The South Australian Business Chamber Today

Arrrrgh, ‘Porch Pirates’ be gone

Wednesday, June 22nd 2022

Our reliance on delivery has increased rapidly, from food delivery when you want to stay at home to local, national and international purchases for your business. While we encourage local purchasing to support the South Australian economy, we know this is not always possible.

If you send deliveries to your customers, you want them to receive them. Similarly, you want to receive the orders that you place. In South Australia in 2021, 22% reported a stolen package from their property.

How to minimise the risk?

Have you heard of the ‘porch pirate bag’? You can lock the bag to your front door or verandah post. It has a combination lock that the delivery person can set once they pop the delivery in.
Package guard – this is like a virtual security guard. Connected to your wifi, it will set off a loud siren if the package is removed from on top of the device.
Live tracking enables you or your customers to better schedule their day to be available to receive the delivery, thus negating the need for the parcel to be left.
Ship to the location you are more frequently at – if you are more often at work, then can you receive the delivery there?
Mail lockers – if you are out and about all the time, consider sending your parcels to a mail locker where you can retrieve them when available. Australia Post has these available, and you have 48hrs to collect your parcel.
Collect from your local GPO – if you are not home, Australia Post mail will go to the closest GPO if the recipient is not home, and it is simple to collect from there with the slip and your ID.
Request a signature — you will have to be present to receive the delivery, or often the delivery companies will be able to arrange another time.
Curbside delivery – this will only work for local collections, but arrange to pick up instead of delivering (this is often cheaper too).