DHL Evening Express - That Service You Book If You Don't Have Time to Go to the Casino

As an Amazon Prime customer, there are several options you can to choose from. Usually, there is a "premium delivery" (whatever that means) for free, with "standard delivery" offering just about the same delivery date, possibly a bit later. For the more adventurous among us, some products offer a gambling option: "Evening Express". It claims a delivery time between 18:00 and 21:00 on the same or the next day, and if it works, there is actually a little DHL delivery car (instead of the usual, larger DHL trucks) dropping by in the evening, a stressed-out guy jumps out, impatentily bouncing up and down in front of your house, anxious to deliver the object of your desire (not that box of 96 cans of cat food, normally, only smaller items). If it works, happiness spreads and your kids (for whom such deliveries usually are) will have an excuse for not going to bed early because they have to play with whatever was just delivered, of course. Why else should it have been delivered so late at night, anyway?

Now, while my opinion about DHL in general is not very positive (you may recall my posting about experiences I had last year), DHL Evening Express is a very special case with new adventure options and twists.

First of all, normal tracking does not seem to apply, i.e., you will typically not see the status "has been loaded onto the delivery vehicle" or "is out for delivery". I guess, these delivery guys just grab in the delivery base whatever they can stuff into their little car and off they go. No time for scanning, no time for any orderly process.

Second, if tracking says that Amazon (or whoever was the sender) has requested the delivery window be 18:00 to 21:00, this does not really mean anything. It's only a request consistent with what had been advertised at the time you ordered the items. The sender has done its part. Some time ago, I would still get an SMS from DHL Evening Express, announcing the expected delivery timeframe, like "Your parcel is on its way and is expected to be delivered between 20:00 and 21:00." That information may or may not also show up in the parcel tracking. However, as of this year, I have not received any such messages anymore. It's just the three hour window. Good luck! Period.

Third, if the parcel's tracking indicated it has reached the delivery base (that's when you start hoping), this does not really mean you will get it. There are numerous reasons why you may still be denied the pleasure of holding that package in your hands the same evening. I've seen a number of them, ranging from "The address cannot be found" (all kinds of parcel services deliver here without problems, so it's = somebody was too lazy to actually deliver) over "The recipient has requested a delivery on a different day due to company holidays" (this is nonsense and has, of course, never been requested by me, so it's = somebody was too lazy to deliver) to "The recipient was not there to receive the delivery" (despite me waiting on the street, doing some cleaning or cutting plants for three hours, so I guess it's = somebody was too lazy to deliver). If you're unlucky, there is no such tracking entry, and the package remains silent after having reached the delivery base. Chances are, this package has been silently returned to the sender for mysterious reasons. DHL is quite secretive about the actual reasons in such cases. Amazon does not get details, and if I request a statement, DHL greatly apologizes and explains the difficulties of parcel delivery, but never mentions the actual reason in this incident.

Last year, I had a case where an Evening Express delivery was silently returned to the sender, and I managed to get a photo of the return package and its label when it had arrived back there. Of course, nothing was wrong with the box, its contents or the label. The DHL minions still did not manage.

So, it just happened again last night. My order was promised for the evening, it did not arrive, Amazon get's a weird non-explanation why the parcel was returned to them, and I can't see anything in the tracking information - even this morning, after the "return to sender" statement has already been issued to the sender. Last status of 16:26 yesterday (Korntal Mechanical Delivery Base): "The shipment has been processed in the delivery base." Great!

Naturally, I complained clearly via Amazon and after being informed that this parcel was returned, nasty me requested a new order with the same items. For some reason, DHL Evening Express was not available this time, but Morning Express was. Amazon is always nice and helpful, so I reorderd with "Prime Delivery", and Amazon customer service changed that to "Morning Express", also eliminating the additional delivery cost for me. The adventure continues.

There was a time in November 2017, when I had three delivery attempts until I finally received what was ordered. No, not for the same order. An order, non-delivery, cancellation, next (same) order, non-delivery, cancellation, next (same) order, non-delivery, cancellation, next (same) order, delivery.

So, Monday morning will come and I'll be very curious to see if the package will actually be delivered. This is soooooo exciting (well, sort of... umm... not really).

My recommendation: if you want a tantalizing, exciting gambling experience across several days, book DHL Evening Express. They try their best to fulfil your expectations. However, if you seriously want to get the package, try Premium Delivery, or even better, don't even think about using DHL at all. DPD, Hermes, GLS, German Parcel, UPS, FedEx - they all don't have any problems - at least with delivering to my address.

Disclaimer: of course, this is my personal experience and DHL may just work perfectly well for you, but you may have the same issues with one of the other carriers... your mileage may vary. Good luck in any case!