Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
YYou’ve spent hours tracking down bargains in sales, or sourcing the best Christmas A gift for that relative who is hard to please. A few days later, it is nowhere to be seen, but messenger The company claims it has been delivered “safely”. Then a neighbor tells you they’ve seen someone walking across the street with a suspicious pile of brown parcels, and you realize you’ve become a victim of “”.porch pirate,
Porch theft – the act of stealing packages left on doorsteps or in so-called “safe places” – is becoming common. According to tech company data QuadrantThrough Freedom of Information requests, parcels worth £666.5m were stolen across the UK last year – an increase of £290m from 2024.
Quadient figures also show that 4.83 million homes have had at least one delivery, an increase of 31 per cent on last year, while the average value of a stolen parcel has now reached £138. December is the peak month for doorstep theft, no doubt due to the rush to buy festive gifts, with November a close second, perhaps thanks to Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping.
Neighborhood WhatsApp groups, local Facebook pages, and NextDoor communities are all full of warnings and tip-offs, often accompanied by grainy security footage of package snatchers captured by video doorbells. In many cases, porch burglaries are actually daylight robberies, committed by chancers passing by who are happy to grab whatever they can. Says it’s an opportunistic crime thinkmoneyConsumer expert Vicks Leighton. “It’s low effort and low risk, and as we become more and more reliant on online shopping and delivery, the rewards are constantly being replenished,” she explains, adding that thousands of packages are left on doorsteps, in community hallways, or hidden behind whatever nearest item is available.
Just yesterday, a parcel was unceremoniously thrown on top of the secure locker in the reception area of my building, meant to relieve such stress. And surely we’ve all seen the disgruntled social media posts from shoppers who have been sent a photo of their valuables “safely” stashed away on a mat in front of their house; The couriers would also hang a big red sign shouting “Take me” when they knocked on the door.
However, it’s worth keeping in mind that while some delivery drivers are paid an hourly rate, couriers also often work as independent contractors who get paid by the parcel. You can understand why they might have to run from one job to another without waiting for the recipient.
There’s less effort and less risk, and the rewards are consistent
Vicks Leighton, Consumer Expert
Leighton suggests that all these conditions have essentially created “a national treasure hunt for criminals”. “Add in the cost-of-living crisis, and you have even more people willing to gamble on something that isn’t theirs,” she adds.
Londoner Olivia, 33, believes the problem is “endemic” in large blocks of flats, as would-be robbers “ring the buzzers of all the flats until they are let in, and then take the stuff”. Even a bouquet of flowers on her birthday was snatched by an opportunistic thief. “I think that’s a really low step,” she says. “So you steal flowers and then throw them away. [away] Or give them to someone else, and that person opens them to find the card for the original recipient?” Not exactly the most romantic gesture.
These thefts are arguably even more frustrating when the item in question is something that isn’t of much use to anyone else. You can understand why a high-tech gadget might be displayed as someone else’s Christmas gift. But what if an eagle-eyed robber makes off with a box of prescription contact lenses, designed to be worn by you and only you?
That’s exactly what happened to 27-year-old Becky earlier this year. “However, this should not have been a problem in the first place, as the boxes are designed to fit into the letter box, but instead it was left at the front door,” she explains. “There was only three minutes between the delivery notice email and my arrival at home and I discovered the package was missing.”
This type of blatant theft poses a threat not only to homes but also to businesses. Michelin-starred Alliston Street chef patron Phil Howard recently shared footage showing a woman Walking around with £200 worth of langoustines After picking them up from the verandah of the restaurant’s Chelsea premises. “Caught stealing our precious langoustines this morning, you nasty scoundrel,” he wrote on Instagram. And earlier in November, a woman was caught on camera stealing £800 worth of meat from outside another Michelin-starred establishment, Galvin La Chapelle.
So what exactly are your rights when porch pirates attack? “Under consumer law, it is the seller who is responsible for ensuring that parcels are delivered,” explains Katrina Anderson, a regulatory attorney. mills and reeveWhich advises businesses on their relationships with consumers. “If you think your parcel has been stolen from your porch, the first step should be to contact the company that sent the package – usually the retailer.”
This may seem counterintuitive, she says, because the courier is usually the last company to hold your parcel and communicate with you about it. “But your legal contract is with the retailer, and as the seller, they should contact the courier to find out what has happened to the parcel.” If your package is stolen, lost or damaged, and you don’t have physical possession of it, Anderson says, they should offer you a refund or replacement.
However, if you’ve chosen a specific “safe location”, things get a little more complicated. If you have explicitly told the courier that they can leave your delivery on the porch, for example, or hide it behind bins, you are essentially accepting the risk of any potential loss. “People need to be careful about any safe spots they designate,” the consumer expert says. jane hawksBecause if it is delivered there and then disappears, “it may be considered received, and therefore it is very difficult for you to argue your case”.
However, equally, the delivery company cannot decide that a certain location is safe on your behalf. And “if the parcel was left somewhere you didn’t specify” – if it was left in the bin or on the doorstep, for example, without your consent – ”you can still expect the retailer to rectify the problem because it wasn’t delivered securely, it wasn’t delivered as agreed”, says Hawkes.
So what can you do to reduce the chances of it being stolen in the first place? “The best strategy is to remove the opportunity altogether,” says Leighton. This may mean opting to send your package to a pick-up locker or local shop, “to prevent the parcel sitting out like an abandoned gift”. Even if there’s an additional cost to it, she suggests you “weigh it against the cost and administration of a lost item,” and take into account how much time you might have to spend fighting with customer service bots at that time of year.
Hawkes suggests that a video doorbell can also serve as a deterrent, but a “dummy” camera or “Operating CCTV” sign can also do the trick, as potential thieves won’t know you’re being deceived. “They’re not going to have time to check it all,” she says. “They’re not going to take their chances.”
Alternatively, there is always the hope that the thief will become so frustrated with your order that they will bring back the offending item. A friend remembers how a neighbor stole her Amazon parcel, but when they realized it was a mere novel, they returned the torn package. “They opened it, saw it was a historical romance and thought, ‘No, it’s not good enough to steal’,” she says. At least he saw the funny side.