My packages keep going to neighbors even when I'm home — is this normal and how do I stop it?

Finding a note about a parcel handed to a neighbour, after a day spent working at home within earshot of the door, is a common early irritation and often gets mistaken for a fault in the address or the account. In flats with a shared entrance it repeats rather than happening once.

Answers

Completely normal — Dutch carriers default to leaving a parcel with a neighbor (buurlevering) if nobody answers within roughly the delivery window, and drivers move fast enough that "I was home but didn't hear the bell" happens constantly, especially in apartment buildings with shared entrances. It's not a sign anything's wrong with your address or account. Every major carrier (PostNL, DHL, DPD) has an app or online portal where you can set standing delivery preferences per package: require a signature, redirect to a pickup point (afhaalpunt) like a supermarket or kiosk instead of your door, choose a specific delivery time slot, or leave written instructions like "ring twice" or "leave with number 12, not 14." PostNL in particular lets you register your address preferences in advance so they apply automatically to future deliveries rather than having to intervene on each order. If you're in a building with a broken or hard-to-hear doorbell, that's usually the actual root cause — worth fixing that first, since no delivery-app setting compensates for a bell nobody can hear from the kitchen.