With the holiday season upon us, package delivery services kick into overdrive. From UPS and the USPS to Amazon and FedEx, people around the country are having large quantities of gifts delivered to their door. Unfortunately, thieves see this as a prime time to walk up and take advantage of an easy score.
Package theft happens no matter what season it is, but with the pandemic causing more people to shop online, the problem will likely become more common. With the holidays right around the corner, more people are looking for ways to prevent their packages from being stolen.
Let’s look at some alternative ways to keep your packages safe this holiday season and all year long:
- Have packages delivered to your place of employment.
- Send them to secure pick-up locations. Most delivery companies offer this option.
- Ask a trustworthy neighbor to receive them until you arrive home.
- Invest in a locking container.
- Conceal your porch from the roadside.
- Install security cameras.
- Use tracking services or required signatures.
- Ask for delivery times that coincide with when you are home.
If you’re normally home, note when packages arrive so you can remove them from your porch as soon as possible. This will help to ensure they don’t disappear.
In the event that a package is stolen from your home, call 311 to report it to your local police department. Also, contact the US Postal Inspection Service at 1-(877)-876-2455 to file a report. If you should witness someone stealing a package from a home that you know is not their own, call 911 to report it.
If you live in a neighborhood where package thieves seem to be a major issue, you might want to consider getting a dog and training it to protect your property. Just don’t forget to teach it not to bite the mailman, or you may not get packages at all.
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