As I sit in my office and write this post, Christmas 2024 is a mere 21 days away. I have already had numerous package deliveries to my house this week; I’m expecting several more. I am fortunate in that I work from home. I can keep track of all my packages in real time. If I worked outside of the home, you can bet I would be worried about package theft.
Considering that possibility led me to do a little research on the state of package theft as we head into 2025. My research led me to an excellent Vivint Home Security post presented as the home security company’s annual report on the topic. The report featured some interesting statistics that I’d like to get into here.
Note that Vivint’s data was compiled from a survey of 1,000 American adults. Their numbers are pretty consistent with other reports I have read in the past.
1. More Than 10% Have Experienced Package Theft
The first statistic reveals that more than 10% of U.S. adults have experienced package theft within the last year. If there are 20 houses on your street, at least two of them have probably been victimized. A neighborhood consisting of 100 houses has been hit a minimum of 10 times in the last year. That’s incredible.
Are there people within your circle of friends who have had packages stolen? And if so, have you ever known the same number of people to be victims of home burglary? When you stop and consider the stats, it’s easy to see how prolific package theft is in the 2020s.
As for why, I suspect porch piracy is a popular crime because it’s so easy to get away with. It takes less than half a minute to snatch a package off a porch, climb in your car, and drive away. And unfortunately, the risks of getting caught aren’t very high.
2. 28% Were Victimized on Black Friday
Among those survey respondents who reported having packages stolen within the last year, 28% reported being victimized on Black Friday. I find this rather curious. Why? Because Black Friday is normally associated with in-store shopping.
Cyber Monday is the online shopping holiday. Moreover, Cyber Monday deliveries don’t arrive until Tuesday or later.
It could be that package thieves expect their victims to be out shopping on Black Friday, leaving packages unprotected. But still, a lot of people afraid to hit the stores on Black Friday prefer just to stay home and do other things.
That means a lot of extra eyes in the neighborhood, eyes that can spot package thieves and report them to police.
3. More Than 20% Spent $100+ on Replacements
Next up on the hit pray of package theft statistics is this one: more than 20% of self-reporting package theft victims spent more than $100 replacing stolen gifts.
I’m not sure exactly how shipping insurance plays into this. Nonetheless, people paying to replace stolen packages are paying for the same items twice.
The other side of that coin is the 17% of survey respondents who said they could not afford to replace stolen packages. I’m guessing they weren’t successful in convincing shippers to replace the items for free.
I guess anyone worried about package theft should check with retailers about their theft policies. I would assume most retailers aren’t willing to cover the risk.
But I don’t know for sure. I would be very wary of purchasing high ticket items online if there were no way to insure the delivery against loss.
4. 6% Lost More Than $500 to Porch Piracy
I would be upset at losing a package worth $100. But according to survey data, 6% of the respondents said they had lost more than $500 to porch pirates. That’s a lot of money whether you can afford to replace stolen items or not.
What makes this worse is the fact that some high-ticket items are very important to consumers but have no resale value on the street. For example, I once read a story involving a child whose life saving medication was stolen.
The medication had no street value because it was a specialized drug to treat a rare condition. In all likelihood, the thief threw the package away when he discovered what was in it.
Meanwhile, the patient’s family could not afford to replace the medication. I’m not sure where they came up with the money to do so. The original prescription probably wound up in a dumpster somewhere.
5. Americans Are Addicted to Package Tracking
Last but not least, Vivint’s survey reveals that 14% of us are addicted to tracking our packages. That doesn’t surprise me at all. I wouldn’t consider myself an addict, but I do pay attention to package tracking whenever I shop online.
As you probably already know, Amazon sends out emails whenever orders are shipped. I watch for those emails.
As soon as one comes in, I begin tracking the progress of my package by checking it once per day. On the day of delivery, I start tracking at about the time I know delivery drivers are in my neighborhood.
I have also signed up for the US Postal Service’s Informed Delivery service. I get daily emails telling me what I can expect in my mailbox. If I am expecting a package on a given day, I make sure to get down and retrieve my mail as soon as it arrives.
A Reality of Modern Life
After going through the Vivint survey and studying all the data, I had to admit that package theft is a reality of modern life. It is a crime that will continue as long as we keep having packages delivered to our doors.
The best we can do is take every step possible to thwart package thieves. But as we find ways to stop them, they work on new ways to steal from us. That’s just life.
