Package thievery

[Radman73]

I've been hearing stories on the news where thieves are following UPS delivery trucks so they can snatch up packages right after they're delivered. Porch pirates are the lowest of the low.

Actually I think natural disaster looters are the lowest of the low. Porch stealers are just scum. We had some stuff stolen from our porch when we lived in Atlanta. Found out because a sheriff driving through our neighborhood noticed boxes on the side of the road. They had been opened and dumped so he went to the address listed. It was small stuff from Amazon, so they replaced it.

Here outside Orlando I've noticed the drivers make a concerted effort most time to hide the packages. We have large columns at the front of the house that they place them behind most times. I can see a ring in our near future.

 

[showmebutterfly]

I will agree with you about the natural disaster looters. They are an even lower level of low-lifes.
I'm glad you were able to get reimbursement for your stolen items.

Actually I think natural disaster looters are the lowest of the low. Porch stealers are just scum. We had some stuff stolen from our porch when we lived in Atlanta. Found out because a sheriff driving through our neighborhood noticed boxes on the side of the road. They had been opened and dumped so he went to the address listed. It was small stuff from Amazon, so they replaced it.

Here outside Orlando I've noticed the drivers make a concerted effort most time to hide the packages. We have large columns at the front of the house that they place them behind most times. I can see a ring in our near future.

 

[andrewkw]

There is not much I like about living in the country, but not having to worry even the slightest about package theft, or other theft really is a real plus. The worst that is going to happen is the "UPS" man is going to stop at my house and ask me to deliver something to my parents if he has no other packages headed that way on his route. *he's not really ups they subcontract out to local carriers who are certainly friend if less professional.

 

[seaplane]

Was just talking to a guy who gets deliveries several times a week and was having some stolen . He solved the problem by mounting a metal box with a lock onto the side of his garage. Delivery man just puts the package in and locks it. No more thefts.

 

[Sins]

I had my MP40 dry side stolen in October. It took UPS a full freaking week say that the tracking showed delivered and they are not going to take responsibility of the theft. Then Ecotech took about 3-4 weeks go back and forth with UPS. After a month Ecotech was kind enough to send another mp40 dry side out of their pocket. But my tank had 2 whole months without the pump that was needed.

 

[doughboy]

The only guaranteed way to prevent theft is to make sure someone is at home to receive the package as soon as it is delivered.
I can work from home, so I work from home when expecting a package.
As for cameras, most pros know they don't do squat. Ring makes you believe if you install one, your packages will never get stolen, lol. All I see in my Ring app are people posting their packages getting stolen. I would not be surprised if Ring is funding thieves to steal packages to increase their sales.

As for police, unless you are a celebrity or there is something in it for them, they won't do squat about your stolen package. That's just the reality, nothing like what we see on TV and movies.
So you see why package thieves are brazen?

I've had a package got stolen. bulkhead from supplyhouse.com. thief took the part and tossed the empty box out a few houses down the road. supplyhouse.com refunded my purchase. The thief was wearing a baseball hat, sunglasses, reflective vest, and carrying fake paper to make it look like official business he is picking up a package. its all caught on my surveillance camera.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hopefully by now, you filed a police report.
There is no sacrifice of money when it comes to now affordable video security systems, some under $100 and even the new video doorbells. It is ridiculous what our society and country has become especially with theft and credit card fraud.

You can do what I do when I order new reef equipment:

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Well that sucks, but they have a good walk up a steep driveway at my place. We don't even get trick or treaters not that the houses are far apart but going up and down the driveways would only take 3-4 and they would have already walked a mile. Where my daughter lives in SoCal she has mix up and stolen items does not matter if it is mail FedEx or UPS

 

[ADAM]

I'm camera-less... but have been contemplating some sort of security camera arrangement. One of the things I'd already decided on was to mount the cameras high enough that you'd need a ladder to reach them. Still have other problems to work out...

I have 3 100+ lbs dogs. Don't need motion based video of them roaming the property.
Don't want to run ethernet cable or power cable to the locations I want cameras.
Don't want something pushing large video files up to the net, saturating internet bandwidth that I need for work.
It's DARK here... No city lights, no security lights. We like it that way. Must have infrared cameras.

So... Battery powered wireless attached cameras, waterproof, infrared, focus distance of 30 feet minimum, with a local disk based recording unit.

If anyone has a good review of something like that, let me know

Have a look at some of the LOREX wire-free systems, they have a local hard drive, DVR, instead of cloud-based only recording like most wire-free systems nowadays. Also the camera-to-base station distance is several times farther that the ARLO. I currently have ARLO wire-free at home and my shop along with full hardwired system at home with DVR. I like the ARLO more for being able to grab and move anywhere anytime but dont like the few second clip recording only, however the newer ARLO Pro models may have recording differences. Ill be switching to the LOREX for my shop after Christmas since the camera-to base distance is listed at 449ft.

 

[livingcolors]

I have cameras that record and are placed in difficult to reach locations. I also have a sign on the door clearly stating there is recorded surveillance. I did this after I had three packages stolen. No problems since. The merchants were more than happy to replace the items free of charge, one of the companies was BRS, the other Amazon.

 

[samnaz]

What I don't understand is why... seriously WHY even? 90% of the stuff in the stolen packages will be useless to them and worth little to nothing. Package thieves are complete idiots.

 

[Admann]

I'm camera-less... but have been contemplating some sort of security camera arrangement. One of the things I'd already decided on was to mount the cameras high enough that you'd need a ladder to reach them. Still have other problems to work out...

I have 3 100+ lbs dogs. Don't need motion based video of them roaming the property.
Don't want to run ethernet cable or power cable to the locations I want cameras.
Don't want something pushing large video files up to the net, saturating internet bandwidth that I need for work.
It's DARK here... No city lights, no security lights. We like it that way. Must have infrared cameras.

So... Battery powered wireless attached cameras, waterproof, infrared, focus distance of 30 feet minimum, with a local disk based recording unit.

If anyone has a good review of something like that, let me know

Stand alone digital trail cameras used by hunters for long driveways and property surveillance has been pretty successful. Features you want will determine price. Cabela's, Bass Pro, Amazon they all have them. It's funny how you can find out who your friends really are with these, long story. Lived a great deal of my life in the country. Didn't take long to make use of them when things start disappearing from your property. Swap the memory card every couple days and see who visits.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

When I have stuff delivered they never knock on the door, I even request that they knock on the door.

 

[Newstead]

We never had a problem with this, as we live on a remote mountain. Then this summer we had thieving vandals stealing antique items from our front porch and yard, and turning over our bench, plants, etc.

We installed a Blink system as it stores video directly to the cloud, so we figured even if they stole the camera we would have some record. First night it was installed, we caught the thieves.

Never did find most of the things they stole, but a few were at the base of a huge poplar 300 yards away in our woods.

 

[jd371]

Switch out the shotgun blanks for a dye bomb like the ones used for bank robbers. No mistaking what they were up to when you see a car with dye all over it's interior. I know ***** traps that could cause bodily harm are illegal but what about a face full of dye?

 

[BigJim]

I had a box of car cleaning supplies stolen from my porch. The next day a kid who was about 12 years old came to the door with my package and his father behind him. Apparently he was stupid enough to try to hide it in his house. The father made sure he regretted his bad decision. The irony is that a 12 year old could do nothing with a box of car cleaning supplies.

 

[Florida Sunshine]

A few years ago, I ordered my Daughter's wedding invitations on-line at Christmas time an of course that was the one and only time I had a package stolen. They were following the UPS truck and picked up the package seconds after it was delivered. I can just imagine the thieves face when they opened the package. Fortunately they were nicer than most thieves (I know that sounds super weird) but they threw the box back into our yard and we were able to save almost everything. I guess they were sentimental or something and decided to return something they clearly had no use for.
P.S. Santa is bringing Ring doorbells to all of the family this year.

 

[Metasyntactic]

We had an incident 2 years ago where a camera we have set up in a bush caught a guy snooping around our driveway with his dogs, looking in our garage window. We were at my mother's for the week but I didn't think much about it because we have really nosy retired people in our neighborhood who seem to have nothing better to do than walk their dogs and try to learn everyone's business. Two days later the same SOB let himself into our garage and stealing a bunch of my blacksmithing equipment.

We call the police only to have one of our neighbors instantly recognize the guy. He lived two streets down and their dogs went to the same dog park. Guy had robbed 4 other homes in the neighborhood.

Point is, security cams are worth the investment but I got a set of dummy cams that are more visible so people know they're being watched.

 

[BestMomEver]

I too have cameras and a sign at the top of the driveway that says “Smile, you’re on camera.”

Lifestyle choices. My driveway is about 3/4 of a mile long, a single gravel lane, disappearing into the woods. Dead ends at my place. Nothing else down here but us. 'Us' would include my three Great Pyrenees... they're quite friendly, but intimidating enough that people I've invited will sometimes stay in their cars until I come out and clear the way... Oh, and I work from home. There is nearly _always_ someone here.

Never had a trick-or-treater, don't see any Jehovah's Witnesses... My youngest once asked me if she could decorate our driveway for Halloween. What for? Nobody but the mail man and the trash guy are going to see it

Say Hi to Rambo

I too live in no-man’s land. We live in the middle of 42 undeveloped, wooded acres... nothing but us. Our driveway is 2 acres long and we left the rickety old gate up when we built the house. It looks quite haunted when you first pull in.. a woodsy road to nowhere. We also have dogs... not a pyr but two scrappy little Jack Russell’s that are quick and intimidating. Even with all of that, I keep my door locked and my weapons nearby. Can’t be too safe these days!

 

[MSB123]

I put out an amazon box filed with bricks.
Waiting for them to return to steal that!