Rural porch pirates: ideas?

[jmc]

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.

 

[Jchonline]

I'd like to minimize delivery trucks on my 5/8 mile, soft-when-wet lane. Thinking about mounting a job box or similar down by the road and train the drivers to lock packages in it instead of racing up to the house as fast as the potholes will allow them to drive. Seems like they would cooperate since deliveries/day is one of their metrics, and it's 2 minutes drive time each way. Anybody tried this or see any problems?

BTW, Consumer Reports reviewed plastic drop boxes targeted at more urban areas and mentioned urban theft is 16% vs 8% rural theft. (A plastic box at my place would just be a beacon.)

Put a wifi camera with motion alert detection at the spot where packages are dropped. You will know when something is delivered, then you can promptly go get it. If you are going to be away from home, see if a neighbor can grab them for you.

If you dont have WiFi and want to know how to set it up let me know.

 

[Jchonline]

Not everyone can afford a properly trained guard dog. There’s the purchase of the dog, immunizations, vet bills, food and a lot of time that it takes to train and look after the dog. Some people are allergic to dogs.
Why should anyone have to go through all these expenses to prevent this now rampant theft crime? We know it’s the “new norm” of minimal charges or no imprisonment, even glamorization of it that’s the cause!
Does everyone have to own security cameras, guard dogs, guns, alarms or can we be tough enough on crime to greatly reduce it?

Unfortunately its going to be the former for the next few years…..who knows maybe decades. Society has gotten soft.

 

[seville009]

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.

Put some chains on those tires.....could probably have backed out of that with chains and the loader pushing you.

 

[ponytug]

Yes we also have a local delivery service that occasionally acts as a subcontractor for some companies that I have made it clear to shippers that we accept no responsibility for anything shipped via them. We had too many packages that were "delivered", or that "the address was incorrect" so shipment was refused (almost always late in the day, e.g. 9pm, suddenly the address is an issue...). I do wonder where they recruit drivers from, because we have never had a trouble with anyone else. I have only rarely had any flack from a vendor about it. For the few that get scrappy about it, I just point out that they chose these flakes, not me.

For those of you with UPS, they changed their tracking policy earlier this year to give fewer details because they discovered that thieves were tracking their trucks and stealing the delivered packages. I have a UPS account and they sent a note at the time explaining why they were reducing the tracking information. Long discussion over on Reddit.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Jstpssng]

Yes we also have a local delivery service that occasionally acts as a subcontractor for some companies that I have made it clear to shippers that we accept no responsibility for anything shipped via them. We had too many packages that were "delivered", or that "the address was incorrect" so shipment was refused (almost always late in the day, e.g. 9pm, suddenly the address is an issue...). I do wonder where they recruit drivers from, because we have never had a trouble with anyone else. I have only rarely had any flack from a vendor about it. For the few that get scrappy about it, I just point out that they chose these flakes, not me.

For those of you with UPS, they changed their tracking policy earlier this year to give fewer details because they discovered that thieves were tracking their trucks and stealing the delivered packages. I have a UPS account and they sent a note at the time explaining why they were reducing the tracking information. Long discussion over on Reddit.

All the best,

Peter

I was wondering why they did that. It used to be that if I was home and paying attention, I could go meet the truck and save the driver about 3 miles.

 

[ponytug]

I was wondering why they did that. It used to be that if I was home and paying attention, I could go meet the truck and save the driver about 3 miles.

Me, too. I would go out and say hi. One of our drivers was an avid gardener and we were at the end of his run, so we would pass on farm fresh veggies, flowers, or steaks for the holidays.

Times change.

 

[beowulf]

Yes we also have a local delivery service that occasionally acts as a subcontractor for some companies that I have made it clear to shippers that we accept no responsibility for anything shipped via them. We had too many packages that were "delivered", or that "the address was incorrect" so shipment was refused (almost always late in the day, e.g. 9pm, suddenly the address is an issue...). I do wonder where they recruit drivers from, because we have never had a trouble with anyone else. I have only rarely had any flack from a vendor about it. For the few that get scrappy about it, I just point out that they chose these flakes, not me.

I tried the same thing - notified the shippers that a particular delivery company was in my opinion totally unreliable and not to ship anything to me using Ontrac. And there is a locally based fb group for 'neighborhood news' and there are very frequent posts complaining about the same delivery company - over and over the same complaints - items not delivered, company said they were delivered. When I did not get my power drill despite being told it was delivered I asked for the address to which they claimed they delivered my power drill and asked to speak to the driver - they would not tell me - their reason was that if I went to that address I might do something that could get me hurt (???). The shipper gave me a replacement drill.

 

[lman]

Put a wifi camera with motion alert detection at the spot where packages are dropped. You will know when something is delivered, then you can promptly go get it. If you are going to be away from home, see if a neighbor can grab them for you.

If you dont have WiFi and want to know how to set it up let me know.

Wouldn't wifi be weak at that distance?

 

[ponytug]

I tried the same thing - notified the shippers that a particular delivery company was in my opinion totally unreliable and not to ship anything to me using Ontrac. And there is a locally based fb group for 'neighborhood news' and there are very frequent posts complaining about the same delivery company - over and over the same complaints - items not delivered, company said they were delivered. When I did not get my power drill despite being told it was delivered I asked for the address to which they claimed they delivered my power drill and asked to speak to the driver - they would not tell me - their reason was that if I went to that address I might do something that could get me hurt (???). The shipper gave me a replacement drill.

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