Wasn’t there a time, maybe a long time ago now, when package delivery services, like UPS or the USPS, would not leave packages on doorsteps? IIRC, the delivery man would leave a notice a delivery attempt was made, and then you had to retrieve the package from the post office or the UPS center. Or, you could even have signed a note or form stating that you are responsible for anything that happens to the package once it was left on its own, on your porch.
When did that change? When bezos took over the mail order catalog industry? And he didn’t want any reason for the package to not get ‘delivered’?
This is one helluva obvious problem that our forefathers easily saw. And what, now we have to learn about it all on our own, all over again? Geez, are we stoopid, or what?
I don’t know when it changed. I do know that my Amazon notifications now include a photo of the package after they drop it on my stoop. I wonder if it’s related.
Indeed. The number of times I’ve had a “we tried to deliver today - you were out” card through my letterbox - when I was in all day! - is too many, but why have they stopped doing it?
My porch cams have caught delivery guys (who, evidently, show up in their personal cars) taking pictures of the package once they drop it on the porch. I’m sure it’s another tactic in the whole saga of “See?!? We did drop it off! It’s your fault that it disappeared because you live in such crime-ridden squalor!”.
I have a newish downstairs neighbor who introduced herself by complaining that she could hear me quietly walking around in my apartment, and gave a whole spiel about how stressful and important her job is and how she had to have a glass of wine before confronting me and she’d talked to her coworkers for advice on her terrible ordeal etc. One time I saw her on the street screaming in fear because a normal-sized dog on a leash rounded the corner ten feet in front of her. The rules of polite society demand that we listen to everyone’s feelings, but I’m pretty sure that, if people going about their normal lives seem like terrifying monsters to you, the problem is you and your need to get a grip. Or at least not live in the middle of a huge city.
It definitely has gotten worse, as more and more people shop online for the holidays. However, the amount of Porch Pirate Hysteria far outpaces the actual rate of parcel theft. I think this is because it makes viral news, and we’re all encountering stories regularly each day. But that’s not in the context of overall number of deliveries. So this story about a guy having 6 packages stolen seems a little funny to me.
Here are my data: We shipped 3021 parcels since Nov. 1, and we haven’t lost a single one to theft.
I don’t know exactly how this creeped up on us, but it used to be that most UPS packages required a signature, because package theft has always been a thing. But now, thanks to the rise in e-commerce, the number of packages on porches is so high, including high value items, that the pickings are much richer. I was stunned when UPS just dropped my $700 cellphone in a tiny, easily swiped box on my door step and left. It’s like just leaving a stack of cash.
You can still require a signature on packages when you ship them, but I guess that Amazon has decided that fast, easy delivery is more important than theft reduction, much as credit card companies want easy transactions more than they want fraud reduction from better security, such as checking ID.
Yeah, he explicitly mentioned that it was left out for days at his friend’s house and she had a history of getting packages stolen. Add to that the fact that this box was designed to look especially enticing (obviously some kind of fancy electronic device rather than a generic corrugated box containing who-knows-what) and it doesn’t seem implausible at all that the package was stolen multiple times over a period of weeks or months.
Bonus, sign up for USPS Informed Delivery, UPS My Choice, and Fed Ex Delivery Manager, and you can adjust all of these things, even if the shipper doesn’t. You may have to pay extra for the changes, but that’s between you and the delivery company directly then. They’ll let you set default options, make changes one off for certain deliveries, customize notifications on shipping events, set vacation holds. They’ll even flag stuff automatically that you didn’t know was coming, say a random shipment from a relative.
Doesn’t help if Amazon uses it’s own shipping though.
I see you already have five comments, and I hate to pile on, but I’ve had a package stolen when the delivery person didn’t follow the directions and left it in our carport instead of inside our gate.
So now you know one.
What gets me is the apparent attitude of, “this hasn’t happened to me or anyone I know, so it must be fake.”
How many people do you really know? I’m betting it’s a pretty insignificant number when placed against the population of the US.
You’ve rejected my anecdotal 3000 shipments, which is fair since I can’t share any of the underlying information with you for purposes of verification. Do you have any data suggesting parcel theft is a major problem?
We’ve had our vehicles rifled through a number of times, including once when they took our GPS out of the glove compartment but didn’t steal it. It kind of offends me that the pettiest of thieves turned their nose up at my electronics.
An explosive device like that could harm innocent people—imagine if the thief gave the stolen item to someone else as a gift.
This way even if the device goes off in the presence of friends or family it still ultimately backfires on the package-stealer. Imagine having to explain to your pissed-off girlfriend why you gave her a stinky glitter bomb.
It’s like just leaving a stack of cash.