Ability to send packages from parcel locker not surveyable

[Prillan]

The title pretty much says it all.

It's not possible to know for the locker itself (in the cases I've seen) if it's possible to send packages or not. I had to look it up on the website to realize that you can actually return packages. Additionally, that option is currently located in the "other answers" menu instead of being a simple third option.

Anyway, my worry is that SC users will think that it's not possible to send packages (or returns) and just assume that it's not. Because there's no way to verify it on-the-ground, we risk having incorrect data produced.

Furthermore, if a locker gains the ability to do returns, that'd only be a software update and again not surveyable. So there's no way to know if the state has changed for parcel_mail_in.

[westnordost]

For what brand did you observe that isn't written on the parcel locker?

[Prillan]

PostNord (Swedish post service).

The text is only a description of how to pick up a package, no mentions of sending (returns or otherwise).

[westnordost]

Well, maybe both quests should be removed again. I mused about this a few days ago

Asking whether parcels can be received seems a bit pointless because that is literally the purpose of these stations and whether sending is possible may have a verifiability issue.

#5757 (comment)

[Prillan]

Well, maybe both quests should be removed again. I mused about this a few days ago

Asking whether parcels can be received seems a bit pointless because that is literally the purpose of these stations and whether sending is possible may have a verifiability issue.

#5757 (comment)

Nothing more to add really. Receiving is what they're there for, sending is hard (or impossible) to verify.

[hmartink]

I agree, I have seen (and placed) multiple parcel lockers in both Germany and Austria. While they all mentioned the receiving side, but none mentioned about pickup.

So yes, I agree, placing them in the overlay and answering "Is this still here" is probably sufficient for parcel lockers, i.e. no dedicated quest needed.

[mcliquid]

While they all mentioned the receiving side, but none mentioned about pickup.

I have to admit that I don't have a lot of experience with parcel boxes, but the ones I've seen so far have always advertised on the outside whether they can receive and/or sent. In the case of a DHL Packstation, this is very visible from the outside on a red banner. (Hier einfach Pakete empfangen und verschicken! = Simply receive and send parcels here!)

In Austria, myflexbox is very popular, with the services at the top left of the logo (Versenden = Sending):

Here is a dutch parcel locker. At the bottom left, in the red corner, it says: "Hier je pakjes ontvvangen en verzenden." (= Receive and ship your packages here.)

Of course, there are also parcel boxes on which this is not written, but in my experience this becomes apparent at the latest when you touch the monitor for the first time, as there are two selection buttons with “Send” and “Pick up”. Is it so different in other countries?

[hmartink]

Well, I can only state my experience from Germany and Austria, mainly DHL and Amazon (but in Vienna also other companies I do not remember atm). I never touched the monitor, but on the written outside only "receiving" was mentioned. So maybe my sample is skewed.

[mcliquid]

DHL should always be able to send and receive parcels, right? With Amazon (at least in DACH area) it would be logical from my point of view that they can only receive - where should Amazon ship to, they are an online shop platform and not a general shipping service provider 😄

[hmartink]

I don't know, I can only observer what's written outside (or in the future, what the monitor tells me). But for Amazon, I could imagine that you can drop returns there. But again, this was not visible to me.

[mcliquid]

I was at a DHL Packstation yesterday. There was nothing on the Packstation itself except "DHL". But the display is permanently on and you can see two large red buttons that prompt you to pick up or send.

[rhhsm]

Well, maybe both quests should be removed again. I mused about this a few days ago

I was going to write an issue requesting this, so please keep musing!

I think the parcel locker pickup and send quests should never have been implemented because they don't comply to the guidelines for new quests. The issue raised here is that it's apparently not "Easily answerable" for some brands of lockers. The quests are also very spammy ("Not an overwhelming percentage of quests have the same answer") when considered for each brand of parcel locker separately. Afaik all parcel lockers can be used to receive parcels (that's their reason for existing, isn't it?) and whether they can be used for sending or returning parcels depends only on the brand's policy (i.e. it's the same for all parcel lockers of a particular brand, so once you know the brand, you know the answer to the quest). There may be exceptions, but they are probably extremely rare, or temporary (malfunction of a particular locker), and we should not waste the efforts of SC users to find these.

This information is much easier to add by going to the website of the locker brand and see how they function (it's always described in general terms, afaik), and then adding this info to the brand preset of the locker. Maybe this should be an additional criterion for new quests: "The quest should not try to collect information through survey that can be obtained much easier and reliably by another way (such as visiting a website)"?

[mcliquid]

@Helium314 Would it be possible to "simply" transfer the quest to SCEE?

[Helium314]

Sure, would be fine if the quest is removed from SC.