Porch Pirates In The Age of COVID

(KFOR NEWS  December 8, 2020)   Since March, millions of Americans have had packages stolen from their doorstep.  It comes at a time when 47% of Americans are doing all or most of their 2020 holiday shopping online.

According to insuranceQuotes.com’s newly released 2020 Porch Pirates in the Age of COVID-19 Report, 7% of Americans—which translates to over 17 million people—have had a delivered package stolen from their porch or doorstep since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to make an impact. Furthermore, 47% of Americans say that all or most of their holiday shopping this year will be done via online delivery.

“As online shopping and delivery increases, so does the risk of porch pirates—which is not only being compounded by a once-in-a-100-years pandemic spurring online ordering, but also now, holiday shopping. This holiday season, online shoppers need to have a safe and secure delivery plan,” said Michael Giusti, analyst at insuranceQuotes.com and author of the report.

Among the study’s additional findings:

  • 18% of Americans say they have had a delivered package stolen from their porch or doorstep in their lifetime.
  • 14% say that all or most of their grocery shopping is done via online delivery.
  • 36% say that since March, they have shifted away from in-person purchasing in favor of online purchasing.

“Fortunately for consumers, there are effective ways to protect themselves and their packages from porch pirates—from order tracking to installing a security system to arranging for a pickup location. There are even some cities volunteering their local police departments as a package pickup point,” added Giusti. “In the short term, the porch pirates problem is likely to get worse before it gets better. But it will get better.”

This year’s report is a follow-up to insuranceQuote.com’s porch pirate reports from 20192018 and 2017.

The full 2020 Porch Pirates in the Age of COVID-19 Report—which includes in-depth data and analysis on porch pirates and online delivery trends, along with tips for consumers to protect their packages, as well as what steps to take after falling victim to package theft—is available at https://www.insurancequotes.com/porch-pirates-package-theft-statistics.

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