Package thieves, also known as “porch pirates” are real and it turns out they are coming for your packages and not just around the holiday shopping season. A recent report estimated that over 23 million Americans had packages stolen from their doorsteps in the last year alone. Many people associate package theft with strictly the holiday season, however new data shows that package theft is an issue all year long, how does one prevent prevent package theft is a key issue facing both retailers and consumers.
Shorr Packaging recently surveyed 1,000 people to understand how the American public is being affected by mail theft in 2017. This is an especially timely story with Amazon Prime day happening next week that is expected to be one of the biggest days for online shopping all year. Let’s examine some of the more interesting data points that came from the survey.
Shorr found that 31% of respondents stated that they had personally experienced delivery theft. They asked how often do you receive packages and a majority of the respondents (41%) said 3-5 times a month. They also asked what is the most that you’d feel safe spending online for an item that has to be shipped to you. The majority of respondents (35%) said between $101-$500.
They also looked at these data points:
- How much do you spend online per month for purchases to be shipped to you?
- Average e-commerce spending by region
- Average e-commerce spending per income level
- Where consumers prefer to send their packages
- What items people avoided buying online due to fear of package theft
- What should online retailers do to help prevent package theft
There was also some interesting data around preventing package theft.
- 61% of respondents said they felt online retailers were not doing enough to prevent package theft
- On the other hand 58% stated that they believed shipping companies are doing what they can do to prevent package theft.
It’s interesting that consumers aren’t happy with online retailers but don’t pass the blame to shipping companies. On top of that 71% of people said they would be open to having their packages sent to a secure location with a locker instead of having the package being shipped to their home when they aren’t home. Consumers believe that more discreet packaging, shipping to a secure location and package theft insurance could help reduce package theft. To see the full results from the survey from Shorr Packaging, check out the full infographic below.
