Careful With Your Packages: New England State Ranks First in U.S. in ‘Porch Piracy’
As easy as it is for you to click “purchase,” it’s just as easy for someone else to swoop in and steal. And it turns out a state right here in New England tops the nation in “porch piracy”, or someone lifting a package off your front steps before you can grab it.
Forbes recently published a list ranking states based on their respective porch piracy, and found that an astounding eight in ten Americans have had a package stolen off their own property. Further complicating things for New Englanders is that nowhere in the region is this considered a felony.
With more travelers expected to vacation this summer, Forbes expects porch piracy to occur even more often (though as one airline passenger recently learned, you’re better off letting someone take off with your ninja knives than trying to bring them with you on the plane).
Using a formula of larceny (theft of property) per 100,000 miles, Forbes determined that New Hampshire is the state where Americans are most likely to have their package solen. The Granite State also ranks sixth overall in median value of items stolen.
No other New England state made the top ten, with Massachusetts finishing 13th; Rhode Island 15th; Connecticut 18th; Maine 31st; and Vermont 37th. New Hampshire was also ranked first for most Google searches for “package stolen.”
According to the study, packages from Amazon Prime were most commonly stolen. So, what can you do to prevent this? The safest bets appear to be requiring a signature, or requesting that the package be held for pickup.
You could also get a doorbell cam, but what if it’s the creative robber from New Hampshire who disguises himself as a tree?