Porch Pirate on Underhill Road

[Angelina]

So which companies use couriers who are untraceable, and leave the parcels if you’re not in? They’re the ones that need to be avoided. 

[Jenijenjen]

Timely article in today's Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/dec/07/the-rise-of-parcel-thefts-how-to-protect-yourself-from-porch-pirates

Doesn't really say anything new though

 

22 minutes ago, Angelina said:

So which companies use couriers who are untraceable, and leave the parcels if you’re not in? They’re the ones that need to be avoided. 

Most companies these days do though offer online tracking, usually with links to the courier company they use, or have chosen to use for a particular delivery. In the rare cases where I consider placing an order with a company that can't offer this, I go somewhere else.

[Supercam]

In my experience there is no fool proof solution to this with any company. Delivery drivers are people and people will make mistakes, cut corners, mis-understand instructions or simply not read them. 

I've left instructions for parcels with just about every single company out there and at some point they've all screwed up. 

I think the security camera is the best deterrent for thieves. In this case, my ring door bell spooked them off. I've just installed warning signs at my safe space to make it even clearer that they're being recorded. In the case that mistakes do still happen by the couriers, at least I know about it on the camera and can try to alert a neighbour if I'm not home. 

Its sad that we have to turn our homes into fort knox with cameras but that's the world we live in. 

[Pugwash]

I hear that Landells Road has had a spate of parcels being taken,

[Rockets]

6 hours ago, Supercam said:

I think the security camera is the best deterrent for thieves. In this case, my ring door bell spooked them off. I've just installed warning signs at my safe space to make it even clearer that they're being recorded. In the case that mistakes do still happen by the couriers, at least I know about it on the camera and can try to alert a neighbour if I'm not home. 

Our camera caught two folks doing this. One of them led me to believe the delivery driver was in on it as he left the package in a very odd place that the thief (who arrived about 10 minutes after from a direction where he could not have seen where the driver left it) went straight to it and took it - but he then dumped it halfway down the next road as clearly packets of freeze-dried food for a DofE award wasn't to his liking (karma sucks!). The second time a guy pulled his bike up in broad daylight, walked down to our door, opened the box, threw the empty box down and stuffed what he had found in his backpack and brazenly waved at the camera and then cycled off. Police asked us to upload his picture but we never heard anything back.

[wellington]

We had a parcel stolen a few months ago with the thief being very identifiable and with very good camera footage.  I reported this to the Met Police and told them I had footage but they didn’t ask for it and quickly closed the case. 

[ianr]

How and at what stage did your information about the video reach the police?  

[Rockets]

For us it was via the Met police online reporting portal.