After searching online and comparing prices, you've finally found the perfect present! You enter your payment information, click buy and the gift will soon arrive--- unless a thief gets to it first.
This holiday season is the busiest time of the year for the U.S. Postal Service, UPS and Fed Ex as online shopping continues to thrive.
The postal service, for example, expects a 10.5 percent increase in the volume of packages it will deliver between Thanksgiving and Christmas, totaling about 600 million packages.
But what if your package does not arrive?
Throughout the years thieves have been caught red-handed on surveillance video stealing packages from front porches, includingin Overland Park.
Here are some tips to help keep your deliveries safe and help prevent you from becoming a victim:
1. Have a delivery sent to you
- If you are home during the day, write a note asking UPS, FedEx or the Postal Service to ring your doorbell before dropping the package off.
- If you're not home, send the package to your office or a neighbor next door.
2. Don't let mail sit on your porch for long
- You can write a note asking deliveries to be placed on your back porch so they are out of sight
- If you are using UPS, you can ask that your packages be delivered at an Access Point-- which is a local business that has teamed up with UPS. If a driver does not feel comfortable leaving a package at your home, they will take it to a certified business nearby, where you can pick it up after showing ID.
3. Track your packages, or request signature confirmation if possible.
- Most delivery services now provide a way for you to track your purchases online or on mobile apps.
- Require a signature for delivery OR request that you receive an email and/or text message when the package is enroute and delivered.
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Ariel Rothfield can be reached at ariel.rothfield@kshb.com.
