How to deter theft of your mail -- video evidence

what a sad state of affairs, i've never heard of stealing mail. what do they want with it?

 

Possible credit cards, cheques, money orders, etc.
Someone stole my new visa card and was using it while I was still using the old one kept in my wallet!

 

i thought you had to call to initialize them?

 

I think Steve is referring to package theft off the porch.

You never heard of stealing mail??? Do you live in Disneyland or something? Package theft here, in sunny gang-ridden Southern California is a popular crime. Especially this time of year. Just on the news tonight, they showed a video of crooks dressed up as the pizza delivery man, and the UPS man! The thugs follow the FedEx truck around, or the mail truck, and they see which houses the packages are delivered to. Then they make their move.

And some other creeps broke into the local post office, and made off with all the mailbox keys so they can open multiple boxes in apartment buildings, condos, etc. It seems to get worse every year. A beautiful society, isn't it?

 

honestly, no. i have heard of people following delivery trucks around Christmastime and stealing packages when people aren't home.
yes, i do live close to disneyland, so why do i want to move to anaheim? it's too cold here for burglars.

 

I respect all you good folks who live in the freezing cold, snowy states. I probably wouldn't last ONE week under those kinds of weather conditions! (Most Californians are big wimps. Some people complain about a little bit of rain.) My weather app shows Boston at 19 degrees right now. I'm shivering just thinking about that…

 

i'm a wimp. it started around 12 years ago, when we decided to spend a week in florida. for 50 years, i had no idea what i was missing.
3 degrees tonight and a wind chill of 10 below. but not the coldest place in the country.

they're rounding up all the homeless people for free night in the armory. when i was in phoenix, at least they could sleep in the park under a newspaper.

 

The delivery companies pretty much require a signature but my wife can't reach the door fast enough. So the package goes back to their depot. Any more, I have packages delivered to work. Anyone can sign and there has yet to be a problem.

Bob Wilson

 

In my experience, here in California, they just toss the package on the front porch, no signature required. Most times they don't even ring the doorbell or knock on the door. So you have no idea it's laying out there.
(I only had to sign one time, and that was when I ordered a cell phone several years ago.)

Now I use the UPS app, and they email me package delivery updates and I try and be home when the package is coming. The thieves are out in full force right now.

 

yesterday, the mailman drove up my driveway, through a package of gift fruit onto the ground from the drivers seat, did a 3 point turn on my (frozen) lawn, and drove off. do those vehicles not have reverse?

 

Not when it happened to me, but maybe nowadays. I was on a course when the police rang me to ask where my card was. They were as surprised as me when I told them it was in my wallet. - and verified it for them.

 

That's pretty bad. Holiday stress? No excuse, of course. But I can certainly recall the pressure and stress during the holidays. I worked for the US Postal Service a couple years... I couldn't take it anymore than that, without the "going postal." (just kidding, I found a better paying career.)

 

Big Bell uses locking package boxes for many of our offices.

I've seen them in the interwebs decked out in suburban trim, but I refuse to go that route for my personal packages.
It's not a thing in my neighborhood, because I have one of the most effective security systems on the planet:
Retired Neighbors with a little yappy dog.

 

How far is Disneyland from Massachusetts, even in a pip is not that close surely?

It's a mild day here abnormally warm for time of year and 12° but at least that's centigrade!

3 point turn without reverse ain't easy!

 

I'd think the easiest way would just be hang the shot gun up high, then a bit of string and some cheap pulleys so when they pull the box it pulls the trigger,. Concealment can just be a bit of cloth or something....... Oh you don't want to actually kill the thieves? Why not?



as a kid we'd tape marbles or what not to the primer. Throw the shell in the air and when it comes down if it lands on the marble it'll usually setoff the primer. The trick was to either load it without shot or use a pocket knife or something to pry open the shell and dump the shot out. That shot typically weighed more than marble so it'd land on the face or side of the shell rather than the marble side. I don't remember it needing that big of a drop to work. It's loud, but without the barrel it's not that loud and anything coming out quickly loses velocity.

 

I've been very tempted Mr Mischief.

We used to have a very good UPS man. He would take the package all the way to the back gate, and set it on the ground behind the gate where thieves can't see it. That guy deserved a nice Christmas tip. If there's one thing I absolutely hate, it's thieves! We've had quite a string of break-ins lately in my neighborhood. Might be time to lock & load!

 

Doorbell and other surveillance cameras help. The resolution on these things is actually pretty decent now, and you can use motion detection as well to alert you immediately on your mobile phone.

As noted, delivery services don't always ring the doorbell, but now you can know to remove the package immediately after motion detection. It's also helpful to trace the thieve if they do take your package.

I'm amazed by all of the people I see on our video camera who comment as they walk up and recognize and comment on the video camera doorbell which should act as a significant deterrent.

 

If I was having that problem I would just get a P.O. mailbox