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Almost one in four U.S. adults (24%) say they’ve had a package stolen, according to a recent survey of more than 1,000 online shoppers by Aurora, Ill.-based Shorr Packaging Corp.
Of these package-theft victims, 64% have sought to thwart package thieves by having packages mailed to a different address than their home such as an office address, and nearly eight in 10 have changed plans to make sure they were around to receive a package that required no signature.
Some 58% of victims plan to change their online-shopping habits during the holidays because of package-theft risk. Another 29% have taken their preventive efforts a step further, having moved or changed their residence “based on package theft or risk of package theft.”
The pool of all respondents was generally less likely to report taking such measures: For example, 36% of the total sample say they’ve sent a package somewhere other than their home address, 54% say they’ve changed plans in order to receive a package in person, and nearly seven in 10 said they weren’t willing to change up their online holiday shopping habits in the face of package theft.
Just over half of all respondents reported not having a private, hidden area for secure delivery of packages.
Just over half of all respondents reported not having a private, hidden area for secure delivery of packages.
About 52% also said they thought delivery companies weren’t taking enough preventive measures against package theft. But more than half of survey respondents have launched their own efforts: In that group, 45% have scheduled delivery, 33% have installed home security systems, 31% use a video doorbell, 19% use package lockboxes, and 5% grant remote access to delivery areas.
The study joined a recent handful of reports shedding light on the issue of “porch pirates.” A separate report from the Chicago-based market-research agency C + R Research surveyed 2,000 consumers who had shopped online in the past year, finding that 36% had a package stolen. The average cost of replacing a stolen item was $109, but nearly three in four theft victims said they’d gotten a refund.
While a majority of these victims (56%) said they had only had packages stolen once, others reported theft occurring twice (22%), thrice (10%), four times (3%) and even five or more times (9%).
Some package-theft victims reported taking precautions to prevent future porch piracy, shelling out an average of $191 on home security: One in four said they’d added a doorbell camera, 19% said they had added some other camera, 17% employed motion lights, 10% bought a dog, 5% installed a fence or gate, and 4% said they had used Amazon’s AMZN, +1.20% Key and Smart Lock Kit to enable in-home delivery.
Forty-four percent of respondents said delivery services weren’t doing enough to keep the pirates at bay.
Reached for comment by MarketWatch, spokes people for three of the largest delivery services touted a variety of features aimed at getting packages to their intended recipient.
A spokesman for Amazon, which owns the controversial video-doorbell maker Ring, pointed to the company’s Logistics Map Tracking for real-time delivery tracking; Logistics Photo-on-Delivery for visual confirmation of where a package was delivered; the Amazon Day delivery option that lets Prime members group purchases to be delivered together; the Key service for in-home, in-car and in-garage delivery; and Amazon Hub, which includes the company’s Locker and Counter networks.
A UPS UPS, -1.10% spokeswoman shared several options for customers concerned about the security of their home deliveries: Have the shipment sent to where they are (like their workplace during the day) or to a relative or neighbor who’s home during the day; tell UPS drivers where they would like packages left, so drivers can input the information for future deliveries; and sign up for the free UPS My Choice service to have more control over when and how packages are delivered.
UPS My Choice members also have access to a network of more than 14,000 UPS Access Points across the country, the spokeswoman said, including UPS stores, Michaels MIK, +0.24%, CVS CVS, +0.13% and neighborhood delicatessens. “By the end of 2020, 90% of Americans will live within five miles of a UPS Access Point location,” she said. Customers might also consider using their local UPS store’s mailbox services to receive packages, she added.
A FedEx FDX, +0.01% spokesman, meanwhile, highlighted the company’s Delivery Manager feature, which lets customers redirect their packages to locations like FedEx offices, Walgreens WBA, +0.80% , some Dollar General stores DG, -0.03% and some grocery stores for pickup. It also allows for scheduling deliveries, requesting a signature, requesting a vacation hold and providing delivery instructions, the spokesman said.
