While Amazon allows customers to submit delivery instructions with their order, it’s often not clear exactly how the process works.
For example, does everyone involved in the fulfillment process see the request? If not, who sees it—and when?
Now, an Amazon delivery driver has gone viral after sharing information about, and the do’s and the don’ts, of adding delivery instructions.
In a video with over 1.2 million views, TikTok user and Amazon delivery driver Elijah (@elijahhh471) details best practices for getting your Amazon order delivered the way you want it to be delivered.
@elijahhh471 AMAZON DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS #amazon #amazonfinds #amazonmusthaves #amazonflex #flex #amazonvirtualtryon #amazonprime ♬ original sound – Elijah 💎
First, Elijah notes that he does not see the delivery instruction until just before the delivery. This means that any delivery instruction saying something like “call me 15 minutes before you arrive” is impossible, as Elijah likely will not see it until he is right outside of the house.
“I’ll give you 30 seconds?” Elijah jokes.
Second, Elijah says that delivery instructions do not seem to impact when you will receive your order. Therefore, putting in instructions like “I need this ASAP” or “bring before 3 PM” are irrelevant, as the delivery driver will only see them when they’re already on the route.
Third, Elijah notes that drivers are required to deliver to the address on the package. Any additional addresses in delivery instructions will be ignored.
“Legally? No. Logically? No. No!” he exclaims.
Finally, Elijah explains that drivers do not follow consistent routes. That means that your delivery driver one day will likely not be your driver for another delivery—so any notes you leave for a specific driver will also be ignored. He further notes that Amazon orders are sometimes delivered by other companies like UPS, who may not be able to see order instructions.
So what are delivery instructions even for?
As Elijah puts it, “The entire point of the delivery instructions box is for you to give us the most important information about your address, any access codes, where to leave the package, safety risks.”
“Everything else—why do you do it?” he asks.
In the comments section, users revealed what they put in their delivery instructions.
“mine simply says ‘back porch please.’” wrote one user. “it gets left on my front step 90% of the time.”
“mine just says don’t walk in grass go up driveway or you will step in [dog poop],” added another.
“I had to specify in my delivery instructions to deliver to my address bc drivers kept losing my packages bc they delivered a different building,” claimed a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to Amazon and Elijah via email.
