Deliveries and guests

Food that gets left in the lobby, couriers who never buzz, dog walkers, and everyone else who needs to get in while you are out.

Can you answer your apartment buzzer while you are travelling?
You can, because a buzz is an ordinary phone call. What it costs abroad, why a roommate should hear it too, and how to let a house sitter in while you are away.
4 min read
Where to put your buzzer code so drivers can get in, app by app
Where your buzzer code goes in Amazon.ca, Uber Eats, DoorDash, Instacart and store checkouts, the format drivers read fastest, and the code you never share.
7 min read
Your guest is in the lobby and the buzzer is not reaching you
A friend arrives late, presses your code and nothing happens upstairs. Set up the buzz code, the phone it rings and the text you send before the guest arrives.
6 min read
The Amazon driver could not get into my building
Amazon retries, which sounds like good news and is not. Why the second attempt fails the same way as the first, and what to change before the parcel goes back.
4 min read
Letting a cleaner into your building
A cleaner is often booked through a company, so whatever you hand over is held by the company and not the person. What that changes, and which arrangement ages best.
4 min read
The driver buzzed the wrong apartment
Sometimes the buzzer works perfectly and still fails, because the lobby directory sends the driver to a different unit. How to find out, and how to get it corrected.
4 min read
Getting a dog walker in when you are at work
A walker needs in at the same time every week, and that is the hour nobody is ever home. The four arrangements people use, and what each one really costs.
4 min read
How to give a delivery driver building access safely
The difference between letting somebody in and giving somebody access. One ends when the door closes, the other keeps working for everyone you never met.
4 min read
Grocery delivery and the apartment buzzer
Groceries come in a booked window with chilled items and several bags, and leave at my door still needs the shopper inside. Why the buzzer is the weak point.
4 min read
Your Toronto parcel room does not cover the buzzer
A parcel room takes boxes, but food, groceries and guests still need the buzzer. What a Toronto parcel room covers, where it stops, and how to stop missed orders.
4 min read
What to put in delivery instructions for an apartment
Most instructions are written for a reader who has time. Drivers do not. What gets read, what to leave out, and the one line worth spending the space on.
4 min read