How to proactively dissuade the unceasing threat of Porch Pirates?

Porch pirates, in simple terms are thieves who are out to plunder the packages left at your front door. Online purchases rocketed during the pandemic and so did package theft. This is an emerging form of crime that has impacted millions of people.

Porch pirates are everywhere, so much so, that sometimes you have less than under five minutes to grab the delivered stuff from your porch before someone else does. Sadly, getting hold of online deliveries has become a game where porch pirates and package recipients are trying to outdo each other as to who can get their hands on it first.

The headlines on Nbcdfw.com screams ‘North texas Porch Pirates Become Bolder, Braver with Thefts’. Elaborating further, Dallas police say they are looking for this woman caught on a home surveillance camera stealing a package and trying to get into mailboxes in a Dallas neighborhood.

Wsvn.com has published an article which states ‘Some porch pirates were caught on home surveillance video stealing thousands of dollars worth of supplies for a small business.’

Interestingly, package thefts typically transpire close to roadways, with packages being visible from the street. Moreover, in virtually every incident, a single individual approaches the home and takes the packages. In some cases, an accomplice is involved who usually served as a getaway driver. The thefts are very quick, usually around 30 seconds to complete.

These brazen instances indicate the severity of the issue at hand and the need for them to be concretely addressed at the earliest, starting with initiatives from package recipients themselves.

What are consumers doing to discourage Porch Pirates?

Porch piracy awareness, fortunately is high among consumers, who are trying their best to try and curb the crime. A few preventive steps undertaken by package recipients to avert porch pirates are as follows:

• Monitoring the front Front Porch With a Security Cam or Video Doorbell. With a camera keeping watch, one can monitor your property from anywhere and record any activity.
• Granting inside home access to the delivery agents inside while ordering from Amazon or Walmart.
• Giving the delivery service special Instructions. Some services let you indicate where to leave your package if you’re not home. You can instruct drivers to leave a package at a specific location, such as a back door or with a building superintendent.
• Using a Package Delivery Box. Instead of having deliveries left unsecured at your front door, having them delivered into a package delivery box on your property is an option.
• Keeping tabs on online deliveries by signing up for alerts. All major delivery companies offer text, email, and/or mobile app alerts so that you know when a delivery will be made and can adjust your own schedule accordingly.
• Requesting a signature during delivery. This way, packages aren’t simply dropped off outside your house. But, of course, one has to be home and available to receive the package.

All the above mentioned preventive measures still are not completely successful in discouraging package thieves. For instance, all a doorbell camera does is record footage of the porch pirates at work, which somehow just adds insult to injury. Granting inside home access to a delivery agent is an option that not everyone is comfortable and convinced with.

Delivery companies are doing their part to try to address the porch piracy menace at large. UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service offers a growing number of storefronts where packages can be picked up. Let us take a look at some other preventive measures undertaken by delivery companies:

Precautionary measures by delivery companies to combat Porch Pirates

Porch piracy —the swiping of recently delivered packages from your porch or another place around your home—is up sharply, according to new research from home safety website SafeWise.com. The research revealed that 79% of Americans had been a victim of package theft from November 2021 to November 2022 when compared with 64% during the previous 12-month period. That works out to nearly $59 for every person in the U.S.

Localsyr.com reports an instance in NY - ‘Syracuse neighborhood becomes prime spot for Porch Pirates’. According to Syracuse Police Lieutenant Malinowski, this has been happening a lot lately in the Sedgwick neighborhood.

Considering all these factors and incidents, delivery companies are responding to package theft by implementing many techniques, including drone delivery, scheduled drop-offs, parcel lockers, delivery inside consumers' homes, and more.

Amazon offers customers the option to have their purchases delivered to a secure locker at nearby Whole Foods locations. Amazon also offers an in-home delivery service for customers whose homes utilize certain smart home features—within a delivery window, a driver can request to unlock a customer’s door using an Amazon handheld scanner and, upon verification and while being monitored, the package can be left inside the building instead of on the front porch. The driver then exits, locks the door, and continues on his or her route.

UPS’ My Choice tool provides more visibility into your incoming and outgoing shipments. You can view all details for your inbound and outbound shipments and get delivery updates via text and email. You can then instruct the driver where to leave your package after changing the delivery date or location. Viewing the estimated time for delivery and following shipments as they move toward their destinations are benefits of this tool as well.

FedEx’s Delivery Manager gives you more control over when, where, and how you receive packages that are being shipped to your home. You can get clear package visibility with tracking, plus notifications via email and text. Know when shipments are sent and when to expect them. You can also request shipments to be delivered to any of their retail network locations and then pick up on your schedule. You can also get deliveries when and how it’s convenient by leaving instructions for your delivery driver or scheduling a delivery at a time that works for you.

USPS has a sign-up in place for an informed delivery wherein you can create an account or use your personal USPS.com account. Verify your identity and watch for mail and package updates via email, the online dashboard or the USPS mobile app. If a package qualifies for the USPS Delivery Instructions service, you can tell USPS where to leave a package at your address, send it to a different address, or send it to your Post Office.

However, many but not all of these services are free. UPS, for example, charges fees for online requests to change deliveries to a different day or location.

Despite all these precautions it still feels violating and frustrating to have your stuff stolen so brazenly. A feasible solution needs to be in place in order to efficiently tackle this issue.This is where a package receiving and package acceptance service proves to be beneficial to effectively manage all your package problems.

What is a Package Receiving and Package Acceptance Service?

A package receiving and package acceptance service is a safe location to receive your packages. It can be a shop or a store closer to you where your packages are safely received and taken care of till you pick them up at your convenience.

Stowfly offers such services by safekeeping your precious packages and holding them until you pick them up. If you are someone who has been frequently dealing with issues related to Amazon missing packages, UPS lost packages, FedEx stolen packages & USPS missed deliveries, then Stowfly is the one-stop solution for all your package problems.

How can Stowfly Package Receiving and Package Acceptance Services help in keeping Porch Pirates at bay?

Stowfly is an exhaustive network of package receiving and package acceptance services which facilitates an easy, convenient way to get packages delivered to a location near you. Stowfly operates by partnering and working with local shops and businesses that have unused space that want to help nearby customers receive their deliveries at their store. These could be anywhere from your neighborhood coffee shop, convenience store or even a restaurant.

All you have to do is find a location that works best for you in terms of hours of operation and distance from your home or office and start receiving your packages there.

There are three affordable pricing options available. $4.00 for one time delivery, $7.50 subscription for up to 5 packages a month and $15 subscription for up to 15 packages a month.

At Stowfly, a unique pick up PIN code is generated for you and we do not let anyone else pick up your package unless the correct pick up PIN is shown to our location partner. Along with this all our bookings are insured up to $1000 to give you that extra peace of mind.

Customer testimonials from Reviews.io reads -“The process was super easy and straightforward! I was here for a birthday vacation and needed someone to get packages delivered. I had trust issues from the first package holding service as I never received my things. With Stowfly, I was always updated and they even have a pickup code for security. Will definitely use them again!!!

Another testimonial from a well pleased customer states - “Stowfly has made it safe and easy to get my packages delivered to a location where I know they will be safeguarded until I can get to them which has saved me a great deal in lost goods”

With the increase in home delivery of consumer goods and the ease of package theft, it appears porch piracy is here to stay until consumers, retailers, and delivery services work to reduce thefts. The best way to do that is to remove the opportunity for theft while maintaining home delivery convenience by utilizing Stowfly package receiving and package acceptance services to your benefit!