Originally published at: Anti-porch-pirate doors are being installed in homes | Boing Boing
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Did I miss something? How do ALL the different delivery companies get the code???
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My package is safe but my cats are gone.
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Yeah, you could say that…
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just put the code on a post it by the key pad, of course
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I am both amused and horrified by the marketing mastermind that thought up the name Box Gobbler.
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About 25 or so years ago I put in a keypad deadbolt so our daughter didn’t need to carry a key and to make it easy for my dad to get in an drop stuff off.
Neither one of them could remember the 4 digit code, to this day it’s my neighbors address, he could never remember either. Until the day he died my dad had to look nextdoor for the code.
Kind of a huge post it note.
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The video explains that the code appears on the address label. I suppose you could put it in the second line of your address for pretty much universal compatibility.
But the promo video also gives a number for what percentage of packages it will fit: 80 percent. Meaning 20 percent don’t.
So that means you could have packages lying around with the code for porch pirates to get your keys to the kingdom. And if they are small porch pirates they could probably come inside.
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This.
Creating an opening big enough to crawl through with a publicly distributed entry code is ridiculous. Better to have a package box so the potential losses are limited to what’s in the box rather than what’s in your house.
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This one’s a bit dumb. But a lot of things like this are sort of a one way drop slot. There’s also those stand alone lockers/boxes that one can install on a porch or outside a building.
It’s not dissimilar from the traditional postman’s key. Apartment buildings often have a small metal lock box on the outer wall there’s a key the the building inside, and the postal person has a master key that will open all of the little key holders on their route.
Gives them access to the building for mail delivery without anyone having to let them in or leaving the building unlocked. Issue is UPS and FedEx can’t get a copy of that key. So they can’t get in.
This I don’t get.
It’s no different than typical locking mailboxes, or door slots. Which exist for a reason, and have practically forever.
It’s just we deliver more sizable packages these days. So you need a larger receptacle.
It’s kinda weird so many people who’ve probably been religiously locking their front doors, cars, bikes and shit are all “moral decay” because package theft.
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Is this just a US thing? Over here they leave it with a neighbour or take it back to the depot
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Giggling while embracing my inner 12 year old. I don’t let him out anywhere near often enough.
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That piece of trash is perfect evidence that “cancel culture” is 100% fabricated.
Also: How is this in any way more advantageous than giving the code to your door (I’m assuming if someone is willing to drop $2000 plus another $1500 or so installation they can afford a keypad door lock)?
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One additional issue I haven’t seen mentioned yet: when you close the door, the box tumbles into the house/garage. Hope you didn’t order delicate china or glassware!
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In the past, all important packages required a signature. And if nobody was home to accept the package, it would not be delivered. Increasingly, packages sent by Amazon and others are sent with no signature required and just left on a porch, visible to passers by.
I’ve had items worth a $1,000 left on my porch by a delivery person who approached like a ninja and left without knocking or ringing the doorbell. It’s ridiculous.
You can have packages delivered to a UPS store or a Fedex Store, but if you are buying something on-line, you don’t necessarily know what delivery service will be used. (I used to use a store that accepted packages from every delivery company, for a small fee per package. It was great, until they went out of business without notice.)
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Thanks. So it’s just capitalism being capitalism then. Making the customer’s experience worse is fine if the company can make a dollar more by doing so
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The meth addict porch pirates can walk on in.
Considering I can’t even get my delivery drivers to ring my doorbell, somehow I doubt they’ll take the effort to punch in a 4-digit code…
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Depends on the customer and the delivery location.
Where I live you could leave $1,000 cash on the porch with a sign and it will be there when I get home. I often leave cash on my door for people, never a problem.
If I had to go pick up a package whenever I wasn’t home to accept delivery or reschedule delivery that would make my customer experience a lot worse.
I’m fortunate that live in a neighborhood with very little crime and neighbors who keep an eye out. If I lived in a different neighborhood I would have to come up with a solution.
My daughter lives in a so so neighborhood in an apartment. They do not have an office to leave deliveries so if it’s an expensive item she use a drop location. There are a couple within walking distance of her home.
So I don’t think it’s capitalism so much as neighborhood crime.
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