Cross Country Theft

Package theft is an increasingly common crime. Half of Americans prefer to shop online, and online shopping now accounts for more than half of the retail market. Companies like Amazon, and now Walmart, have made it easier, faster, and more convenient to shop online by solving many of the problems traditionally associated with it (especially the delay and the risk associated with not being able to handle an item before buying it). One of the ongoing and unsolved issues with the convenience of shopping online is the risk of package theft.Where does package theft occur most frequently? Package Guard’s blog reviews the data sets available on larceny and package theft showing its most common in suburban areas or places where the porch is visible enough for a porch pirate to see packages left there, but not so visible that a delivery driver would avoid leaving packages there. Recently, Christopher S. Penn produced these graphs to illustrate the rates of package theft per state:

The top three states are North Dakota, Vermont, and Alaska. All three states have fairly large rural and suburban communities. Package theft rates are relatively low in New England where population density is generally higher, meaning more people are living in apartments and condos than in the suburbs.This data becomes even more interesting when we compare package theft rates with the overall larceny or theft rates per state. Penn produced graphs to illustrate this as well:

Of particular interest are the many factors that contribute to higher rates of larceny and how package theft compares to the overall larceny:

The south and southwest have the highest rates of larceny, but relatively low rates of package theft. There seems to be little correlation between package theft and overall larceny rates. More likely, package theft connects with the amount and value of online orders, as a report from Business Insider suggests. Alaska and North Dakota rank fairly high in terms of total value of online orders due in part to the rural nature of the states and the distance required to visit a brick-and-mortar store.If you are wanting to learn how to protect your deliveries,we ran a series of articles on how deterrence works. Tools like DIY security systems, package protection systems like Package Guard, and delivery tracking and notifications can make package theft a thing of the past by preventing packages from being left unattended and by effectively deterring any would-be porch pirate from absconding with your treasures—or packages.