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December 2, 2024
‘Tis the Season for Porch Pirates: What Can Be Done To Stop Package Theft?
The holidays are upon us, and that means more than hectic travel plans, family dinners, and cozying up to watch your favorite Christmas movies. Porch pirates are seeing more opportunity than ever on doorsteps and in apartment building lobbies, so online buyers beware.
Porch Pirates Are Growing Bolder, and Some People Are Fleeing
Porch piracy appears to be a growing concern for many people, as The New York Times reported. In some cities where porch piracy is more prevalent than usual — Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia topped a list provided by SafeWise — residents particularly anxious over potential porch pirates are relocating to upscale digs with a doorman or a package room.
“It’s the type of thing [package rooms] where if you have it and then you don’t have it, you would notice that it’s missing,” Phil Lavoie, chief operating officer of Gotham Organization, said. “It’s something that feels like just an essential convenience, and you can’t really function without it once you have a building that offers that amenity.”
While SafeWise indicated that porch piracy was not necessarily becoming significantly more common (leveling out at 120.5 million packages stolen in 2023 versus 119.5 million in 2022), data from InsuranceQuotes and ValuePenguin suggested it was still a major pain point. InsuranceQuotes reported that 31% of its survey respondents had seen a parcel stolen within the last year, versus 24% in 2023. Additionally, ValuePenguin stated that 41% of its survey respondents had been victimized by porch pirates, up from 35% in 2022.
As for SafeWise, its data suggested that 73% of those polled had lost a package to porch pirates in the past year and that $16 billion in value was lost to package theft in 2023.
What Can You Do To Stop Porch Pirates From Stealing Your Packages?
Aside from relocating to an area with fewer incidents of porch piracy or moving into a building with a doorman and a package room, what exactly can be done to avoid being the target of porch pirates?
According to The New York Times, the city’s police department suggests shipping packages to your workplace or asking for a signature upon delivery option. SafeWise stated that those polled in its most recent survey were leaning on increased home security features, such as doorbell cameras, to deter would-be thieves.
Package locker services are also gaining in popularity. Amazon Locker is perhaps the best-known of these. Taking advantage of the service could mean the difference between an order arriving safely and the unfortunate alternative.
Ben Stickle, a professor of criminal justice administration at Middle Tennessee State University who has conducted research on package theft, had his own ideas. Besides having your packages delivered to a willing neighbor or installing a lockable delivery box on your residence, he offered another tip.
“If nothing else, then put a plant or something [on the porch],” he said, “and see if the delivery person will at least put the package behind it. Because if you can’t see it, it’s very unlikely that people are going to walk up and try and take something that they don’t know is there.”
Discussion Questions
What steps can retailers take to deter would-be porch pirates or to reduce the likelihood of package theft?
Do you believe it’s necessary for state or local governments to enhance or create laws specifically aimed at residential package theft?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Ashish Chaturvedi
Practice Leader, HFS Research
Cathy Hotka
Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates
Mark Self
President and CEO, Vector Textiles
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Luckily our porch is quite a long way from the road, so we don’t suffer from this problem. However, for expensive deliveries from Amazon we use Amazon Key. This enables the driver to open our garage (the doors are controlled via the MyQ system) and put the packages inside before closing it again. We have remote monitoring and the door to the house from the garage is locked, so we feel very secure using this.
No: Theft is theft. Absent some evidence that this falls under some kind of loophole – e.g. it isn’t burglary – enforcing existing laws would do much more than more feel good drivel.
We’re going to need a sensor solution for this problem…if a package is delivered and then is moved from that location, a sensor could alert the recipient to its new location. I’m looking at you, Sensormatic.
In-store mob theft, shoplifting, and porch pirating will continue to escalate until Americans demand a return to law enforcement.
Even with Ring cameras, porch pirating is on the rise, which means thieves don’t fear consequences if they are caught.
Some Americans can try to address the problem in small ways:
1. When thieves are captured on Ring or other security cameras, post the photos on the neighborhood social media, such as, “Neighborhood.” Put a sign outside that warns thieves that their photos will be aggressively published.
2. Ask delivery people to place packages as close to the door as possible (without blocking the opening.)
3. Request that the delivery service ring the doorbell when delivering packages. Proceed to retrieve immediately if you are at home.
4. A warning sticker should be placed on the door of your residence if you have an alarm system. Use lawn signs that lead up to the door as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I find this discussion around package theft very intriguing. Personally, I’ve never experienced this issue, and to my knowledge, neither have my neighbors. It makes me wonder about the demographic distribution of such incidents—are certain areas or communities more affected than others? Understanding these patterns could help in designing localized solutions.
While options like Amazon Key are innovative, I gave it a try and found it didn’t quite feel right for me. Stricter punishments for offenders could certainly act as a deterrent, but I also think fostering community vigilance—like neighborhood watch programs—could make a difference. Ultimately, a combination of preventive measures tailored to specific communities might be the best approach.
The Wall Street Journal covered this very topic today. Apparently now you can get insurance on your package deliveries.
Like so many challenges facing society today, this problem is years/decades in the making. Increasing the severity of the punishment is not going to help unless you have a Police force with time to chase the perps down. And a Ring camera can only provide so much help.
People will not stop stealing until they start to respect other people’s property, and that won’t happen until people start respecting other people. So many things to fix here, but if we start with the Golden Rule being observed the issue goes away.
A tall order, and an unlikely one at that.
Unfortunate as it is, something like Amazon Lockers makes sense to have a secure place for your delivery to be stored if you are in an area with this type of theft. Amazon Key is also a good solution if you have the right tech to take advantage of it. Having very visible cameras can help but not sure it really stops anyone if they are bold enough to swipe the package off your steps.
Parcel lockers are an opportunity area. China has over 300,000, Poland somewhere around 40,000. Their use is expanding. Amazon lockers are a start but lots of opportunity for someone to use idle retail floor space, a mall, c-store, a library or elsewhere to house parcel lockers. 18-24 hour access locations would be key.
Retailers like Walmart and Amazon offer delivery options like in-home or in-garage delivery to protect packages from porch pirates. Before online shoppers complete an order, retailers can recommend pick-up from stores, nearby Purolator stores or delivery lockers.
Retailers can also suggest best practices for customers like:
Beyond investing in home security systems, there are a range of options to protect e-commerce shoppers and their goods.
Offering secure delivery options like lockers or requiring signatures for high-value items should be standard. Clear package tracking and communication can also help in reducing the risk of theft.
As for governments, tougher laws on porch piracy are overdue because it’s theft, plain and simple. Retailers and lawmakers both need to step up because leaving this to consumers alone isn’t fair or effective.