Holiday Mail Theft Prevention

With the big Holiday season around the corner, mail thieves are going to be pulling more stunts and attempting to steal mail and packages from you and your neighbors!

This recent news segment from KOB4 featuring a neighborhood in Albuquerque, NM shows “Porch Pirates” taking advantage of this time of the year on all the gifts and goodies the delivery companies are leaving at your front door. In their news video, they featured our Package Master mailbox that Melissa Smith bought after realizing mail thieves were targeting her neighborhood. As shown in the video, the thieves are targeting easy to open mailboxes on top of grabbing the bigger delivered packages. However the thieves immediately gave up on the Package Master and moved on to the more easy to open mailboxes.

December is the worst month for mail theft, as thieves are targeting mailboxes to steal checks and gift cards from the mail. However, mail thieves have not slowed down in 2017, and are targeting unlocked and low security locking mailboxes.

If you don’t have a neighborhood watch block captain like this neighborhood in Albuquerque, here are some additional tips and tricks to keep delivered packages from being stolen:

Buy a Mail Boss!
If you do not already own a locking mailbox, you are highly vulnerable to becoming a victim of mail theft and identity theft. An unlocked mailbox is an easy open invitation to thieves and criminals to steal your mail and subsequently your identity.
***With Black Friday coming in hot at the end of this week, we might be offering an amazing deal on one of our very popular curbside mailbox that we carry! So definitely check back on our website or social media pages to see what sort of surprise we will have in store for your upcoming big shopping extravaganza from Black Friday to Cyber Monday!***

Regardless on which locking mailbox brand you go with, please consider taking the first step in protecting your sensitive information from would-be identity thieves with a high quality security mailbox.

If you are expecting bigger parcels/packages that doesn’t fit into a locking security mailbox: 

1.Put Your Mail On Hold
If you are planning on being out of town for the holidays, the U.S. Post Office will hold your mail and packages up to 30 days and this service is free of charge! When you’re back in town, you can either pick up your mail at your local post office or request for them to deliver all your mail and packages to your home.

2. Use an Amazon Locker
We all love doing last minute shopping with Amazon.com! If you are expecting a big Amazon package that doesn’t fit in any of our Mail Boss products, you should have Amazon deliver your packages to an Amazon locker near your home.

3. Explore the Options with UPS & FedEx
-Request a signature for delivery
-Ship to an alternate location such as your workplace
-Have packages held at the carrier’s location for up to 5 days
For a small fee you can also get the UPS’ My Choice or FedEx Delivery Manager app to help you reschedule so that the package can be delivered when you are home to accept the package. For a yearly membership fee, UPS offers unlimited rescheduling and rerouting services.

**If your package does stolen: You can file a claim online with USPS, FedEx or UPS.

4. Try Package Guard
This is another Seattle local startup company that created this Frisbee size device that you place by the front door of your home for when a package gets delivered and placed on the Package Guard, you’ll be notified with a text message or email. If anyone unauthorized tries to steal your package, a loud alarm sets off and you will receive an immediate notification via text.

For more information check out Package Guard’s website.

5. Use a lockbox
There are several different types and sizes of lockboxes. Landport offers a simple yet high-tech version that can be bolted down to your front porch. With a five-digit code the box electronically unlocks. That code can be given to your delivery company and can be changed at any time.

The price for these boxes start at $500 and go up to $800 for larger ones.