I will admit that I was a big fan of the video doorbell as an anti-porch piracy device when it first came out years ago. Video doorbells were new to everyone. They were new enough to scare porch pirates away. But thieves ignore them now. A YouTube video showing two thieves fighting over a package in broad daylight proves as much.
The incident in question took place in Sinking Spring, PA. The town sits approximately one mile northwest of Philadelphia. From the video, it looks like a normal suburban community not unlike any other community elsewhere in the country. Packages are delivered here by the same companies that visit your neighborhood.
Remarkably, a homeowner’s video doorbell recorded both the package delivery and the two porch pirates fighting over the box. It all occurred during the day and while the homeowner was home. So much for video doorbells scaring away porch pirates.
They Were Waiting for It
An even more remarkable aspect to this incident is that the two thieves were waiting for the delivery. In the video, you can see two cars parked on the street as the delivery driver approaches, leaves the package, takes a photograph, and walks away.
Under normal circumstances, one would expect a porch pirate to wait until the delivery driver left before approaching the house. Not in this case. The driver hadn’t made it half-way down the driveway before the two thieves bolted from their respective cars and ran toward the porch. The driver saw everything but was helpless to stop it.
One thief bent over and picked up the box while the other made a quick attempt to grab it from him. He then picked up a flowerpot to defend himself when it looked like the first thief was going to attack. The whole thing lasted just seconds, but it is so bizarre that it’s hard to wrap your brain around.
Another Way to Deliver Packages
The takeaway for me from all of this is that we need a new way to deliver packages. While I am a big fan of companies like Vivint Home Security and their state-of-the-art security systems, it’s clear that video doorbells are no longer a deterrent. At least they are not the deterrent they once were.
It is all so clear from this video that porch pirates are starting to follow delivery drivers around. They don’t even care if delivery drivers see them anymore. If this is the case, and what was seen on the video is now the norm, we are wasting our time trying to figure out ways to keep porch pirates away from the porch. It is time to stop delivering to the porch altogether.
Here are some possible options:
1. Interior Delivery
Perhaps it’s time for every delivery company to come up with something similar to Amazon’s brand new Amazon Key service. With a smart garage door opener and an agreement with Amazon, you can have packages left securely inside your garage. But even that solution may not be the best option when you consider how easily a skilled thief can break into a garage.
2. Public Lockers
In my opinion, the best alternative we have right now are public package lockers. It will take some time before package thieves figure out how to break into them without getting caught. In the meantime, they buy us enough security to work on even better solutions.
The fact is that video doorbells do not scare porch pirates anymore. If that’s your sole defense against package theft, it’s only a matter of time before you get hit.
