Porch Piracy: How Retailers Can Prevent Parcel Theft in 2026

Don’t let porch pirates thieve from your bottom line and the doorsteps of customers. Find out how to protect the parcels you send from porch piracy in this guide.

TL;DR

• 1) Porch piracy is the theft of parcels from doorsteps after delivery, and for retailers it’s now a standing cost rather than an occasional one.
• 2) Around 49 million Americans had at least one package stolen in 2025, and UK thieves took £666.5 million worth of parcels over the same period, affecting 4.83 million homes.
• 3) Retailers absorb most of the fallout, because customers expect a replacement or refund regardless of who lost the parcel.
• 4) Shoppers have already adjusted, with 64% saying they’d feel more comfortable collecting from a locker or pickup location than receiving at the door.
• 5) Discreet packaging, insurance and better tracking lower the odds without removing the underlying risk, which is a parcel sitting unattended.
• 6) Pickup points take the doorstep out of the equation entirely, and HubBox research found 70% of online shoppers now want pickup as an option at checkout.

Where do stolen parcels go?

You sweat blood and tears to get your orders picked, packed and loaded onto the carrier’s van, only to receive an angry email the next day from the customer saying they didn’t receive their order. 

Once again, your customer service team is forced to enter into a long investigation with the carrier to ascertain what’s happened. And it’s all while you resign yourself to replacing the ‘lost’ package at your cost, of course.

So where are these parcels disappearing to? Well, your customers could be falling victim to porch piracy.

What is porch piracy?

Porch piracy is a crime whereby thieves steal packages from people’s doorsteps once they’ve been delivered.

If you’ve ever had the horror of returning home to find that your much-anticipated package has simply vanished into thin air, you may be a victim of it yourself.

Nationally, 49 million Americans had at least one package stolen in 2025, and city officials report that over 90,000 packages are reported either lost or stolen in transit each day in the US.

These numbers are even more concerning if you ship to states like Philadelphia or New York, which have recently been ranked the worst cities in the US for package thefts, with 82% of Philadelphians regularly reporting porch piracy.

The UK picture is just as stark. Thieves stole a record-breaking £666.5 million worth of parcels across the UK in 2025. The same report found that 4.83 million UK homes had at least one parcel go missing or stolen, a 31% increase on the previous year. The average stolen parcel rose to £138, yet only one in 353 thefts was reported to the police.

Why is porch piracy so prevalent?

There are plenty of reasons why customers and retailers will be feeling the impact of porch piracy more than ever. 

These include:

More online sales equals more deliveries

The first reason is simply that purchasing behaviours are changing and more sales are happening online. Retail ecommerce sales now exceed $6.3 trillion worldwide each year. With more online sales come more porch deliveries, and greater windows of opportunity for porch pirates to steal.

Theft also follows the retail calendar. Data shows November and December remain the peak months for parcel theft, exactly when order volumes and customer expectations are at their highest.

Lack of legal action

Sadly, thieves know that they can get away with it. Although mail theft is a federal crime in the US, lawsuits only arise if there is proof that someone took a package from a mailbox or doorstep.. A stolen package that’s been left on your porch, in the backyard or so-called ‘safe space’ doesn’t fall under federal jurisdiction.

The UK data tells the same story from the victim’s side. For those 353 thefts reported to the police, there’s little deterrent. It’s nearly impossible for retailers to take legal action against porch pirates. So instead, they end up out of pocket trying to compensate customers for their loss.

Attempted deliveries go wrong

If no one is home when delivery is attempted, the carrier will have several options. They can post the package through the mailbox, leave it in a preferred safe place or deliver it to a neighbour.

Yet, we all know from social media platforms, drivers have been known to place items in all sorts of places, from trash cans to front gardens. These placements have led to items becoming damaged and more likely to be stolen.

And with more of us back in the office rather than working from home, thieves now find themselves with more opportunities to strike.

The cost of porch piracy for retailers

The retailer is responsible for delivering a package safely to the customer. Even if it’s stolen, the retailer is expected to be the first point of contact. Not only that, but they need to take charge of the process and arrange a refund or replacement.

Some carriers have robust processes in place to ensure that lost packages are investigated, but the rise of package thefts can result in long timescales with many opportunities for miscommunication between the carrier, retailer and customer.

All of these factors combined become costly, with retailers losing thousands, if not millions, each year to porch pirates. And the direct cost of the stolen item is only part of the problem. Every missing parcel means increased support costs, more WISMO queries for customer service teams to handle and damage to brand trust – especially during the most critical trading period of the year.

How do package thefts impact retailer reputation?

As the first point of contact, the retailer often feels the impact on their reputation as well as their bottom line.

When a porch pirate strikes, the retailer is forced to either replace the item as a goodwill gesture or inform the customer that they’re not going to reimburse them for the failed delivery. They lose out either way.

It just takes one disgruntled customer to taint the way your brand is perceived. Indeed, 86% of customers are hesitant about purchasing from companies with negative reviews, and failed or stolen deliveries put you at an immediate disadvantage.

Porch piracy also makes it harder to establish customer loyalty in ecommerce, with 86% of consumers choosing to leave a brand they trusted after two poor customer experiences.

What shoppers say about parcel theft

Parcel theft is changing how customers want to receive their orders. Consumer research found that 68% of people would rather miss a delivery entirely than risk a parcel being stolen, while 64% said they’d feel more comfortable using secure parcel lockers or collection points than doorstep delivery. Nearly four in five believe authorities aren’t doing enough to address the issue.

HubBox research backs this up, with 70% of online shoppers now wanting the option to choose local pickup at checkout.

The demand for safer delivery already exists. Shoppers are already looking for safer ways to get their parcels. The question is whether they find that option at your checkout or someone else’s.

How can retailers prevent porch piracy?

From choosing plain packaging to working with the right carriers, here’s how you can reduce the number of parcels stolen from your customers’ doorsteps. 

1. Opt for plain packaging

Packaging is one of the first opportunities your brand has to make an impression on a customer. It excites them and lets you leave your mark.

Unfortunately, it catches the attention of porch pirates too. The flashier the packaging looks, the more likely the parcel is to catch their eye, especially if it’s a high-ticket package with the brand splashed all over it.

Discreet packaging can deter opportunist thieves because it tricks them into thinking the item isn’t worth stealing. It won’t stop anyone already watching for deliveries, so plain boxes lower the odds without removing the risk from an unattended doorstep.

2. Offer insurance options

If the customer has ordered a high-ticket item, it’s worth offering insurance on that item. That way, the retailer isn’t left holding the can when parcel theft occurs. With the average stolen parcel now worth £138, insurance on higher-value orders quickly pays for itself.

Plenty of plugins offer insurance at checkout, and the reassurance can lift cart conversion in much the same way local pickup options do. Insurance only pays out once the parcel has already gone, though. Newer tools work earlier in the order. HubBox’s Prism, which is built for US Shopify merchants, scores theft risk on every order using UPS risk intelligence and steers higher-risk deliveries toward a safer option before dispatch.

3. Choose the right carriers

Offering customers the most flexible delivery options will help ensure that they’re available to receive their package.

Gone are the days when customers had to wait around for a slot that could range from 9am to 9pm. Now, we see same-day and multiple delivery slots at the checkout, which makes things so much easier.

Real-time delivery tracking means that customers can run their lives around the arrival of the order, with notifications to tell them that the driver is just minutes away.

4. Communicate with customers

Don’t underestimate the power of regular communication with your customers. Keeping customers in the loop from the moment the order is placed through to when it’s delivered will give them the best chance of catching the delivery and avoiding a porch piracy situation.

You should also be easy to reach if and when anything goes wrong. Although lost or stolen parcels typically have a negative impact on a brand’s reputation, the way that brand responds to the complaint has the power to transform this customer experience.

If the package is replaced quickly and willingly, the customer is more likely to buy from you again. If you make them jump through hoops to get a refund or replacement, they’ll probably never make a repeat purchase.

5. Provide pickup delivery locations

The single best way to prevent porch piracy as a retailer is to offer more secure and flexible delivery options, such as local pickup locations.

They’re secure, manned locations or lockers often based in areas that are open early and close late. That makes them convenient for the customer to collect from. Plus, they also have the advantage of being constantly monitored and secure, unlike our doorsteps.

A Pickup Point is a secure designated location where shoppers can safely collect their items instead of receiving them at home. These points include various places such as local convenience stores, Lockers, Post Offices, CVS Pharmacy and brick-and-mortar shops that serve as convenient hubs for parcel storage for customers.

What secure delivery solutions are there?

HubBox provides software that makes it easy for you to give shoppers convenient pickup options at checkout making sure they get their packages.

The HubBox retailer solution allows customers to buy online and pick up anywhere with HubBox software, eliminating the risk and complexity of doorstep delivery. HubBox works with leading carriers including Evri, Royal Mail, DPD, DHL and UPS, giving your customers access to thousands of convenient pickup points. The software integrates with 99% of checkouts, including all major ecommerce platforms and custom-built sites.