Porch pirates!

[Boopuff]

Is your area awash in porch pirates? Our local FB page always shows pirates in action. We’ve never had it happen to us, but we have a solid work from home schedule.

 

[Disneylover99]

So far, so good in my neighbourhood.
No issues that I know of. Hope I’m not jinxing it.

We did have a very light package blow away once on a super windy day though. I wonder if someone found it and kept it or if it got squished on the road somewhere and ended up in the garbage.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Thankfully *knock on wood* it has not been a problem in my neighborhood. Everybody seems to have the Ring doorbells, but I have seen that those aren't even much of a deterrent from what has been posted from other neighborhoods.

 

[BorderTenny]

Not a problem in my neighborhood. Had a package delivered while I was away on a cruise at the beginning of the month. It was still there when I got back 4 days later.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I know it's a problem in our area, but I haven't heard anything directly from our neighbors. Still, our old lawn guy had things stolen from his truck on several occasions while working on our yard. So, if someone is brazen enough to roll up and steal a mower or edging tool right while the person is working, I suspect there are plenty of gross people around willing to take my packages.

 

[mamamary]

Not a problem in my neighborhood. It’s more that the delivery drivers leave the package at the wrong address and you have to figure out where your package is by the picture they send you. There were a few of these problems just in the past day.

 

[Disneylover99]

Not a problem in my neighborhood. It’s more that the delivery drivers leave the package at the wrong address and you have to figure out where your package is by the picture they send you. There were a few of these problems just in the past day.

Yeah. We sometimes need to go next door to get our package. Then we text the neighbour to say, we didn’t steal your package, we’re just getting ours. lol.

 

[Smugpugmug]

About a year ago my neighbor had their new IPhone stolen off their porch about a half an hour after it was delivered (they had the entire incident caught on their porch camera) but other than that I haven't heard of anything near me. The neighbor never got the phone back nor did they find out who stole it.

 

[BrianL]

I hear about it a lot, but not really near me I guess. It hasn't happened to me at all.

 

[firefly_ris]

Fortunately not a problem. We even have people who will deliver incorrectly delivered packages to the right address for them.

 

[AustinTink]

No porch pirates. Might be because all the homes have cameras all over them. We do however have mailbox thieves breaking into community mailboxes. Our postman says it’s happening all over town.

 

[TippyThomas]

I live far enough out in the middle of nowhere that porch pirates would soon lose hope.

I doubt I and those around me order enough things, or the high dollar things that porch pirates would be after as well.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Knock on wood, not a problem. All of the lots in my neighborhood are 2-4 acres with big front yards. I have had packages sit on the porch for days and never been touched.

 

[Micca]

Everybody seems to have the Ring doorbells, but I have seen that those aren't even much of a deterrent from what has been posted from other neighborhoods.

Right? The porch pirates don't care if they're caught on camera. They wear hoodies and shades and make a quick getaway.

We've been fortunate so far, but we're both retired and we're home a lot. I think there was a porch pirate bust recently when cops tracked down someone with the stolen merchandise.

 

[barkley]

it's an issue in town and the larger city near us to the extent that my oldest's apartment complex has been sending out emails to residents suggesting they consider using a local packaging and mail center as an alternate address for packages that would be traditionally left on porches. where we live I have not heard of any issues BUT there have been a couple times during the higher volume holiday delivery periods when the neighborhood phones start ringing as neighbors notice random vehicles trailing behind ups or fed ex trucks so if you're expecting a delivery to grab it or give a call to one of the neighbors to secure it (we are rural enough that noone randomly ends up in our neighborhood).

 

[Brian Noble]

My neighborhood has a bit of petty crime, but it is mostly middle-of-the-night stuff. Leave your car unlocked, and there's a chance it will be gone over. They are very polite--they don't take anything that isn't easy to turn into cash, and mostly leave things the way they found them. I've had it happen twice in the last year (I'm not good at remembering to lock my car) and they left my (prescription) Ray Bans both times. I think I lost a half-full $25 gift card once, and that's about it.

I did have an old bike taken. It was locked to itself, rather than to something more permanent. As one of my pastors once challenged us: I figure someone needed it more than I did. No big--it wasn't worth much, and was on the "I need to replace this" list already.

As for packages: I'm in a condo building, with eight units per outside entrance. Most of us pull packages inside when we see them, so they don't last outside too long, and the risk is pretty low. I will admit that if I'm buying electronics I will pick them up from Apple or BestBuy rather than have them delivered.

So, overall, I don't get too worked up about it. It's just stuff, and stuff is easy to replace. And I flatly refuse to get a video doorbell, etc. We're awash in enough surveillance capitalism already.

 

[slo]

A house in my subdivision, about 7 doors away from us had a porch pirate last week - they took her phone. These people have a ring camera on the doorbell, that is very obvious that it's there, and whoever this was didn't care. Their face wasn't covered, they just casually walked up, took it and left. Awful

 

[lynxstch]

Not a problem in my neighborhood. It’s more that the delivery drivers leave the package at the wrong address and you have to figure out where your package is by the picture they send you. There were a few of these problems just in the past day.

This is exactly what I was going to say. Thanks for sparing me from typing it all out, lol

 

[tvguy]

It happens, not as often as items being misdelivered, but it happens. I have considered putting in cameras, but all those posts of porch pirates showing photos of the crook never seem to do any good. The crooks don't care if they are photographed, the photos get posted on NextDoor on Facebook, and the crooks NEVER get caught.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

A house in my subdivision, about 7 doors away from us had a porch pirate last week - they took her phone. These people have a ring camera on the doorbell, that is very obvious that it's there, and whoever this was didn't care. Their face wasn't covered, they just casually walked up, took it and left. Awful

Yeah, none of them seem to care that they're being filmed. From the ones I've seen locally, they make zero effort to conceal their identify. I have a security camera over my front door, but I doubt it would lead to anything even if I did catch someone.

That being said, most of the delivery people try to hide what they drop off. They'll position smaller things behind the porch columns and I've found larger things behind one of the front hedges. Even that only will do so much. There have been a number of stories of pirates training delivery trucks this season and running in to steal it right after the delivery driver hops into their vehicle. I've started grabbing things from the porch as soon as the camera goes off.