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Comment by nvme0n1p1 | Hacker News Reader

It's not a problem for 99% of the country. No "crackhead" is going door to door between cornfields with a mile between houses, scoping out everyone's porches daily. I'm sorry you're having those problems, but the world is a big place, don't assume everyone lives the same life as you.

Even for the narrow segment of society in that situation, you're not required to give your money to Apple and then stay home 24/7 to immediately scoop up your packages. You could get a lockbox too, and guess what, they're cheaper than phones.

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You have no idea how common parcel theft is, do you?

> going door to door between cornfields with a mile between houses

That's not the type of situation most people live in.

>don't assume everyone lives the same life as you

Likewise.

https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/documents/repo...

> Overall, total estimated annual losses range from a low of $5.2 billion in 2023 to $16 billion in 2024

> In 2024, the U.S. ecommerce market reached an estimated $1.22 trillion in revenue

So... between 0.4% and 1.3% of packages by value are affected, concentrated in specific geographic areas. A narrow segment of society highly affected, complaining often and making the issue seem wider than it is. The rest of us living our lives as normal.

That seems like a lot? Single digit overall and more if you consider concentration and bulky high value items.

I would complain very loudly as well.

> 29.7% of U.S. households experienced package theft within a single 12-month period.

That seems like enough households to make tracking an important feature for most retailers.

While many of those packages might be classified as junk, others might contain medicine for your child or an auto part needed to get to work.

https://www.omnisend.com/porch-pirates/?utm_source=gemini&hl...

This still feels like an American-biased problem though. Global News covered [0] a FedEx survey with one-in-four Canadians reporting parcel theft... without mentioning the time period. One in four over a lifetime isn't good, but it's not the one-in-three annually that you mentioned in the states.

CTV covered [1] how it was only roughly one-in-ten annually as well, which is again a far cry from the numbers in the states.

Does it happen? Yes. Is tracking a harder requirement for Americans due to a lower-trust society? I would say yes as well. Personally, I consider it nice to have, not required.

[0] https://globalnews.ca/news/6196297/canada-porch-pirates-fede...

[1] https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/one-out-of-10-canadia...

American biased - sure. I assumed all this conversation was about america

In Vienna of all places this has become very common since we got some badly designed mailboxes. Because they don’t trust the delivery guys they don’t have a key but the flipside is that anyone with enough time can get out stuff via the top big slit. Now they also have big boxes with locks but to open them they drop you an nfc letter in your box.

So the junkies look for the bright yellow letters and open your packages. If it was clothes you will find them somewhere on the street close by

You're really moving the goalposts here. You started with "anyone who receives their packages is extremely privileged" and ended with "theft is something that retailers must be aware of in the course of their business". Obviously I agree with the second statement, but not the first.

Going back to your original post, now that we have some numbers to work with, do you really believe that 70.3% of Americans are "extremely privileged" people living in gated communities?

you are mixing up posters

Right you are, my mistake.

Is it your contention that most people in the country constantly deal with drug addicts stealing their packages? Because it's not true.

It certainly does seem like he has a very specific axe to grind

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