Ways to stop porch pirates and package delivery theft
Nearly 1.7 million packages are stolen per day, at a cost of nearly $9 billion per year. The culprits, in many cases, are porch pirates. They seem to always get away with it, even if they’re caught on camera.
Here’s how to stop porch pirates and ensure your packages deliveries are safe.
Have important packages delivered where someone will be: This could be at a friend or neighbor who’s home during the day. That will ensure that the package is brought inside promptly and not left out to entice a would-be thief.
Rent lockers: Another way to keep your deliveries safe is to rent lockers at places like the UPS Store or Amazon Locker locations. Here your packages are safely stashed until you can swing by to pick them up.
Track and trace important packages: It’s easy to sign up for notifications from Fed Ex, UPS, and USPS, so you can get texts as your packages progress. When they arrive, you can let a neighbor know to take them in or hurry home to bring them inside.
Have delivery people put them somewhere safer: Put up a note asking your delivery people to drop your packages out of sight -somewhere like over the fence or take them to your backward. If possible, sign up to Amazon Key, which lets you give the delivery people access to put packages inside the garage.
Keep your package safe: You can protect your packages from theft using basic bag-like bins that attach to your door and allow your delivery people to lock in your items. There are also other devices that hold your deliveries and protect them from the weather.
Install security cameras and video doorbells: Security cameras and video doorbells can sometimes be a deterrent, though they may not stop determined thieves. However, a ring cam or doorbell can help you know exactly when your package is been delivered, so you can go get it inside.