How to keep packages safe from thieves

Your box of custom Elvis coasters made of real blue suede shoes is set to arrive in the mail, but you’re too busy fretting to look forward to proudly putting them on display. After all, you’re stuck at work and when your treasured box arrives, it will sit there on your porch for hours, a tempting target for any unscrupulous person to walk up and snatch, stealing it before it ever enters your possession. You’re going to have a panic attack. How, you wail, can you keep your package safe from thieves?

Well, your nosy neighbor in the cubicle next door chimes in, you might try one of these options. And while you always loath to talk to him for more than five minutes at a time, you have to admit, his advice is pretty good. He must have gotten it off the BlueAccess website’s blog section, because he’s usually not this helpful.

(He did. This one right here. Don’t think about the temporal damage to causality happening from this paradox.)

There are quite a few ways to prevent porch pirates from purloining your mail-order plunder.

Here are just a few suggestions on how to keep your package safe from thieves:

• Track your packages. Most delivery services will let you know when your package is due to arrive. Even if you can’t get home to pick up your package, a neighbor might grab it for you if you let them know when it’s set to arrive. The less time it spends out in the open, the more likely someone can grab it.
• Use a video doorbell. The doorbell can let you know when someone has come onto your porch to drop off the package. If you have smart home technology, you can open the door from afar and ask them to place it inside. If not, you can monitor the package with the video feed and announce to any potential porch pirates they’re on camera, which will likely scare them off sans their intended loot.
• Ask for signature verification. If you know you can have someone at the house, ask the delivery service to require a signature so they aren’t just dropping off a package on an empty porch for any and all to see.
• Invest in a lockbox. Some people put a storage device on their porch which the delivery carrier can put a package into but no one can open without a key or passcode. These devices are handy, but frequently expensive. Depending on their size, they’re unlikely to accommodate large packages, either.
• Have it delivered somewhere else. You might request a package be delivered to your workplace instead of your home. You could invest in a post office box and pick up any deliveries at the post office yourself. Some companies, such as Amazon, have started putting up locations with storage lockers for deliveries, too, allowing you to pick up your package a third-party location in your community.
• Make your home security system prominent. Many thieves who snatch porch packages are just opportunistic rather than actively seeking out something to steal. But either way, neither sort of thief wants to be caught on camera doing the deed. Making your security system, with a doorbell camera aimed right at your tempting package, obvious will keep many a would-be thief from approaching your home at all.

Make sure your mail orders don’t get plucked by porch pirates with these options

With online shopping more popular than ever, home deliveries are only likely to increase for many homeowners. Do what you can to keep them away.

BlueAccess provides several services and devices that can help, including cameras and video doorbells. WIth their help, you can keep the porch pirates at bay and make sure your packages, no matter what they might be, only come to your hands.