How useful are telephone numbers in addresses?

Some people include a telephone number in their street address information in order to improve the chances of a package being delivered. In fact, some countries include a telephone number in their official address block format. But in a world where parcels are increasingly chucked over fences or launched from moving vehicles in order to achieve faster delivery times as margins become ever smaller, what chances are there that a courier would take the time to call a number to try to improve the chances of a package being delivered? Even the better courier companies have, thanks to Covid-19, abandoned getting signatures acknowledging package receipt. The way things are going, I foresee package delivery going down a tariff path similar to that followed by airlines and health services – the standard price you pay just gets your parcel into the system. If you want it treated well and delivered to the intended recipient, you would have to pay the premium.

But even if it were practical for the courier to use their time to call the intended recipient to help them get to the delivery point, how useful would it be? We all know that it’s not easy giving accurate directions to somebody even when they’re standing next to you and you’re both facing in the same direction. What are the chances of providing enough useful information when you don’t know where the courier is, in which direction they’re pointing or which positional coding app they happen to have on their phones?  If they cannot find you with the address information already provided, would a telephone call provide enough information to help? Apart from the occasional “I’m outside the front entrance, which floor are you on?” type of request, I wonder about the usefulness.

What do you think? Have you experienced telephone numbers in addresses providing a useful addition? Are they actually being used? Any anecdotes? I’d love to know.