10 Clever Ways to Foil Porch Pirates

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Require a Signature

When your shopping cart is full, your payment information is entered, and it’s time to choose your shipping details, take a moment to check off “signature required.” This is an option with all the major services, like UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS. If you’re in a bind and won’t be home to sign for your package, see if your delivery service will let you redirect the package to a trusted neighbor’s address—UPS MyChoice does this, for instance. You can often request a delivery confirmation, too.

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Pay for a Package Receiving Service

If you’re hardly ever around to receive packages, consider signing up for a paid service that will receive and protect your packages until you can pick them up. Major delivery services like FedEx and UPS offer locker services internationally, but you probably have a local package receiving center if you live in a big city like New York (see Go Locker and City CoPilot). Of course, you can always rent a USPS post office box, too.

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