NEW YORK, July 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The stay-at-home
orders that have been implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic have
caused an uptick in package deliveries – and thieves have taken
notice. According to a new survey from ValuePenguin.com by
LendingTree - 18% of Americans have experienced package theft in
the past four months, and these short-term thefts are part of a
larger problem that consumers face throughout the course of a
normal year. Here are the key findings:
- 1 in 5 Americans reported being victims of porch piracy amid
the coronavirus crisis with 18% having had a package or
delivery stolen since March. 54% of consumers reported multiple
package thefts in the past 12 months. And 33% knew someone who's
had a package stolen during the quarantine.
- Americans lost an average of $106 to porch piracy, with respondents
reporting losses as high as $4,800
from a single package. About 30% of package theft victims did
not get all of their money back, and less than half of victims said
the thief was caught.
- During the pandemic, Gen Xers and Millennials accounted for
more than 42% of package thefts, and 64% of incidents since
last year. However, Americans 75 years and older lost the most
money to porch piracy – an average of $210 in the past 12 months.
- 40% of package thefts happened to residents of apartment
buildings. Residents of duplex homes were also likely to
experience theft: more than one-quarter of the package thefts
during the pandemic happened to residents of duplex homes.
- 57% of stolen packages were delivered by Amazon.
Groceries delivered by services like HelloFresh and Instacart made
up 14% of stolen packages, but grocery package thefts decreased
during the pandemic, despite the increase in the use of these
services.
- Despite the increase in package theft, 33% of consumers have
taken no action to prevent package thefts within the past year.
About 35% of all residents who did take precautions opted to
receive tracking notifications – the most common preventative
measure – while 20% installed doorbell cameras. Other measures,
like requiring signatures upon delivery, and purchasing package
delivery insurance, were not so common.
According to Andrew Hurst, a
research analyst at ValuePenguin.com, "The quarantine has become
the perfect opportunity for porch pirates, with home delivery
orders increasing by nearly 40% since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic." He adds, "It's worrying that a significant number of
Americans are not taking the appropriate measures to protect
themselves against future thefts."
ValuePenguin.com commissioned Qualtrics to conduct an online
survey of 1,020 Americans, with the sample base proportioned to
represent the overall population. The survey was fielded in
June 2020. To view the full report,
visit:
https://www.valuepenguin.com/nearly-one-in-five-consumers-experienced-package-theft-since-start-of-quarantine
About ValuePenguin.com: ValuePenguin.com, part of
LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE), is a personal finance website that
conducts in-depth research and provides objective analysis to help
guide consumers to the best financial decisions. ValuePenguin
focuses on value, assessing whether the return of a particular
decision is worth the cost or risk of that option, and how this
stacks up with the other possible choices they may have. For more
information, please visit www.valuepenguin.com, like our Facebook
page or follow us on Twitter @ValuePenguin.
Media Contact:
Divya
Sangam (Ms.)
646 693 8445
Divya@valuepenguin.com
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SOURCE ValuePenguin.com