The Simple Steps Illinois Families Are Taking to Stop Package Theft

With the holiday shopping season officially underway, you will be having packages delivered to your house. Ones that you have ordered to be delivered, and others that are being sent to you by friends and family. Thieves know this and are paying attention. Be ready to defend your porch from pirates.

The porch pirates are watching - and possibly teaming up

There are several ways to prevent shipped items from being temptations to those who would pilfer them and keep them or sell them to a secondary market online.

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*Have an alternate delivery location. That could be at your workplace, a friend or neighbor’s house that you know is at home during the day. You could also opt to have the items shipped to carrier stores like a UPS shop, or carrier partner store locations, like a Walgreens or Dollar General store (depending on where you live).

A secondary location for delivery can easily thwart would be pirates

*Security cameras. Many have doorbell cameras these days. Still others, have supplemental home security cameras that can be trained on the front porch to capture on video those that would lay claim to what has been delivered to your front porch. In the winter porch pirates may wear masks to conceal their identity. But, between a multiple camera system you can at least record the pirate’s size and gait, if not their vehicle. In conjunction with motion sensitive lights, these can be a strong deterrent.

Doorbell cameras are on many homes these days and capture a-lot

*Parcel Safes or Drop boxes. These are becoming more popular and provide another level of security for your packages. Some are straight forward, looking like file cabinets sitting on your porch. Others are less obvious and can blend in with your front porch décor. Either way, in an external lock box you can’t tell from the street if there is anything in it. That’s a win.

Personal at home drop boxes can be purchased

*There is strength in numbers. Be a good neighbor and team up with those that live around you to keep a watch out for those who may be rolling down your street looking for boxes sitting idly on front porches. You could also have those neighbors pick up those parcels that have just been delivered and keep them safe until you get home.

Be a good neighbor - Good neighbors are gold

‘Tis the season to protect those items that are being delivered to your house. There are many ways to prevent those thefts. Make the season bright by denying thieves access to stuff that isn’t theirs.