Porch Pirates — A Huge Problem & Not Just During the Holidays

Weekly Industry News took a short look at porch piracy in last week’s issue. This week we take a more in depth view from a report by the home security firm, SafeWise.

The 8th annual SafeWise Package Theft Report says though the crime of opportunity numbers are lower this year than last, porch pirates still cost us about $15 billion in 2024 as over 104 million packages were stolen.

That’s 250,000 a day.

The PIA Western Alliance city of Los Angeles, California is ranked 7th of the 10 worst cities for porch piracy. The 10 worst cities are Chicago, New York City, Miami, Houston, Baltimore, Dallas-Forth Worth, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Detroit and Virginia Beach.

Here’s the nationwide data from 2025

• Total value lost: $14,921,485,310
• Total incidents: 90,836,716
• Theft incidents per day: 248,868
• Incidents per capita: 665

Here is a look at the 10 worst states for porch piracy. The PIA Western Alliance state of California has the worst numbers:

1. California

• Total value lost:$1,549,821,331
• Total incidents: 11,834,411
• Theft incidents per day: 32,396
• Incidents per capita: 837

The rest of the top 10:

2. New York

3. Texas

4. Florida

5. Pennsylvania

6. Michigan

7. Ohio

8. Georgia

9. Illinois

10. North Carolina

Here’s a look at the year-over-year package theft trends:

U.S. population:

• 2025: 340,110,988
• 2024: 334,914,895
• YoY change: up 1.6%

Percentage of people worried about porch piracy:

• 2025: 44%
• 2024: 52%
• YoY change: down 8%

Percentage of people that experienced porch piracy:

• 2025: 31%
• 2024: 36%
• YoY change: down 5%

An estimation of the packages stolen:

• 2025: 104,346,051
• 2024: 120,569,362
• YoY change: down 13.4%

The estimated value of the packages stolen:

• 2025: $14.92 billion
• 2024: $15.93 billion
• YoY change: down 6.3%

The average package value:

• 2025: $143
• 2024: $132
• YoY change: up 8.3%

The total number of porch piracy incidents:

• 2025: 80,836,716
• 2024: 91,934,139
• YoY change: down 1.2%

The estimated number of incidents per day:

• 2025: 248,868
• 2024: 261,177
• YoY change: down 1.4%

Whose packages are stolen the most:

• Amazon: 35%
• UPS: 20%
• U.S. Postal Service: 18%
• FedEX: 17%
• Grocery delivery: 5%
• Hello Fresh: 2%
• Other: 4%

Here is the value of stolen packages since 2020.

The value of stolen packages in 2025:

• Under $50: 27%
• $50 - $100: 34%
• $101 - $200: 24%
• $201 - $500: 9%
• Over $500: 6%

The value of stolen packages in 2024:

• Under $50: 33%
• $50 - $100: 37%
• $101 - $200: 19%
• $201 - $500: 7%
• Over $500: 5%

The value of stolen packages in 2023:

• Under $50: 33%
• $50 - $100: 38%
• $101 - $200: 19%
• $201 - $500: 8%
• Over $500: 2%

The value of stolen packages in 2022:

• Under $50: 32%
• $50 - $100: 40%
• $101 - $200: 18%
• $201 - $500: 9%
• Over $500: 1%

The value of stolen packages in 2021:

• Under $50: 20%
• $50 - $100: 25%
• $101 - $200: 25%
• $201 - $500: 17%
• Over $500: 13%

The value of stolen packages in 2020:

• Under $50: 26%
• $50 - $100: 39%
• $101 - $200: 21%
• $201 - $500: 9%
• Over $500: 5%

SafeWise’s report says porch piracy isn’t just an economic problem for consumers. Retailers feel the impact as well. Those loss costs are often passed onto consumers adding billions to the cost of retail items.

ZFLO Technologies and Dr. Ben Stickle offered SafeWise some totals comparing what consumers lost and what retailers lost because of porch pirates:

• Consumer loss: $15 billion
• Retail loss: $22 billion
• Total: $37 billion

Many consumers were — however — made whole:

• 42.8% were able to get a replacement item
• 44.7% obtained a refund

The study says we are very worried about porch piracy:

• 44% worry about the theft of packages delivered to them
• That’s down from 52% in 2024
• One in 6 of us have no deterrents in place
• 83% have experienced porch pirate thefts and put deterrents in place after

Here’s a peek at before and after:

Used delivery tracking:

• Before the theft: 52%
• After the theft: 40%

Installed security camera / doorbell:

• Before the theft: 30%
• After the theft: 24%

Required signature:

• Before the theft: 11%
• After the theft: 23%

Relied on neighbors:

• Before the theft: 13%
• After the theft: 21%

Home security system:

• Before the theft: 17%
• After the theft: 12%

Discreet delivery:

• Before the theft: 6.5%
• After the theft: 9%

Neighborhood watch app:

• Before the theft: 10%
• After the theft: 7%

No deterrents in place:

• Before the theft: 16%
• After the theft: 82% added at least one deterrent

What happened after the package was taken:

• 27% got a replacement
• 19% got a refund from the seller
• 12% reported the theft to the police
• 9% got a refund from the carrier that delivered the package

Dr. Ben Stickle is a research specialist in theft and criminal behavior. He assisted SafeWise with the study. He noted there are several conditions that make people more likely to become porch pirate victims.

Homes with porches less than 25 feet from the street are the easiest access for thieves:

• 61% of stolen packages happened within 25 feet of a street or road
• 93% of stolen packages were visible from a road or street
• 46% of targeted packages are the most popular brand names

Here’s the SafeWise bottom-line. The company says porch piracy is a crime of opportunity. You can reduce the potential of becoming a victim of the crime by the use of technology that is interactive or by using smart tracking and/or setting up a secure delivery system.

In the end, prevention beats being a victim.

Source link: SafeWise — https://bit.ly/491uIBz