Amazon has a way to catch package-stealing thieves | Hacker News Reader

Amazon has a way to catch package-stealing thieves

qz.com

10 pointsprostoalex8 comments

dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18674892

Just learned tonight that UPS will no longer insure packages containing gift certificates. When I asked why the clerk said there were too just darned many porch pirates.

So then why leave the packages unsecured?

I think parcel lockers are a great invention, but if you don't have them, you can have Amazon packages show up in their own lockers.

Since this is HN I'll leave it to the technological solution rather than questioning why delivery protocol is no longer to hand off to another human being.

GPS units seem insufficient unless they're really well hidden. You'd want to get a bunch of xboxes or something and put the devices inside the enclosure then seal everything up so they can't just rip the boxes open as they depart and toss anything that looks suspicious. This also ignores the possibility of thieves using makeshift RF bags to hold everything. Maybe we should just go back to the days of dye packs?

I can certainly imagine thieves opening the box soon after taking it and throwing anything that doesn't look valuable or easily fenced into a ditch. However, RF bags may be expecting a bit much sophistication from people who can't seem to avoid getting clear shots of their faces on cameras and risk jail for the thrill of opening a potentially worthless "mystery box".

I doubt that the kind of premeditated theft you're describing accounts for a large % of the losses.

Also, if a package with a dye pack were delivered to me, I'd be extremely pissed off. (Which I suspect is almost guaranteed to happen, if not by accident then by a thief that detects the trap and just ditches it at the next doorstep.)

I would say if a thief dropped one of your neighbor's packages on your doorstep and you got a face full of dye pack from opening it then you pretty much got what was coming to you.

My mailman drops packages for the building next door on my doorstep every once in a while and I just go walk it over to them fully avoiding the dye packs.

Add explode-spilling permanent ink to packages to add more to fun

Reply on news.ycombinator.com