Re: Emergency Water Turn-Off?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"BruceR" <brNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:HdRge.9160$887.1823@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Robert,  How about just using something like the DoorbellFon product to
> ring all the phones in the house when the doorbell is pressed?

That was the fatal flaw in my last attempt to solve this problem.  I assumed
they would *all* press the doorbell.  Not so.  I'm beginning to think that
some of them are "Ghost Dogs" and are able to slip past PIRs like Ninja
assassins.  As I become more and more dependent on delivery services, it
would be nice to have as much advance "prep" time as I can  when someone's
coming.  After a lost "indirect" delivery I'm also trying to keep unattended
package exposure to a minimum without having to resort to a drop-box.

> Then you can pick up any phone in the house and tell the
> driver you're home and on the way to the door.  Another
> thing you can do is sign a form that the FedEx and UPS
> drivers have that authorize them to leave packages in
> a predetermined place if you're not home.

Well, FedEx virtually forced a release on me after the indirect delivery.
In investigating why it was apparently better business for them to give my
package to strangers I found an incredible series of scandals with FedEx and
their attempt to sell their routes off to drives as independent contractors.
They reinvented the company store in one feld swoop.

The drivers were allegedly given so many packages to deliver in a day, they
couldn't stop more than 20 seconds at each hop.  Many drivers were barely
hanging on: they had to buy the trucks, paint them, fuel them, maintain
them, take whatever route and load FedEx wanted them to take with penalty
clauses that caused many to throw in the towel.  To try to get an edge, the
drivers doubled up deliveries, to the point that if your lights were out or
they somehow didn't think you were home, or they thought they could get away
with it, they wouldn't even MAKE the stop and just give your package to the
next stop on their route.  It makes sense from their point of view and the
way the structure was set up.  Just Google FedEx Ground and independent
contractor lawsuit for the details.

Anyway, I wandered.  I need some pretty good AI to tell me when a package is
about to be delivered and that a package is sitting on the porch, or between
my front and screen door.  We're having a local crime wave. <sigh>  That's
in addition to stuff that arrives when I am not expecting it (backorders are
real problem that way, and I had to drop one vendor who sent them without
any email notification).

> Some high value items still need a signature but everything
> else will be left without a signature. I put in a package drop
> door for them to leave stuf and that's been working great for
> me over the last few years. I also have a sensor on the package
> door that causes a chime to sound in the house and the
> Stargate to call my cellphone.

That's a good idea.  Do the drivers use it religiously?  Do you have much
turnover in drivers?   How do you get it to pass spouse approval.  I was not
warmly received the last time it was suggested.

--
Bobby G.