Delivery Instruction Ritual Has Entered Formal Review
Once delivery instruction ritual prevents one awkward moment, it must remain in force for the rest of the routine.
INCIDENT REPORT Subject: Delivery Instruction Ritual (DIR): Entry into Formal Review Report Period: Current through filing date
Summary of Incident
The delivery instruction ritual has entered formal review following the accumulation of sufficient incidents to warrant documentation. No single incident precipitated this review. The review is a response to the pattern.
The pattern: instructions are written for every order. The instructions have grown in length and specificity over the review period. The instructions are, on most deliveries, not followed in a way that can be confirmed or denied.
Instruction History
Initial instructions, circa early review period: "Please ring the bell, not knock."
Instructions, mid review period: "Please ring the bell. If no answer in 30 seconds, knock softly. The door is the second one on the left. Do not leave at the first door."
Current instructions: "Please ring the bell once and wait. Second door on the left from the elevator, not the first. If the elevator is busy, stairs are fine, second floor. Please do not leave with neighbor. If no answer after one minute, please call before leaving. Thank you."
The special instructions field is 200 characters. Approximately 190 of them are in use.
Finding on Effectiveness
The instructions are specific. The delivery person reads them. The outcome varies in a way the instructions do not address.
Two deliveries were left at the first door. Three deliveries involved a knock instead of a bell. One delivery was left with the neighbor despite the instruction. One delivery arrived with a call that preceded the bell by approximately four seconds, reversing the intended sequence.
Each of these incidents produced a revision to the instructions. None of the revisions addressed the actual cause of the incident, which is that the instructions are read at the building entrance and interpreted under time pressure by a person carrying multiple packages who may not have memorized the correct door.
The Sympathy
The reluctance here is professional. The instructions are clearly written. The person writing them is trying to help. The belief that more precise language will produce more precise compliance is a reasonable belief that is simply wrong in this operational context, and there is no gentle way to file that finding.
The ritual continues. This report will be appended to the record.