When mail thievery is prevalent, sometimes you have to mix common sense with creativity.
Thieves who steal mail have caused people to become cautious about mailing items such as cash, gift cards, bills, and any documents containing personal information.
Add to the concern Americans love for online shopping and porch pirates have found their bounty.
“In 2023, [Americans] collectively spent over $1 trillion on e-commerce purchases that shipped in more than 21 billion packages. That’s nearly three times as many packages as there are people on the whole planet,” per 2023 Package Theft Annual Statistics and Trends.
Porch pirates made off with $8 billion worth of goods in 2023, reported Security.org.
In California, a woman found a clever way to deal with mail theft suspects who were helping themselves to her goods in her Los Alamos post office box.
The woman decided to mail herself an Apple AirTag locator device. This allowed the sheriff’s office to track and arrest the perpetrators.
Per the Santa Barbar County Sheriff’s Office’s August 2024 news release, the suspects were tracked and “found in possession of the victim’s mail, including the package with the AirTag as well as items believed to be stolen from over a dozen additional victims.”
Going back further, The Dallas Express reported a story about an individual who invented a “Glitter Bomb” to deter package thieves. Mark Rober, an engineer at YouTube, designed a Glitter Bomb that, upon opening, releases a burst of glitter and an unpleasant smell.
Although the following suggestions are not as imaginative as the two examples above, they are still practical suggestions to hopefully help prevent sticky fingers from touching your mail:
- Try to schedule your shipments for times when you are at home.
- Use package tracking to stay updated on the status of your deliveries.
- Consider having your packages delivered to pickup locations.
- Think about investing in a locked mailbox for added security.
- Bring your mail and packages inside promptly after they are delivered.
- Install a doorbell camera for added surveillance.
- Don’t flag your mailbox as having outgoing mail.
- Opt for shopping in-store or online with in-store pickup options.
- Consider installing external lights or signs for added security.
- Ask your neighbors to bring your packages inside if you’re not home.