<p>If you’re ordering something rather large and bulky, which would be a hassle to transport in the car for move-in, can you have it delivered directly to Paty right now, even though your student won’t be on campus till late August? Will the Paty people hold it for the incoming student for the next two months?</p>
<p>(Not referring to books mentioned in my other thread. Those are being delivered to our home.)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Last year I called Paty directly to find out when they would accept packages for the coming year, I believe they had me hold off until July. The number I have in my file for them is 205-348-7794.</p>
<p>I think Paty will hold a package for 30 days then it gets shipped back to the sender. I am in a pickle now as the package that arrived after we picked up son after the tornado was sent back before I could give instructions to have it forwarded to my home. Now I’m having difficulty finding it since Paty could give me no information (tracking numbers nor date returned) for the shipper or the merchant.</p>
<p>I’d be very careful about sending stuff to Paty. They do not treat the packages with care and they do not notify you as soon as the package shows up AND they tend to lose things. Somehow it also tends to be the important things that they lose!!!</p>
<p>While Paty will have much shorter lines, it has been my experience that they don’t process packages till the end of the day, which can be very annoying when waiting for a package. That said, they will have your package if you ship it so it will arrive before move-in day.</p>
<p>As a word of warning, the post office lines are very long for the first month of the semester, though they usually have packages ready for pickup by 8:30 am.</p>
<p>Paty does lose things, no doubt. They lost two packages last semester, one of which was a textbook. One package was eventually recovered although about a week after it was signed for.</p>
<p>If you are shipping to Paty put a tracker on the package.</p>
<p>If You are shipping from Amazon, track the package (online) and when Amazon says the package is delivered, send your student a text to pick up ASAP. The sooner the pickup, the better the chance to get the package. They are rather disorganized. Now, that has worked most of the time and I send a lot of packages.</p>
<p>You could also ship via the US Post Office, address package to the student’s P.O. Box Number and the package will be held behind the counter. I have done that as well. Track the package also.</p>
<p>I find that UPS is less expensive than the Post Office.</p>
<p>Also, larger packages do not get lost as often.</p>
<p>What do you guys suggest if I’m shipping a lot of things that I’ll need upon arrival in August – I don’t want to take a chance of them not arriving on time (things like bedding that I can’t quite do without), but don’t want to send them too early and risk things getting lost. Pretty disconcerting to hear that Paty is this unreliable…</p>
<p>I’m surprised by everyone else’s experience. I’ve sent numerous stuff to S at Paty (his preference - close to dorm) and have had no problems, he’s even been able to pick up at lunch on day arrived. Guess we should keep fingers crossed it continues. One thing about move-in we found was that post office was closed Sat. (day we arrived) & Sun. so bedding, towels… were not going to be available until Mon. Paty however, had hours for early and regular move-in weekends.</p>
<p>Paty is generally reliable and open on move-in weekend, but the service is really dependent on the students who happen to be working there that day. The post office is staffed by USPS employees who are are extremely friendly and professional. One especially good thing about the post office is since they are not UA employees, they are open during breaks and when UA closes for “snow.”</p>
<p>Another thing to be aware of. . . When ordering online and something says it is going to ship UPS, make sure it is regular UPS and not “UPS Mail Innovations” which is where UPS actually ships a package through the US Postal Service. If it goes UPS Mail Innovations it can only be delivered to a valid USPS address. We had this trouble when ordering a couple of things to be sent to D’s sorority house which, like Paty, is a valid UPS or Fed Ex address, but not a valid address for the Postal Service.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks, y’all. This is all very helpful and informative.</p>
<p>I wish DS had taken the trouble to get a P.O. Box during Bama Bound, but the lines were soooo long, we all were soooo exhausted and overwhelmed, and there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of free time anyway!</p>
<p>Momofonly1: Really good point about the addresses. There are different ways to address the packages whether they are being shipped to Paty or to the US Post Office. Also, some companies will not ship to a P.O. Box Number. When dealing with some online vendors it is not always clear which postal carrier they use, I always check with customer service as to their shipping methods. This will avoid packages being returned as undeliverable.</p>
<p>The UPS Mail Innovations is a hybrid of UPS and USPS. It’s a tricky one because it is through UPS so you think you are safe!</p>