With Black Friday and Cyber Monday in sight, soon more packages will likely make their way to your home.
Which means porch pirates will likely be on the prowl when thieves snatch packages from doorsteps.
Something else that gets eyes rolling is delivery drivers mishandling boxes. Filipe Matic caught a USPS worker on video at his home in Racine last week.
"Really excited to get my package and I got the notification that the guy pulled up so I opened it up," said Matic.
Matic watched as the postal worker tossed his package on the porch.
"He walked right through the grass. Barely walked onto the sidewalk and just chucked it as hard as he could to get it to the door," said Matic.
Matic said a collector knife worth $250 was inside the box.
"The knife's fine, but when it's a collector item like that you want the box to be fine too and it's not fine," said Matic.
A USPS spokesperson does have advice for deterring thieves.
"We recommend they talk to a neighbor if they can take the package for them. If they know their carrier talk to your carrier where they can put it safely at their home," said Sean Hargadon, USPS Spokesperson.
Hargadon also sent us the following statement about the video from Racine:
"Thank you for sharing this video with us. We are currently reviewing it to gather additional details about this incident. This is clearly unacceptable behavior that does not reflect the efforts of the thousands of professional, dedicated carriers in our workforce."
Hargadon suggested re-directing packages to a different address or having them held at the post office. You can also get a P.O. Box or sign up to get updates on your phone with delivery information.
Even though Matic said his item is damaged he doesn't plan to stop shopping online.
"I guess you can't really stop it from being online cause you get better deals online," said Matic.
Milwaukee Police have several tips to help prevent package thefts over the holiday season
- Require a package signature
- Delivery to your work if allowed
- Delivery service tracking
- Deliver to a friend or family members house
- Designate a specific delivery location at your residence
- Use Amazon or UPS Lockers (Whole Foods, Walgreens)
- Use a secure mailbox service
- Be a good neighbor
- File a Police report if you are a victim of theft
USPS Holiday Deadlines to Keep in Mind
- December 18- shipping to military members overseas
- December 20- first class mail, priority mail
- December 22- priority mail as express
