Combating Porch Pirates

Amazon and other online shopping services have made shopping for things such as gifts and commodities extremely simple. However, this extra convenience comes at a cost. People often have deliveries arrive on their doorsteps even if they are not home when the package arrives. And since the world isn’t always a nice place, package theft has become a prominent problem for homeowners in urban and suburban areas. This is why today we will be discussing how to prevent package thieves – often called “porch pirates” – from affecting your life.

In the video above, a man named Brian Patterson from Denver, Colorado had an Amazon delivery stolen from his front porch during the middle of the day. Fortunately, Patterson said that the porch pirate only made off with some coffee filters.

Unfortunately, porch pirates don’t limit themselves to stealing coffee filters. On June 19, 2017 a horrific example of package theft occurred in Beaverton, Oregon, when two women stole $3,000 in 9 Amazon packages which had been delivered to her front door.

Alright, now that we’ve looked at two, very different scenarios, you might be asking “What can I do to stop porch pirates from having any impact on my life?”. As a long-dead man once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, and this saying holds true when dealing with porch pirates. Here are two things that you can easily do to reduce the likelihood of having your packages stolen from your doorstep.

Require a Signature

The most inconvenient method of prevention is also the most effective. This method requires the buyer to be at the delivery address to receive their package at the time of delivery. If the buyer misses the delivery, they will have to go to their local post office and sign for their package there. This method removes the risk of package theft completely, but also removes some of the convenience capable through online shopping.

Deliver your Package Elsewhere

Having your order delivered to your house may not always be the best option – for instance, when you are out of town you probably don’t want a delivery to be waiting on your unattended front porch. If you think/know you won’t be home when a delivery will arrive, have it delivered to some place that isn’t your front porch. If your coworkers don’t hate you, you can see if they would be willing to accept a delivery for you at the workplace. Alternatively, you could have the delivery shipped to a trusted friend’s house.

Okay, maybe you don’t follow either of the above two steps and a package gets stolen, what can you do? Trying to get the deliverer to refund or reship your purchase will probably yield no dice, especially after your package has been successfully delivered. So, once again an ounce of prevention will be your best option. Having a residential security camera system may mean the difference between having no evidence of the theft, and being able to identify your porch pirate. And if your porch pirate can be identified, they can be detained.

 

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