Porch pirates via USPS :-( Use signature confirmation?

Yes, all my Christmas cards last year. I spoke to my relatives who insisted on sending cash or gift cards to specifically not do that to my mailbox. After they found $100 in cash from my mother and $150 from a sister the next year, I haven't gotten a handwritten addressed Christmas card since. I have no idea of the true value but, I'd say they easily stole $400 of cash and cards out of my mailbox last Christmas. :mad:

Video cameras just get stolen too! :mad: Both of my 'game' cameras are long gone.

When the rent house burned to the ground and the former the male resident went to prison, things got better for a while. However, I do have a bible thumper recently divorced neighbor who is a local welfare spot for her kids and their friends. Generally, they just smoke dope and play loud obnoxious music so, it is likely they took them if not some random drive-by but, I don't want to stereotype and accuse people with NO EVIDENCE.

Unfortunately, my mail carrier was not at work that day and the substitute violated the rules. The USPS closed out my case though saying it was 'delivered' per GPS.

Unfortunately, we can't pick neighbors or relatives so all you can do is work with the options you have. With my normal USPS mail carrier, I have a great relationship and they know the area. When they are out, you may or may not get someone who cares or someone who may make bad decisions because of time pressure to get packages delivered and get off the 'clock' as they are hourly and will get canned if they don't make the rounds 'fast enough'.
 
I had something delivered via USPS with signature confirmation and my mailman knocked on my door and signed for me once I answered.
 
WValtakis said:
Unfortunately, no carriers are collecting signatures right now due to social distancing recommendations. Signature Confirmation is a waste of money for right now.
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Yes but our new protocol here in St. L says we knock.... you answer.... we sign as “agent” and leave it for you to grab when we walk away. If you don’t answer we leave a slip for you to pick it up.

My question is..... if it didn’t fit in the mailbox, why didn’t the carrier take it to the door? Leave it on the porch? I don’t leave packages in sight. I walk them around back and scan them as “back door/garage”. I hate when my customers stuff gets stolen.
 
Monofletch said:
Yes but our new protocol here in St. L says we knock.... you answer.... we sign as “agent” and leave it for you to grab when we walk away. If you don’t answer we leave a slip for you to pick it up.

My question is..... if it didn’t fit in the mailbox, why didn’t the carrier take it to the door? Leave it on the porch? I don’t leave packages in sight. I walk them around back and scan them as “back door/garage”. I hate when my customers stuff gets stolen.
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This carrier left a long knife box in the mailbox on the street out of sight of the house in plain view for every passer-by.

This is clearly out of policy per my normal local carrier. Out here in East Texas, substitute carriers are under great stress to deliver packages as fast as possible. In my case, I was expected to drive 157 miles and make 52 stops in 3 hours! In the S-10 chassis mail truck I was issued, at about 50MPH the rear end would sway back and forth without traffic passing me on the highway! This was a rural route so, the normal carrier used their own vehicle and I used the mail truck as they wouldn't pay me mileage. We parted company after being reprimanded for slow deliveries and complimented for zero claims, good seatbelt use, proper parking when required, turning the truck to view oncoming traffic, and all the other things that were in my review. I decided my life wasn't worth 3 hours pay for the day and getting chewed out for not driving fast enough or being blamed for the radiator boiling over in a rural area and having to nurse it somewhere for more water because I couldn't match a 20-year employee who had driven the same route for years. A friend got stuck while raining on a rural road with deep ruts and standing water and got reamed as well.

So, with hiring freezes and a lack of following policy, mail trucks out here are being followed and packages are being stolen. As long as the GPS says the carrier hit the mailbox "it's not their problem".

Does it get much better than a street mailbox without a clear view from the house that has a box sticking out of it? I should note I have no fence or gate or dog or other obstruction that prevents a mail carrier or UPS or FedEx from driving or walking up to my house. Normally, I see the mail truck while out in the yard and get it but, this day unfortunately I was away when the mail came and came home to an empty mailbox - no sales flyers, no credit card or car insurance offers, nothing.
 
Sounds more like mailbox pirate instead of porch pirate ;) I could be wrong and I do not have the statistics but I suspect it's less likely for items to be stolen from the porch than from the mailbox. Not sure what your mailman was thinking. Our USPS guy ALWAYS brings items that do not completely fit into the mailbox up to my porch.
 
Our carries currently sign in the customers presence and leave the package if a signature is required instead of the customer needing to sign. But they won't leave a package that needs a signature without someone being home to witness it.

And I have had some slow downs with USPS but it has still been faster and at far less cost than other options including UPS. With everything going on right now I have no complaints for an extra day here and there.

As far as packages being stolen talking to your carrier and Post Master to work out a solution is probably the best option. Cameras placed high enough or far enough away they aren't at risk of theft themselves may catch a thief but probably wouldn't prevent a theft.
 
I have mounted only mail delivery at my house. I ripped out the mailbox at the curb, many years ago, so I can’t get mail here. It all goes to my PO BOX, or my UPS store mailbox.
These days I send almost everything with signature confirmation, and just skip buying the insurance unless it’s over $300 in value. If it’s less than $100, I skip the signature confirmation also.
The buyers have been signing for my knives, so it’s been working out well so far.
 
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