Porch pirates in the UK
Dear Amazon,
If your driver just dumps the package in the drive where anyone walking past can steal it, it’s not bloody well delivered.
This is hardly the first time this has happened, but it’s getting annoying now. We were all in, they didn’t knock, they just left it in the drive and rushed off to the next dump.
So far, in recent months – despite people being in – they have:
gone down the side of the house – leaving a “message” with the parcel.
On several occasions just left items leaning against the front door, car, or gate post.
On one occasion they threw it in the hedge.
On two occasion they put it IN the dustbin, once on a collection day.
Nothing was taken this time, but we had have the odd item simply not turn up at all, and on at least occasion a confirmation of ‘delivery’ by email, but no parcel and no evidence. As that was an Amazon voucher we had it cancelled and a new one issued, but still…
Had one guy press the doorbell, drop the parcel and run. Literally run. I stuck my head out and shouted, “Oye!” To this day I’m not sure if he waved as he sped away – or if he gave me the middle finger!
Not just Amazon
Slightly unrelated, but still on the subject of dodgy couriers, a few years ago we needed a new monitor. And DPD tracking system cheerfully informed us that “we weren’t in” (I was in) and that they had left the delivery with a neighbour (who was out). They even supplied a photo of the neighbour’s door they left it outside. On the second floor of the block of flats. We live in a semi, not a flat.
To compound the annoyance, after I chased it up, the driver returns, give it “Oops” and said, “They won’t answer the door. Would you like to sort it out? I’d do it except I want to finish my deliveries and get home for tea!”
DPD driver has a senior moment
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We are turning into America with its “porch pirate” culture because companies like Amazon – and their couriers (and or their overworked, underpaid drivers) – don’t care! It’s all about the bottom line.
“Time is money, people, if the parcel is stolen it’s on the customer to prove it. Chop, chop, you have another 259 parcels to deliver today!”
Solutions?
The default delivery option for Amazon delivery agents is:
Meh, leave it anywhere, if you have a picture of it on the ground, it’s ‘delivered’.
If the delivery person or some porch pirate then walks off with the delivery, well, “we have proof we delivered it” and left it outside, sometimes in plain site, but hey…
It’s not obvious and I’ve looked all over account and order settings and there’s nothing, but it is there on the order page, somewhere…
Amazon: Set Your Delivery Instructions
Important: We try to honor your delivery instructions whenever possible. However, we can’t always guarantee that our carriers can meet these requests.
(Gotta love caveats, eh)
To set your delivery instructions:
On the confirmation screen during checkout or when choosing a delivery address, select Add delivery instructions under your delivery address, if this option is available.
A window appears.
Add your delivery instructions and select Save instructions.Note:
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If you chose to have your parcel left unattended on your premises (which seems to be the default!), select one of the safe places from the list. Make sure that the safe place is protected from the elements and guarded from public view to avoid damage and theft.(So if you haven’t specified a place, leaning the delivery against your car in open view of every passer-by is a valid option!)
Anyway, as the last parcel was left by out bin, I noticed the “how was your delivery?” box:
Whether the underpaid, overworked delivery folk take a blind bit of notice of delivery instructions is another matter. I guess it’s all down to professionalism and courtesy. Some are genuinely decent people, have a smile for you (whatever the weather) and a wave as they rush to the next drop point… – and others just couldn’t give a shit…
(Unless said 💩 is a #1 or even a #2 down the side of your house, as we’ve seen evidence of and as other people have reported elsewhere!)
What’s your experience been?
Drop a comment below.
Related links
Daily Mail (2023): Do you live in one of the UKs ‘porch pirate’ hotspots?
Quadient (2023): UK’s plague of ‘porch pirates’ getting worse, with more than £200 million-worth of parcels stolen in the last year
News on the block (2023): Almost ONE THIRD of the UK have had a parcel go missing from outside their home
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In the US there is a huge problem with ‘porch pirates’ following delivery trucks around neighbourhoods and stealing parcels, and the police figures indicate criminals in the UK are increasingly recognising the same lucrative opportunity.
Yahoo (2023) Parcel thefts: What to do if your package is stolen and how to stop it
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