The Porch Pirate Who Stole Christmas?

Porch piracy is a major concern for online and e-commerce retailers. In 2021, around 210 million packages were stolen off porches, equal to almost one package per U.S. household. And unfortunately, a majority (61%) of customers believe online retailers are not doing enough to prevent this type of theft. For this reason, it’s time for retailers to step up measures in protecting packages in order to build strong customer relationships.  
In this article, we’ll discuss what porch piracy is, the traditional solutions and why they don’t work and offer a new affordable solution through UPS Capital's InsureShield program.

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What is porch piracy?  
The term porch piracy refers to crimes of opportunity in which people steal unattended packages from other people’s homes.

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Traditional Solutions

The traditional solutions to combat instances of porch piracy include requiring signatures from recipients, requesting or requiring recipients to pick up their package either in-store or at secured lockers, and sending unmarked or unbranded packages. Unfortunately, these solutions can be difficult and cumbersome for shippers and customers.  

Requiring signatures from the customer is an effective way to ensure that a package is successfully delivered to the customer and will likely be taken off the front porch quickly. But, as we’ve all likely experienced, it turns into a big chore when a shipper’s delivery window is in the middle of a workday. Requesting people to carve out time in their busy schedules is bothersome and would likely cause customers not to return.  

Similar to requiring signatures, requesting customers to pick up their packages in-store or at a package locker is a great way to ensure safe delivery to your customers. Again, however, the same challenges are faced. Requesting people to go out of their way to receive the product they ordered from you is a big task to fit into anyone’s schedule.  

Finally, many online resources recommend unbranded or unmarked packages. The logic of this recommendation is that potential porch pirates will be less interested in a package that does not indicate its value from the outside. Unfortunately, this strategy is not foolproof, and it forces brands to lose out on a valuable marketing opportunity. Customers enjoy receiving branded packaging, with 40% indicating they are more likely to recommend products with branded packaging to friends. Losing out on this opportunity for the chance that it doesn’t get stolen doesn’t sit right with us!  

Another traditional solution is shipping insurance, a historically complicated and cumbersome process. Enter InsureShield.  

InsureShield: A New Approach to Shipping Protection

Okay, at first consideration, shipping insurance does not seem like an innovative solution to porch piracy. Rather than writing it off like the other traditional solutions, let’s talk about the benefits of this approach and why InsureShield insurance is a cut above the rest.  

First, it offers protection for every instance of porch piracy and covers additional incidentals, like damaged or lost packages, too. This gives you and your customer peace of mind: no matter what happens during the shipping process your costs will be covered, which allows you to cover the cost of replacing and expediting the reshipment of the product to keep your customers happy.  

InsureShield is a shipping insurance product offered by UPS Capital and there are several features that make it a great option for e-commerce retailers. A great feature of this product is its fast claims payments all made in one place. Multiple shipping carriers are covered and the traditional restrictions on when you can file a claim for damaged or stolen packages don’t apply and full-value reimbursement claims are paid out in a matter of days, rather than weeks or months. Overall, shipping insurance offers peace of mind and InsureShield is our top pick.  

If you’re worried about porch piracy damaging your relationships with consumers this holiday season, you’re not alone. According to a recent study, 72% of small and medium-sized business owners feel that shipping incidents have impacted their business and customer reviews in the last year. Shipping insurance is a great way to protect your shipments and your customer relationship.  

ShipCaddie TWMS is a member of UPS Capital’s partner network which allows ShipCaddie users to access claims 24/7, dictate custom business rules to apply for coverage automatically to specific shipments, and create new claims directly in the platform. This makes management of claims easily managed in one simple location. Check out more information here.  

If you would like to learn more about the ShipCaddie TWMS platform, request a free demo today!