Protect Your Holiday Packages From Porch Pirates This Season

It’s kind of starting to look like Christmas, at least in most retail stores. And this topic isn’t exclusive to Christmas but seems to be a bigger problem during the holidays, and that is the issue of having packages stolen from your porch or from your property. 

With the financial landscape a lot of families are experiencing right now, folks will start ordering Christmas gifts sooner rather than later, because they may have to spread the money that is spent for Christmas out a little farther so they’re able to pay the regular bills too. 

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The Better Business Bureau says in recent years, over $18 billion in items have been stolen from doorsteps and porches around the country. 18 billion with a “B”, that’s a ton of packages that either are just lost because they’re stolen or have to be re-ordered.  

Some Useful Information

The BBB offers these tips to help you better protect your property once it’s delivered. 

They say that “Porch Pirates” (the nickname for package thieves) most commonly will work in one neighborhood, hitting as many houses as possible before moving on. It’s assumed they follow the delivery trucks into a neighborhood where they have multiple stops and then pick up the packages that have been dropped off. 

A prime target for these pirates is packages that are 25 feet or less from the street. These boxes and envelopes are easily seen, and they can be grabbed, and the thief can quickly get off your property and into the getaway car before anyone can really see what has happened.  

If you can, have the packages delivered to a location that is not plainly seen from the street if possible.  

How To Protect Your Property

If you are concerned about your items being taken from your home, the BBB says you can do these things to eliminate that problem: 

• Don’t leave packages unattended if possible 

• Have them delivered to a location where someone can take your package inside quickly once it has been delivered

• Ship to the store where you ordered it from or have the package delivered to the post office 

• Add specific delivery notes about where you want the package placed once the driver arrives at your house 

• Require a signature before package can be left by the delivery driver 

Other tips are to opt in for delivery notifications so you can track where your packages are and when they’ve been dropped off. Of course, having security cameras is also suggested, although these can’t really help prevent most thefts from occurring. 

It’s safer to take the above precautions and assume the things you have delivered will be a target for those pirates who don’t sail on a ship.