I’m about to add a gate at the end of my driveway. I regularly get UPS/FedEx deliveries (think big SmartPak boxes!) and would prefer the delivery driver not open the gate to deliver to my door. Is there a simple solution to this situation? Extra big mailbox or some sort of package “house” by the front gate?
If you’re not worried about someone stealing from your box, I would use a large Rubbermaid container or one of those Stanley toolboxes with wheels. The Stanley box could be chained/tied to the gate post. Can the driver put a parcel between the boards of your fence? If so, the box can be inside the fence.
Cant they just throw the packages over the gate? If it’s raining, they will wrap the box in plastic to keep it dry. This is how I’ve always done it and everything has been fine 
Here, they call and let us know a package is at the gate and we go retrieve it.
If we are expecting a package, we leave the gate open and watch for them.
Then, we don’t get but a few packages a year.
Could you have SmartPack deliver thru the post office and get a box there for that?
That is what we do for smaller packages, we won’t buy smaller packages that they don’t deliver to the post office.
The post office will take rather large ones, like measuring sticks.
Ok – I have a tendency to overthink things! Package over the gate/through the fence boards should work fine. Did you need to tell the drivers to just put it over the gate or is that standard practice with a closed – but unlocked – gate? This gate will not have an opener or a call box.
As far as I know, FedEx and UPS will not go through a closed gate. We’re thinking about a driveway gate…if we do, we’ll have to put a deck box outside the gate.
Friends of mine (who I do evening yards for) with a driveway gate have the delivery folks drop the box over the gate - there’s a 4’ gate next to the big one, and that’s where the drivers drop stuff. (Only problem is that if it isn’t a BIG box, I never see it until I’m on my way back out!)
Someone posted here a while ago that they have a big storage box with a lock on it just outside their gate (I guess it’s secured to the fence somehow), and they leave it unlocked. Delivery folks are asked to put deliveries inside the box, and close the lock to keep things safe and protected from weather. I thought that was a great idea…
I’ll be putting a gate at the end of my driveway in a few weeks and mentioned it to my regular UPS driver. I told him he could leave the stuff by the gate but he said no, he would walk it down to the garage.
I’ve had Fed-X and UPS wrap the box in a bag and hang it over the gate. I usually have packages delivered to the house (house is not on the farm) or have them held at the package company desk for pick-up. If I lived on the farm I would expect them to put a code in the gate opener and come to the house.
Mine put the box in a plastic bag and tie it to the gate. Both Fed Ex and UPS do this. The mail lady just lays on her car horn if she needs anything!
Don’t rely on USPS though. When I had a place with a gate, UPS and Fedex put the boxes over the gate. The USPS would not only NOT leave them, but put them on immediately “ship back to sender” status. :mad::mad::mad::mad: Ooooooh really burned me. I’ve posted this before. I had them send back a stallion’s papers to the seller, my engagement ring that had been sent off for repair (I caught that one in time, but had to supply everything but my birth cert to get them to retrieve it from the outgoing mail pile), and a couple other things that had to be signed for to leave. But my Mom also lives with a gate, and her mail lady honks. I guess when it comes to rural mail, it depends on who you get.
I have had a gate at the end of my driveway for over 11 years. I also have a guard dog sign, so no one EVER comes inside the gate. UPS and Fedex always leave stuff just inside the gate in a plastic bag, even really heavy stuff. If I have something extra valuable coming, like one time I had a computer that I had ordered, I tracked the package and left a note on the gate that it was safe and please come to the door, they did. If it’s something I have to sign for, they beep, if I don’t hear then I have to go and pick it up at the post office. Also with the USPS, if it won’t fit in my mailbox then I have to go and pick it up, or again I leave a note in the mailbox and the mailman will set it inside the gate. I have never had any problems and it’s worth it to me to have the gate even if every once in awhile I have to run to the post office!
Dog house, with beware of dog sign. Seen this done a lot. You just have added into the permanent record for your addy that there really is not a dog, & the drivers on your route know to put it in the dog house.
How about a dog house inside the fence, and a wooden slide/ramp, one side in doghouse, other side propped (nailed) on top of fence. UPS puts package on slide, package slides into doghouse. Slide needs sides, doghouse needs padding to cushion incoming package. Doghouse provides protection from elements and slight privacy
Our yard is gated with a privacy fence. We’ve had some issues with delivery, as the gate is almost always closed- usually because there is at least one dog in the front yard. USPS will not throw/drop packages over the fence, which is actually preferable! UPS on the other hand will chuck anything over it… Grr. We’ve been lucky that the dogs have only discovered the packages twice now. Thankfully the rottweiler foster is the type to carry things and not destroy them, so only one slobbered up corner of cardboard there. The two GSD sisters on the other hand, are tazmanian devils when together. They got into a box of sees candies. Thankfully MrB heard the drama before they got through the many layers of packaging. Those lollipops aren’t cheap! Lol
USPS will leave a delivery slip for us to claim the package at the post office the next day. I haven’t had something delivered via UPS since the lollipop incident, but will have to figure something else out for them.
Our landlords have a similar setup as we do- lots of dogs, perimeter fenced. Their house is set farther from the road. They built a big wooden box, think nice tack box sized, but more square. It has a latch and a padlock. I don’t know if they keep the padlock on all the time, and the mail carrier has a key, but more than likely they just keep the padlock open on the box and the delivery person locks it closed after they put the package in. I’d love to have the same thing as they do, because a package isn’t really all that safe whether it’s left on the outside of the gate or inside!
I put our driveway gate starting at the back of the house - so the entire barn/pasture areas are fenced in and a loose horse can’t get out. That way - we can pull in/out every day without having gates open / close (think wear / tear!). All deliveries can still go to the main house without driver having to pass through a gate.
I have the regular size mailbox for letters and a large mailbox with FEDEX UPS on the front - they put the flag up when a delivery has been made.
The larger size mailbox is next to the gate, the ergular size is on the road…so to steal from the large mailbox they would need to pull into my driveway or stop their vehicle on the road.
FedEx, UPS, and the utility companies all have our entry code stored in their system. None have issues coming through the gates to make deliveries or get meter readings.
Our USPS will not deliver through gates, so we have to pick up packages at the post office.
INFORM THE COMPANY IN WRITING ABOUT YOUR GATE AND DELIVERY REQUEST
MY SECURITY GATE IS CLOSED ``` I DO NOT WANT TRUCK DRIVERS ZOOMING TO THE HOUSE WITH CATS AND TURKEYS AND DEER ROAMING AROUND … ESPECIALLY WHEN I AM BUSY RIDING OR DRIVING HORSES /PONIES.
SO THE UPS/ FEDX GUYS KNOW TO LEAVE PACKAGES HANGING ON THE GATE IN PLASTIC BAGS OR JUST INSIDE THE GATE ( LOWERED BY HAND ) THEY DO NOT ENTER THE GATE !
HAS WORKED FOR YEARS THIS WAY ``
If you can create a “package portal” in your gate, that would be awesome. Similar to the poster above who said to slant a dog house, you can create a little covered ramp that starts at the top of the gate (and maybe has a little flap cover to protect from the elements, or is angled at the top so it’s parallel to the ground) and can slide mail and/or packages down into the fenced in side. You wouldn’t even necessarily have to have it drop to ground level, and depending on how long it is (without being ridiculous), you wouldn’t even need a locking system.
If you were feeling handy, you could have the packages rest in a little table-box type thing that is at your waist height so you’re not bending over, and if you get snow or rain in your area you don’t have to worry about excess moisture (or critters).
Depending on why you want a gate installed, is it possible you can get a “people door” put in the gate? Kind of like how big barn doors that slide open also have a little people door in them so you don’t have to open the whole thing to get in and out sans horse. Anyway, if you can, you might just keep it padlocked shut with a simple padlock combo that you can set yourself. If you don’t need supertight security, you could make the numbers your address or something so the postman can easily remember it. And it can be included in “special instructions” for deliver. They open the people gate, set it down, close the people gate and relock.
