New Survey Finds Porch Pirates Hauling Off a Huge Bounty in 2020
Tags: Security Camera, Online Shopping

By Deb Hipp for Debt.com

Now that the holiday season is upon us and people are ordering Black Friday online deals to be shipped to their homes, “porch pirates” are out in full force looking for their own good deals — packages waiting at your front door. It’s not like porch pirates have been idle until now, though.

More than 35 million Americans say they’ve been victims of package theft and around 14% of Americans say they’ve been the victim of porch pirates stealing packages over the past 12 months, according to a new survey by Finder, a financial services company.

Holiday purchases and the rise in online shopping due to COVID-19 have created the perfect storm for porch pirates plundering expensive items they can resell or keep for themselves.

1. Americans lost billions of dollars to porch pirates

Americans lost about $5.4 billion from package theft in the last 12 months, according to the Finder survey. That’s nearly 36 million consumers staring at empty porches that once contained their pretty packages. The average value of stolen goods: $156.

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2. Many victimized more than once

Most respondents to the Finder survey say they had packages stolen once (39%) or twice (36%) over the last year. Another 11% report being plundered by porch pirates three or more times. An unfortunate 5% were victimized at least five times.

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3. More men than women were victims

More men (17%) than women (11%) told Finder that delivered items were stolen from them. The survey also found that the average cost of a stolen package was higher for men ($190) than the value reported by women ($111).

4. Millennials hit hardest by package theft

Around 22% of millennials reported having packages stolen by porch pirates, with 41% saying they had a package stolen within the last 12 months, according to the Finder survey.

The survey also found that millennials had the highest average value ($185.97) on items stolen, followed by Gen X ($165) and baby boomers ($124). In total, millennials lost about $2.7 billion to porch pirate theft. Gen X lost $1.6 billion, followed by baby boomers, who lost $0.7 billion.

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5. Porch pirates targeted high earners

Consumers earning high salaries probably have more to spend on online purchases, so it’s not surprising these high earners also were more frequent victims of porch pirates.

Americans earning more than $120,000 a year led the way (27%) in reporting stolen packages for the Finder survey.

Those making $100,000 to $120,000 were also hit hard (25%). Meanwhile, only 12% of people earning between $20,000 and $60,000 annually reported packages stolen.

6. Porch pirate’s karma

Around 3% of respondents admitted stealing a package in the last 12 months. Of those who reported having a package stolen, around 1 in 10 fessed up to stealing someone else’s package themselves at least once.

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7. Most porch pirates are men

Men are 522% more likely to resort to porch piratery than women, according to the Finder survey. Just over 5% of survey respondents who admitted stealing someone else’s package were men while less than 1% were women.

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8. Opt for curbside pickup when you can

Want to avoid being ripped off by porch pirates? Finder recommends taking advantage of curbside pickup when you can to deter prowling porch pirates in your neighborhood. As of August, around 76% of the top 50 store-based retailers offered curbside pickup, according to Coresight Research.[1]

Other porch pirate foil tips from Finder include having packages shipped to your workplace, installing surveillance cameras like a Ring doorbell, and asking neighbors to take or hide anticipated packages until you return home.[2]

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This article by Deb Hipp was originally published on Debt.com.