice to set up the $19.99 Premium then make it a royal pain to get the second charge removed. Phone numbers UPS give you only lead to more run around and no resolution. Quite the scam.

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hmcnally November 16, 2021 - 10:22 am

Thank you for confirming this new policy. During peak COVID times, it didn’t much matter as I was generally home to sign for things, but now our wine club shipments–alcohol, so they require an in-person signature–can’t simply be rerouted to our local UPS Store without paying a fee. I agree: how can sending a truck to my house multiple times (or they could just let me leave it at the UPS Depot–I’d pick it up there!) be balanced against the revenue generated by this idiotic new program? We will need to see if the vendors shipping signature-required items will use another shipper.

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joeheg November 16, 2021 - 11:21 pm

The $7.99 charge for forwarding a wine shipment to the UPS Store just hit my CC.

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Ray January 19, 2022 - 8:51 pm

I waited for the UPS driver literally all day but had to go out and didn’t want the package sitting out so paid via the app for it to be dropped off for pick up at the nearest UPS store. When I got home the package was on my door step and they still charged me. I guess the driver didn’t get the update but then they shouldn’t have taken my money given they had data where the package was dropped off.

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Dan May 1, 2022 - 7:54 pm

Like you I’m baffled that they would charge me for something that saves them time and money. I refuse to pay for something that benefits them as a business. I guess I’ll have to figure out if I can get to the facility, but I may intentionally wait until their final delivery attempt just to cost them more money.

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UPS Nomo May 18, 2022 - 10:53 pm

I just did that. I let the package be attempted delivery multiple times after seeing I had to pay $7.99 for them to hold it. I wasn’t in a rush so let them burn their fuel while it’s over $4/gallon.

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Michael T Boteler July 31, 2022 - 12:50 pm

Charging for it to be dropped off for pick up at the nearest UPS store, WOW. I will need to check who the vendor is using for shipping items going forward.

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joeheg July 31, 2022 - 6:50 pm

The problem is that you don’t often have a choice.

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Diana October 19, 2022 - 11:08 pm

I ordered a 1 TB iPhone 14 plus over a month ago, was informed it would be delivered Oct 20 ( I was given No Choice concerning delivery carrier/date/options). On Monday 17th I went to an appt on my day off work only to find a sticky note from UPS on front door that a Signature was required and they would re-attempt tomorrow. I had to work the next day. I called UPS, got someone that barely spoke English..she kept wanting $7.99 to even talk to me about any delivery information. If I wanted my new iPhone Monday evening, I’d have to drive 50 miles round trip and pay $7.99 and it May or May not have made it back to their main facility at the airport yet. There’s no way I could’ve gotten over there the next day bc I worked too far away. Tuesday, they left another sticky on the door. UPS left me another package but Not my iPhone…just a second sticky note and I signed it a left it on the door. It was still on the door when I got home Wednesday from work.
Monday afternoon, after trying and failing several times to set up a UPS acct ( they kept rejecting the UN and/or PW for n valid reason concerning their rules). I wound up calling APPLE and explaining that I shouldn’t have to chase my new phone ( almost $2,000) down by having to drive at least 50 miles round trip and Paying $8 more although the shipping was “ allegedly FREE from Apple”.
SO DISAPPOINTED AND FRUSTRATED. So, I don’t really know if Apple has redirected it to their site choice ( as promised) or if I’m expected to do a 55 mile round trip to the airport. I got an email from UPS but it only says “ there’s a problem with your shipping address” then almost a blurb that it’s at the airport storage but I couldn’t get that to show up twice. It wouldn’t allow me to redirect or chat etc.
I got an iPad Spring 22 luckily I was home. However, I’ve never had to pay $7.99 to talk about delivery options. Heck, THEY GAVE ME ZERO CHOICE CONCERNING DELIVERY TIME OR DATE AND THEN WANT $8 and drive 55 miles.
I hope UPS goes out of business if they keep holding peoples packages Hostage like this.

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JohnB November 19, 2022 - 1:15 pm

@Diana

You need to complain to Apple because they put the signature requirements on their shipments. Apple used to use FedEx Express for all their shipments. But they broke that shipping agreement because Apple stated “FedEx delivers too many packages late”. When they shipped with FedEx Express, most Apple products did not require a signature.

Everything with Apple is, “it’s our way or the highway”…

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Christian November 20, 2022 - 9:26 am

I don’t love it but I have to admit that at least I can derive some value from the annual rate.

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Bill February 17, 2023 - 12:01 pm

You now have to pay to have the package held at the UPS distribution center, not just a UPS store.

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MARTIN October 4, 2023 - 10:56 pm

UPS — Utterly Poor Service

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