You’ve spent hours tracking down a bargain in the sales, or sourcing the perfect Christmas gift for that hard-to-please relative. A few days later, it’s nowhere to be seen, but the courier company claims it’s been “safely” delivered. Then a neighbour mentions they spotted someone roaming the street with a suspicious stack of brown parcels, and you realise you’ve fallen victim to a “porch pirate”.
Porch piracy – the act of pinching packages that are left outside on the doorstep, or in a so-called “safe place” – is becoming more common. According to data from tech company Quadient, sourced through Freedom of Information requests, £666.5m worth of parcels were stolen across the UK over the last year – an increase of £290m from 2024.
