Some Shoppers Are Buying Delivery Insurance to Combat Package Thieves
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Here's your Money Briefing for Friday, December 6th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. Tis the season for porch pirates to steal those holiday gifts you ordered. A new startup offers insurance to help victims recover their losses.
If you are a person that's experienced porch theft in the past, you know you're already susceptible to it, it might be a good idea. If you typically buy a lot of high-value things online, so TVs or furniture, artwork, it could be a good idea.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Amani Moiz after the break.
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How widespread is porch package theft in the U.S. and how much is stolen annually?
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Why does package theft increase during the holiday season?
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Americans have shelled out money for things like doorbell cameras, expensive lockboxes, or self-service locker rentals to cut down on package theft by porch pirates. A new insurance startup offers another option.
What common tactics are shoppers using to deter porch pirates?
Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Imani Moise joins me. Imani, how much worth of merchandise is stolen from outside of people's houses each year?
So last year alone, about 119 million packages were stolen, and those were worth a total of $13 billion.
In one year?
In one year, and that's according to Capital One. According to a different survey by Value Penguin, about 41% of Americans had at least one package stolen last year.
Count me lucky because I haven't had a package stolen yet.
Do retailers or shippers cover stolen packages once delivered to your porch?
Knock on wood. Does package theft swell during the holiday season?
Absolutely. Experts say that package theft is really a crime of opportunity. And when you think about it during the holiday season, there's more opportunities just because people are getting more packages.
How have thefts impacted how people track delivery of their packages?
A lot of people have become much more vigilant, whether that's just keeping track of the tracking information online, keeping track of where their packages are, or buying doorbell cams so that they could actually see and get a notification when things are dropped off.
And people have gotten kind of inventive in the way they protect their packages, right?
How does homeowner or renter insurance handle package theft claims?
Definitely. In response to this story, I heard from one reader who sent a photo of his front porch in Portland, Oregon, where there's two separate lock boxes, three doorbell cams, and several signs indicating to delivery people where he wants his boxes dropped off and locked up and secured. This same person also said that one time they left an Amazon box full of sand outside of his house as a decoy just to deter thieves.
And it worked. And it worked.
What does Porch Pals delivery insurance cover and how does it work?
Right.
Do retailers provide any kind of insurance against package theft?
Yes. So a lot of times retailers will have insurance policies with the shippers. So that'll be the post office, FedEx, UPS. But the thing about that insurance is that it ends as soon as the package hits your porch or as soon as it's on your property, it's no longer their liability.
So then it's the consumer's responsibility at that point.
Yes, but a lot of consumers don't feel that way, especially if they weren't at home at the time of delivery. So they'll usually either write to the carrier, to the shipper, or to the retailer. And a lot of times the retailer will go ahead and either refund or replace that item because they don't want to lose a customer.
You see this footage on the news all the time, people stealing packages. They do it in broad daylight.
Yep, broad daylight when no one's home. They've gotten very savvy. We had a story a few weeks ago about iPhones and how certain porch pirates have figured out that AT&T uses similar tracking numbers to ship a lot of its iPhones.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–1:26
2
How widespread is porch package theft in the U.S. and how much is stolen annually?
1:26–1:43
3
Why does package theft increase during the holiday season?
1:43–2:11
4
What common tactics are shoppers using to deter porch pirates?
2:11–2:42
5
Do retailers or shippers cover stolen packages once delivered to your porch?
2:42–3:19
6
How does homeowner or renter insurance handle package theft claims?
3:19–3:47
7
What does Porch Pals delivery insurance cover and how does it work?
3:47–7:10
8
What low‑cost or no‑cost steps should you take first if a package goes missing?
7:10–9:01
Speakers
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