The 'Christmas deliveries that never arrived' conspiracy theory

This Christmas, snow has crippled the UK and snowstorms have killed in the US. With widespread disruption and travel chaos all over our respected countries, the postal delivery system has been affected also. Deliveries have been late and some haven't turned up at all. Some never do, and there's something not right about this.

The one thing that seems to align the US and the UK is the similar postal system. While you have the US Postal System, we have the not-so-royal Royal Mail; both state run (to some extent) postal systems which act as the main backbone for postal deliveries.

Yet private businesses such as UPS, City Link, DHL and FedEx along with many others provide delivery services also. Yet none of these delivery services are exempt from this conspiracy which seems to be quietly murmuring in the wind yet has never really been discussed before.

How many times have you been in at home waiting for a parcel, then half way through the day you discover a note from the delivery company saying, "sorry you weren't in" and asking you to arrange another delivery slot?

I'll give you two examples from my own and my family's perspective this Christmas:

• A Royal Mail delivery driver turned up, got out of the van and walked up to the door with no package in hand, posted two of those "sorry you weren't in" slips, one dated that day and the other dated the day before, then walked off and drove off. Why?
• I paid £15 ($23) for next day delivery with City Link. I waited all day and nothing came. The next day the website said it would arrive that day; the day later, the website still said it would arrive that day, now yesterday. It took eight days to arrive and only because I rang up the depot and offered £50 to drop it off within the hour. Why?

For the life of me, I cannot work out why they do this. I can understand maybe something will be late due to adverse weather conditions, but why walk up to the door and not post the parcel which is in their van anyway, only to turn up the next day and deliver it then?

I suspect a conspiracy theory is afoot, and I am determined to find out why. It's now to the point where I've personally blacklisted delivery companies like FedEx and City Link because they're so awful, and won't purchase something from that supplier if they use their services.

Have you had delivery delays this Christmas? Offer any ideas as to why delivery drivers leave notes through your door without even knocking? Leave a comment.