Caution When Shipping
 

Someone I know shipped two quilts and a number of smaller items to her long-armer and the delivery person left the package on the porch and it was stolen. I'm just sick for her.

Be sure to require a signature if you are shipping anything, these day!

Watson

That is so sad. Yes, to add signature required for delivery.

You can also sign up for text alerts from major carriers to know when packages are delivered. They can be delivered to drop off points for pick up.

Add signature required isn't a guarantee a signature will be asked for. I learned that by experience.

I'm lucky to live in such a rural location, my front yard is huge and it would take some serious guts to walk all the way down to the house to steal any of my packages. I actually have it set up that my carrier leave all my packages inside my car, then he locks the doors but I also get text messages when things are delivered. I had that set up a couple of years ago during an extreme heatwave because he's an older gentleman and the thought of having him carry my packages all the way down to the house just made me worry for him. He loved the setup so much that he's had others on his route do the same thing with their packages, he likes the added security that everything is locked up tight in our cars.

It does make me sick to know there are people out there that will steal anything they can get their hands on. USPS, UPS, FedEx, all three have text alert options, signing up for an account is free and it just takes a moment or two to set it up. I even track packages back and forth from my family, you just never know anymore.

If I am expecting an important package and I am not going to be home to get it I either have someone come over to watch for it or I ask a neighbor to keep and eye open for the delivery. I do the same for them. This porch pirate thing is getting out of control. The person that stole this package will unfortunately toss it some where. So Sad. I had an acquaintance at my last guild who had a prize winning quilt stolen or lost during the delivery process. She only insured it for $1000. Even that was under insured. Never to see the quilt again. She was shipping the quilt to a quilt show in Washington State.
My heart goes out to your friend.

I’m pretty sure the shippers are exempting themselves from the signature requirement to be “contact free” for COVID. At least some of them are.

That is a sad situation and it makes me sick to my stomach! I hope the items will be recovered at some time soon. The person that stole them probably just took a chance as to what was in the packages. I never, never mail my quilts for fear of this happening. When my cousin moved from Colorado to New Mexico the movers helped themselves to 2 of her quilts. This makes me mad and sad that someone takes something that does not belong to them.

Me too. I ordered something very valuable and a signature was definitely required. The deliverer just stuck it in my mailbox, which has been stolen from before. No signature was asked of us, although it said "signature required" right on the label. Next time I order something of value I will tell the post office to hold it for pickup. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/redface.png

The excuse of not wanting to do sigatures because of Covidl is ludicrous. When getting groceries from walmart, they need a signature....I just tell them through the door to sign my name, since we are face to face and the delivery was made to a person at the door. Covid is being used a lot for lazy customer service these days.

The only thing I've had taken was a replacement foot pedal for a vintage sewing machine. I'm not sure there is much of a market for that!

We have a PO Box for our mail for this reason. It is relatively rural where I live. To get mail delivered to our physical address, we would have to set up our own box or buy a space in an established box near our home. Mail theft is pretty common here, especially around the holidays.

I’m so sorry your friend had to experience this. Does she have photos that she can share on a local online group/forum where they were stolen? It might be worth sharing them to try to recover them.

Another suggestion that is a little off topic, but is helpful is to line the inside of your shipping box with a plastic bag. That way, your merchandise is in the bag and protected from weather if the box is left outside and it rains, or your doorstep is wet.

You are so right about that. My husband and I were talking about the blame everything on Covid. It is now the go to excuse for creating a problem.

This is so sad. A few years ago, DH ordered a computer and who knows what might have happened to it, if I had not heard a noise outside. Yep, delivery truck driving away, computer box sitting by our front door in full view of the street and if the delivery slip was signed, it certainly wasn't by us!! DH called the computer company and they were not impressed either.

What's the safest option? Deliver it yourself I guess.

These days I ask UPS and FedX to drop any packages off on my back deck just because things are getting bad. USPS drops them off on my bench on the front porch and its not as readily seen from the street. Plus my neighbors and I keep an eye on each others house these days. Someone is usually always home during the day so hard for someone to come up on the porch unseen.

So sad for her lost of quilts.

Friend of mine got sick and tired of her packages being stolen. So she took some meat, let it sit out a day or two so the flies could do their job, wrapped it in a box, and after enough time to ensure maggot harvest, left it on her front porch. It was immediately stolen. She did this 3 times with different size boxes. Hasn't had a problem since. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/biggrin.png

The thing that irritates me about the delivery person is sometimes they'll drop the box on the porch but they don't ring the bell. We're all home, and the box will sit out there for hours until someone checks.

Another thing you can do is have packages shipped to a business. If we're going to be gone when a package arrives, I'll have it shipped to my friend's office and he'll hold it for me.

I ordered a bottle of expensive liquor as a gift for someone, it was delivered by Fedex..LAW required a signature and proof of age upon delivery..he just left it on my porch! It could be that he knows from prior deliveries that I'm well over 21..but that does not discount the law..could be I had grandkids that ordered liquor. The mail from anyone is iffy these days, all carriers are just overwhelmed.

I just received a small pkg. It was postmarked 8/8 and PRIORITY MAIL! It should have been 2-3 days! Its almost 2 wks!

I have received emails from companies telling me that my package is on the way and to make sure I am home because it requires a signature. The package is delivered and I don't know it until we walk down to the mail box. We live on 5 acres so USPS puts it in our mail box and Fed Ex and UPS set inside our gate in a plastic bag. I never sign for them. Thank goodness, we live in a rural area and have zero problems with packages being stolen.

Our home is in the middle of 14 acres, and our postman, Marshal, drives down the driveway to leave packages on the porch. No problems with stolen packages. I was nervous about shipping a quilt for fear that it would get lost in transit!
If I did have a problem, I would use the rotten meat trick!

On a different note, My daughter lives in Austin. They had a problem of bombs being delivered a while back. I told her not to order during that time.

Haven't had any problems personally but my daughter has lost stuff - she is only a block from me. I had a valuable package delivered UPS that was supposed to be signed for but like other folks mentioned the driver put it on the porch and signed for it.

I was doing Amazon Fresh for a while. I ordered some food that needed refrigeration. The food was delivered 2 hours early and the driver failed to ring the doorbell to let us know the food had arrived. I haven't ordered Amazon Fresh since since.

Knock on wood, we've had good luck the last few years. As a neighborhood, we used to have a problem with mail thefts and stolen packages. We live a block from the entrance to a watershed district park with creeks and pathways . People would park and walk all over the neighborhood and there was a lot of thefts from our curbside mailboxes. We got a locking box as did several neighbors. A few years back flooding caused some major damage in the park, forcing a big remodel/rerouting project, and making our street a dead end. Our entrance was closed, which mostly solved the problem. Our delivery guys are pretty good about always ringing the doorbell.

Sad someone had to lose something precious to someone else's greed.