It’s officially holiday shopping season, which means that the volume of package deliveries is on the rise all over Montgomery and Bucks Counties. Unfortunately, an increase in deliveries also means an increase in local crime. Package theft, or porch piracy, happens all year. But it is usually most excessive during these months of holiday shopping when thieves are more likely to score valuable items while blending in with all the extra traffic from delivery drivers.
The financial loss from stolen packages is frustrating enough, but the emotional toll can be much worse. Even though the thief never enters your home, there is a deep sense of being violated when someone comes onto your property and takes your things. Victims are also left with a bad memory associated with gifts or holiday supplies that they put a great deal of thought and effort into purchasing. Even if the items are refunded or replaced, that terrible feeling never completely goes away.
This holiday season, the best protection strategy for your purchases is prevention. Make it outright impossible for thieves to access your deliveries or make sure it’s not worth the attempt. With just a bit of reasonable effort, you can avoid the potential of your holiday packages getting stolen.
Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Stolen Packages?
Your homeowners insurance policy is specifically designed to protect your property, including in the case of theft. From a purely technical standpoint, if your property is stolen from the exterior of your home, it is covered by your homeowners policy. This applies to renters insurance policies as well.
In the insurance world, we are careful to advise our clients that just because something is covered, that does not automatically mean filing a claim is the right call. This is why it’s so important to work with an experienced local insurance agent rather than a self-serve national provider. Our job is to talk through the incident with you to make sure you don’t end up with a bigger problem than the stolen packages.
Most homeowners insurance policies have a deductible of $1,000 or more. This means that even if you file a claim, you will be responsible for paying the value of your deductible before insurance takes over. If your stolen packages cost less than your deductible, you will end up with a claim history and increased rates, but no financial coverage for the theft. At Smyrl Insurance, we sympathize with clients as they tell us what happened, but we rarely suggest that they file an insurance claim. In most cases, a porch piracy event will not meet the deductible. Realistically, anything that exceeds the value of a homeowner’s deductible would not be left at their unattended front door. What we do next is offer several strategies for avoiding porch piracy in the future.
The First Line of Defense for Package Delivery Protection is Timing
When the notion of 2-day delivery first arrived on the scene, it was exciting. Most people were thrilled to get their online purchases so quickly. Now, confirming delivery details during the checkout process is practically thoughtless. And because of that, packages are far more vulnerable to theft.
Today, customizing your delivery day and time is much easier. While the default is still to want things as soon as possible, it is usually a better idea to arrange delivery around your personal schedule. Choose a delivery date and time for when someone will actually be home to receive the package. This way, it can be brought inside right away, removing the likelihood of theft.
If your schedule is impossible to match up with the delivery service options, there are some alternatives that can keep your packages out of a thief’s hands:
- Receive packages at work. Always check with your employer first to make sure it’s okay to receive deliveries at your work address. This might be something that is only offered with special permission during the holidays, or it could be a convenient workplace perk that boosts employee morale.
- Partner with your neighbors to create a package delivery network. When neighbors work together to watch out for each other’s homes, overall crime can be significantly reduced. If only one neighbor is home and available all day to watch over packages for multiple homes, make sure to do something nice as a thank you!
- Rent a delivery locker at a local facility. While picking up packages from a local UPS Store, post office, or Amazon Locker means taking several extra trips during the holidays, the security may be well worth it.
- Install a delivery lock box at your front door. Special weatherproof containers allow delivery drivers to place items inside, but do not allow removal. When connected with smart technology, these boxes can even alert you to a delivery.
Other options include requiring a signature and using Informed delivery through www.usps.com so that you always know what is being delivered and when. Just keep in mind that if you require a signature on deliveries, packages can be returned to the sender after several failed attempts.
Technology-based Security Measures for Protecting Packages at Your Door
Video surveillance technology populates many front doors in our Montgomery County and Bucks County suburbs. Homeowners appreciate the ability to see who is at their door and whether or not they should be there. The presence of a video doorbell should deter most thieves, and it will also provide some evidence in the case of a crime.
Video doorbells are not the best preventative measure for protecting holiday deliveries, however. Criminals have gotten adept at concealing their identity so that the video doorbells can’t catch any decent evidence. Not only that, but thieves are savvy enough to try to determine whether or not someone is actually home before they approach the porch. And they know they will be long gone before law enforcement arrives.
Surveillance technology will certainly deter some of the less sophisticated criminals, but professional thieves are pretty good at evading them. Video doorbells are much better used in combination with the planned timing delivery methods mentioned above.
What to Do When Your Packages are Stolen
Despite your best prevention efforts, theft can still occur. If a porch pirate hits your home, report it to local police. Many homeowners think that the package is most likely gone forever, so there is no point in calling the police. While property recovery is probably not going to happen, establishing a pattern of crime can help local law enforcement reduce future incidents. If everyone reports stolen packages, police will gain a better understanding of when and where thieves are operating in the area. This will help them patrol the neighborhoods during specific times of day. They may also develop useful community resources for better prevention.
It is also important to report the theft to the retailer and the shipping carrier. Many companies have refund and replacement policies for prompt reporting of stolen packages. They may require a police report, as well.
Protect Your Property this Holiday Season
By taking proactive steps to avoid package theft, you will have one less thing to worry about during the holiday season. The combination of awareness and planning creates a more secure delivery environment for your home and neighborhood.
If you are surprised to learn that your homeowners insurance may not help you financially recover from porch pirates, it’s time to learn more about your policy. At Smyrl Insurance, we educate, nurture, and empower homeowners through insurance to make sure they don’t have any surprises about what qualifies as a claim. If you would like to review your current homeowners or renters policy, or learn more about how your policy applies to theft and other losses, contact us. We provide homeowners, renters, umbrella, and other personal insurance solutions in Hatfield, Lansdale, Souderton, Harleysville, and throughout the region in Montgomery County and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
