How to camouflage porch deliveries...

[kadee79]

I think this is pretty neat!


www.tiktok.com/@blake.kinsman/video/7135895471976959275?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7135895471976959275

[Tennesseer]

Creative for small stuff.  My Chewy boxes would not fit.  But then I'm mostly home to receive them.

[Tiny]

That's pretty clever.

I have contemplated building a decorative box to put on my porch. Packages could be put into the box. Since the package wouldn't be seen from the sidewalk/street... a thief would have to walk up and actually look in the box to see if there was something to steal. This would stop the thefts of opportunity (where someone sees a package and steals it.) Or course if the thief sees the delivery of the package - they know it's in the box. But then they still need to go up on the porch and open the decorative box to get the package.

Then it's just a matter of getting the delivery people to put the stuff in the box.

[TheOtherMe]

Live in rural America.  I have yet to have a box stolen.  Knock on wood.

[haapai]

It's clever, but is it worth it?  I've never had anything swiped from my porch and I sincerely doubt that anything that I have ever ordered is worth the trouble and risk of stealing.  The resale value of books on WWII battles is low.  Ditto for three side-fat-concealing bras in size 34B.  The only reason to swipe my packages is to re-use or pop the bubble wrap that it is swaddled in.  The contents are pretty much without value to anyone except us. 

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 15, 2022 16:34:38 GMT -5 haapai said:

It's clever, but is it worth it?  I've never had anything swiped from my porch and I sincerely doubt that anything that I have ever ordered is worth the trouble and risk of stealing.  The resale value of books on WWII battles is low.  Ditto for three side-fat-concealing bras in size 34B.  The only reason to swipe my packages is to re-use or pop the bubble wrap that it is swaddled in.  The contents are pretty much without value to anyone except us. 

Do they put pictures on the box as to contents? Just wondering how they know what to steal and what to leave alone? But when I order something I send to son's business so I've never had the problem of missing orders. So I really don't have a dog in this hunt  

[Deleted]

My first year here, around the holidays, UPS and USPS drivers started putting our packages behind the bricks around a flower bed, next to our garage instead of on our front porch. A potential thief would have to walk all the way down our driveway to the garage door to see the packages. But we were sure to see them since we always go inside through the garage.

I was grateful those drivers were so thoughtful to do that on their own.

FTR, FedEx drivers never did that. 

[haapai]

Sept 15, 2022 16:56:11 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Sept 15, 2022 16:34:38 GMT -5 haapai said:

It's clever, but is it worth it?  I've never had anything swiped from my porch and I sincerely doubt that anything that I have ever ordered is worth the trouble and risk of stealing.  The resale value of books on WWII battles is low.  Ditto for three side-fat-concealing bras in size 34B.  The only reason to swipe my packages is to re-use or pop the bubble wrap that it is swaddled in.  The contents are pretty much without value to anyone except us. 

Do they put pictures on the box as to contents? Just wondering how they know what to steal and what to leave alone? But when I order something I send to son's business so I've never had the problem of missing orders. So I really don't have a dog in this hunt  

Nope, there's no pictures on the outside to show what is inside.  You've gotta steal and open up the package to figure out if it was worth swiping. 

What I am trying to say is that you can steal a lot of stuff off of my porch and get nothing except a whole lot of incriminating evidence that you'll have to find a way to ditch.  My partner's retired and repurposed library books, my own unsexy bras, and replacement veggie bins for our fridge aren't worth spit to anyone but us.   The boxes and the bubble wrap are worth more, to most people, than the contents. 

I'm not sure that the dynamic changes much when folks are spending a whole lot more than us on online orders.  The stuff on our porches is just so odd and specialized and identifiable as something that has been stolen that it just isn't worth stealing.  Maybe folks who order ammunition or groceries to be delivered to their homes have something on their porches that can be fenced or repurposed, but the stuff on my porch ain't like that. 

[dannylion]

Sept 15, 2022 10:00:27 GMT -5 Tiny said:

That's pretty clever.

I have contemplated building a decorative box to put on my porch. Packages could be put into the box. Since the package wouldn't be seen from the sidewalk/street... a thief would have to walk up and actually look in the box to see if there was something to steal. This would stop the thefts of opportunity (where someone sees a package and steals it.) Or course if the thief sees the delivery of the package - they know it's in the box. But then they still need to go up on the porch and open the decorative box to get the package.

Then it's just a matter of getting the delivery people to put the stuff in the box.

Getting the delivery beings to cooperate is definitely the weak point in this scheme.  The idea is very clever, though.  

We generally get the same delivery people in our neighborhood.  Some are better than others.  One of the FedEx drivers can't be bothered with traversing my long driveway and putting the packages on my porch, so he just leaves them on the curb next to the mailbox.  I've seen packages left next to mailboxes in other parts of the wider neighborhood, so at least I know it's not just me.  One of our Amazon delivery persons drives down the driveway but cannot seem to summon the energy to walk a few steps to the porch and just leaves packages in front of the garage or on the front walk or sometimes just abandoned in the driveway looking like they fell off the truck.  The mail carrier will drive down the driveway but will then toss the package over the rail at the driveway end of the porch.  It took me a while to learn to check that end of the porch regularly in case a small package was hiding behind the furniture.  None of those people would be likely to put packages into a security box, no matter how cleverly designed it was.  

Speaking of deliveries and dogs (which we were not speaking of dogs, but I will because ... dogs.) The other day, the Amazon guy left a small envelope package leaning against my garage door.  My two dog buddies can see my garage door from the window of their family room.  Their person says that when they finished their breakfast and went to the window to begin surveillance of their territory (which they believe to be everything they can see), they started barking and running to her and back to the window until she went to see what they were all excited about and finally noticed the package leaning against the garage door (it's across a lawn and up the short part of my driveway with bushes and trees all around and sort of off to the far side of the garage door, not immediately noticeable).  She finally realized they had seen the package and had decided it was a threat (they weren't alerted by the delivery, which had happened the night before), so she took them outside so they could inspect it.  I heard them bark at it and poked my head out to see what was up (and to get some quality time with my fuzzy buddies and give them cookies) and heard how it all came about.  After they had sniffed at it and poked at it with their noses and it didn't move or make a noise, they lost interest and went off looking for the groundhog that hangs out under my porch.  My fuzzy buddies are so funny.  

[thyme4change]

Sept 15, 2022 16:56:11 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Sept 15, 2022 16:34:38 GMT -5 haapai said:

It's clever, but is it worth it?  I've never had anything swiped from my porch and I sincerely doubt that anything that I have ever ordered is worth the trouble and risk of stealing.  The resale value of books on WWII battles is low.  Ditto for three side-fat-concealing bras in size 34B.  The only reason to swipe my packages is to re-use or pop the bubble wrap that it is swaddled in.  The contents are pretty much without value to anyone except us. 

Do they put pictures on the box as to contents? Just wondering how they know what to steal and what to leave alone? But when I order something I send to son's business so I've never had the problem of missing orders. So I really don't have a dog in this hunt  

My neighbor had a delivery of K-cups stolen off her porch. They found it down the block - outside box ripped open, and then discarded when they realized it was nothing worth stealing.