Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A new survey by CNET finds 1 in 6 people have been dealing with porch piracy already this year. It comes as billions worth of gifts will be on porches and the temptation of piracy grows.
Dashia Milden of CNET says Americans could have an estimated $291 on their doorsteps for the holiday season. She says you'll want to put a plan in place to make sure you're protecting your packages from thieves lurking around for packages that might seem convenient to have shipped to your home, but also could be at risk of being stolen.
Milden says if you know that you're going to be away from home, do one of two things. "Either asking your neighbor or even just checking with the delivery service to see, if there a service available where you can have those packages left at a location, a safe location, such as UPS FedEx or even an Amazon locker to protect it until you return home," recommends Milden.
Milden says 71 percent currently take or plan to take some sort of action to prevent package theft, marking a 3 percent increase compared to last year. She says 20 percent will rely on security cameras and another 20 percent will rely on doorbell cameras. "Cameras can be a great deterrent, my recommendation is making sure that the camera, via the secure outdoor security camera, or even a video doorbell, making sure that it actually detects packages. So while most of them detect, let's say people and pets, you want to make sure that it detects the package when it arrives, but also that you'll get a notification if that package you know, happens to be moved," adds Milden.
That survey finds 2 in 3 of those polled reported no porch piracy to them or to anyone they know. Milden says that's no excuse for not having a plan. "If it never happen, hey, at least you've made sure that you have a plan in place. But if it does, you in the meantime, you know what you can do in terms of taking action," says Milden.
CNET commissioned YouGov Plc to conduct the survey. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2467 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 28th - 30th October 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18+). The survey found that the mean package value across all participants breaks down to $291.38 (based on the average package amounts provided by the 2,467 US adults surveyed). This could add up to $76 billion in packages at risk of theft this season when spread across the 262 million adults living in the US.
