I live in a rural town, well technically it’s not a town, it’s an area, called Willow, Alaska. Driving through Willow, you wouldn’t know that there are almost 1,800 people in the area according to the census from 2o24.

We are 70 miles North of Anchorage by road, only about 35 by air. Wasilla is the closest city. It’s located about 30 miles from me and, according to the census has about 9,945 people, But that is just within the city limits, there are a ton of outlying areas that are very close, just not in the city limits.

The Borough that I live in, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough has a population of 117,613 as of 2024. There are a lot of small areas that are unincorporated towns like the one I live in. My point to all this is that we aren’t huge, but there are a fair number of people here.

We have all the regular services, 4 grocery stores in Wasilla, 2 in Palmer (about 6,400 people). We have lots of restaurants, from chains like McDonald’s to Mom and Pop shops. All the services you would expect. We even have UPS, FedEx, and the USPS.

Out where I live, I have a Post Office Box where I get mail and packages sent through the Post Office. But for delivery, my options are UPS, FedEx, and private carriers. I occasionally see an Amazon truck, but even when we order from Amazon, it’s usually delivery by a private delivery service rather than Amazon.

We have been getting deliveries at our house for years, right to our doorstep. Sometimes they mix up our house with our rental house, but we always get the packages.

Yesterday I was waiting on a package to arrive. It was several days late, but that’s pretty typical here. Coming through UPS, which is the least reliable out where I live.

About 4:00 I get a notification that my package had arrived. I had one of the kids go check. No package. But sometimes they scan when they get to Willow, and then just drop as they make their way through. I decided to be patient. But by 7:00, no package.

I got on my phone and looked to see if there was any more information. There was a picture. I have included the exact picture I received here. First off, it was so fuzzy that it was hard to tell much of anything. Secondly, it was in the woods, which is probably the least specific drop and picture anyone could have taken in all their lives. It looks like every other driveway for 200 miles in any direction.

I looked closer and was able to see, way up the tree, a private property sign, and hoped beyond hope, that it was one of ours. I jumped in my car and drove to the end of my road, which isn’t on my property, it’s public property. There it was, wrapped in a plastic bag, just like the picture.

I was super grateful to find it, because that picture could have been on just about anyone’s driveway. But I was a bit frustrated with the driver. That isn’t our property, it wasn’t super far off the road so someone could have stolen it, and why do they normally deliver to the house, but this once just drop it on the edge of the road with a very random, hard to see picture? Our house is less than 1/2 a mile from this spot.

To say the least, UPS isn’t my favorite delivery service in Willow. They are always late, always. And this kind of thing happens more often than not, with it getting delivered to the wrong address, or to a local business who then has to somehow figure out how to contact me so I can come pick it up (this has happened with UPS on several occasions as well).

Having said all that, I am grateful that I don’t have to worry about porch pirates when the packages are properly delivered. I am also pleased with the other companies delivery services, particularly the private companies that come out and deliver to our house, they do a great job.