Rural porch pirates: ideas?

[ljjhouser]

We have a sign we post at the end of the road. It clips onto our address sign beside our the road. It instructs the driver to leave package at the sign and call or text(my number). Fedex, UPS and Amazon all are glad to leave the package at the sign. USPS never leaves it there. And I have had to pull them out of trouble on the road 2 different times.
Fedex, UPS and Amazon sometimes call and sometimes do not. But they always leave the package at the sign. I check the tracking during the day, and I know when it has delivered.
I try not to order anything that ships USPS.
I did call USPS to see if there was something I could do to request they leave packages at the sign. I was told "your address is serviced by contract carriers. We don't have any say where they deliver.
A wifi camera is a good idea but not possible there.

 

[beowulf]

Funnily enough, our problem shipper is...OnTrac!

I thought it might be. Yet, they stay in business. Their motto is "On time for less" - it should be "sometimes we deliver, sometimes not". Several years ago my packages were consistently showing as delivered when they were not (Amazon). I advised Amazon of that and suggested that their shipper was likely telling them, Amazon, that their delivery company was meeting their delivery deadlines when they were not. The next time that happened, i.e., shown as delivered when it was not, I actually got a call from Ontrac asking me not to complain because they had a problem with their truck - I said that then they should not have logged it as delivered. They then blamed the driver. Same company.

 

[PBinWA]

Both Fedex and UPS have apps that will notify you of deliveries coming and when they have been delivered.

I have a gate and guard dogs so I don't want delivery drivers coming into my property. I stuck a big plastic garbage can behind some bushes to the side of the gate and trained the drivers to put the packages there. From the road it just looks like my garbage can but it is actually chained to a post. Occasionally a driver doesn't mind the "put packages here sign" (or they can't/don't read) and puts the package beside the gate but the regular drivers are all good.

 

[grsthegreat]

I always wanted to place a trash can next to the atm with a placard. Place all deposits here.

 

[jyoutz]

OP here.

Thanks, all. Some of these comments have been helpful for my own situation. Yeah, I should fix the dammed driveway, but potholes are only part of the problem, as you can see. And good to know that you can't assume drivers will cooperate.

Amazon once had a convenient hub here but that went away. There's now a 24 hour Amazon drawer setup across town that uses a delivery code. Bigger boxes are a problem and there's no other reason to go down there- 20 minutes each way. It was great when USPS put small Amazon packages in the mailbox down there. Now the Amz trucks have to come way up here with just a padded envelope since they aren't allowed to use the mailbox.

Wrap up an old Amazon box of dog crap and leave it in plain view in your yard or porch.

 

[Hay Dude]

Wrap up an old Amazon box of dog crap and leave it in plain view in your yard or porch.

That will make the porch smell real nice.
I suggest teaching theft is wrong to kids from an early age and punishment will be severe.

 

[jyoutz]

That will make the porch smell real nice.
I suggest teaching theft is wrong to kids from an early age and punishment will be severe.

The smell goes away after the pirate steals it.

 

[Jstpssng]

That will make the porch smell real nice.
I suggest teaching theft is wrong to kids from an early age and punishment will be severe.

That would require parents who know right from wrong.

 

[Hay Dude]

That would require parents who know right from wrong.

Oh believe me when I say that process has eluded generations.
Maybe they could squeeze in “you shall not steal” in the kids educations in school?

 

[Steppenwolfe]

That would require parents who know right from wrong.

And TWO parents would be even better!