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How to spot a porch pirate stealing your packages. Sounds like this should be easy to do, but sometimes it can be difficult with some businesses contracting out their delivery services to individuals who use their very own personal vehicles to delivery groceries, packages, and other goods that we simply order from the comfort of our homes, laptops, or smart phones wherever we might be in the world. Normally individuals who are delivering items for Amazon, or any of the other delivery merchants will have on a vest with the company name to identify who they might be contracting for, and if it’s late at night the vest will be reflective for safety purposes, but with this month being November, companies have began hiring temporary, or seasonal employees to help them during the surge in packages that people will be ordering for the upcoming Christmas season. So what exactly do you look for in a porch pirate? Normally they will dressed with sunglasses, and a hat depending on the hour so that they can’t be easily recognized, and they will normally carry a backpack if they’re going door to door in a neighborhood. Most people will ignore a knock as being a solicitor if they’re not expecting company, and if you don’t have camera surveillance the knock is to see if you will come to your door, and if you don’t come within 10 seconds a porch pirate will take it that you’re not at home. If they walk in front of your window trying to look into your home, chances are they could be a porch pirate, because someone visiting you will not exemplify this type of behavior. If you don’t have a camera to record people outside of your home, it might be a good time to invest in one, there are several choices out there, choose wisely. How to spot a porch pirate stealing your packages. www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog.

A Real Estate Agent can be your bestfriend in the moving process. This might sound like a crazy statement, but it really makes sense. You have decided that after 35 years that you have decided to sell your house, and move out of state to move closer to your immediate family. In the process one of the first things that your letter carrier will notice is the real estate sign that goes up in your yard, indicating that a move is about to take place when an offer is made on your property, and the buyer meets all of the financial qualifications to buy the property, and close on the property. Normally your letter carrier will ask you, when are you planning on moving, and do you need a change of address form, or do you want to complete the process online at www.usps.com? In the digital age that we now live in most of the younger generation will say that they will complete the process online, but most of the older generation, or greatest generation will ask for the form to fill out, and they will leave the form the next day for the letter carrier to retrieve, and submit the form for them, but sometimes in the process of moving we tend to get busy, forget the form that we were given, and move out of state,and after a couple of weeks, the letter carrier will notice that the grass hasn’t been cut like normal, and mail is starting to pile up in the mailbox, and packages are being left by Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and DHL, and etc., so knowing that this isn’t normal the letter carrier decides to call the real estate agent whose sign is listed with the agent’s name, and the real estate company that they’re representing, and so the realtor gets in touch with their client, and one week later a notification is sent to the letter carrier indicating that the former resident, Ms. Norma Doe has submitted a change of address for her entire family, and now she’ll be able to receive her mail at her new address. Normally after 10 days your letter carrier will return your mail to sender if you haven’t submitted a change of address, sometimes special circumstances will allow for the letter carrier to hold it longer such as they personally know you, and you tell them that you will be out of town for three weeks, and you submit a hold request. A Real Estate Agent can be your bestfriend in the moving process. www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!

Leaving a package out in the open can cause theft! Unfortunately in the times that we live in now, people are looking for easy opportunities to take advantage of someone who might not be at home, or they might be even bold enough to try to steal a package while you’re at home, but just not paying attention to the doorbell, thinking that it’s a telemarketer, or someone trying to sell you something that you don’t want to entertain. The delivery driver parks in front of your home, and the driver gets out of the vehicle to deliver an item that you ordered online two days ago, they scan the item as delivered, but they don’t walk onto your porch to deliver the item, they simply throw the item, and it lands into your yard, in plain sight for everyone to see. It’s the holiday season, and porch pirates have been stealing packages at an all-time high, you receive the notification on your smartphone that a delivery has been made to your house, but you’re out of town for the next 2 hours at your child’s soccer game, and when you arrive home, the package is gone. Unfortunately none of your neighbors saw anyone suspicious, and you don’t have a door alarm to capture the activities of anyone walking up into your yard, but the notification that you received from the logistics company shows that the package was left in your yard, so they have to provide you with another order that they send the next day, taking five extra steps to put the package out of sight could have saved the driver from having to make a repeat delivery the next day. What can be done to prevent this from happening? A sign that says all deliveries are to be hidden from the street can make a difference for your home, because in this day, and age, you never know who’s watching your property for an opportunity to steal your package. Leaving a package out in the open can cause theft! www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!

The significance of e-mail on a package can really make a difference in the day and age of delivering packages, although it might be slower than making a phone call, and it make take longer for a response to come through from the recipient, who the message is intended for, because of fraud, and identity theft that we have to deal with not only in the United States, but also around the world. Sometimes when we see a number that we don’t recognize coming to our smartphone, normally we tend to not answer the call, we wait to see if the caller will leave a message in regards to what the call was being made for, before we decide if the message is worth listening to, or we simply delete the message after a couple of seconds of hearing what the caller has to say. The difference with e-mail is we see the message, and what it relates to, such as Laurie Doe, you have a package that was shipped to 14255 Coolriver Dr., however the new resident states that you have been gone for over two years, if you would like for us to deliver your item, please provide us with your new address within 5 business days, or your item will be returned to the sender, from: jeffjones@ups.com, and then you see the UPS icon, along with a 1-800 number that you can call in regards to the email that was sent to your e-mail address at lauriedoe@gmail.com, so now you have a trusted sender in UPS, along with the agent who has sent the email from customer service, so now you have established trust with someone with UPS, Jeff Jones, who is an employee, who works in customer service for UPS. Laurie Doe, makes the call, and her address is updated in the system, and two days later the delivery is made by the UPS driver. Laurie Doe, has only moved away 15 minutes into a new subdivision in the same city, but now she has a different UPS driver, but the e-mail on the package saved the day for both Laurie, and UPS. The significance of e-mail on a package. www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog.

The significance of a phone number on a package can be huge in the event that you may be moving in the future. The revolving door of people moving will never change, people get married, join the military, go to college, move for new job opportunities, and etc., so there will always be a need for moving companies, the need to fill out a change of address form so that you can receive your mail, and packages, but everyone doesn’t always order their items through the United States Postal Service, so when you order an item from a shoe retailer such as Stacey Adams, they might have a deal in place with FedEx as their preferred shipper, and so you click on the order tab, and place your order to order 3 pairs of shoes for an upcoming dinner party at your job, and you also order two pairs of shoes for two weddings that you’re going to be a part of, and on the form you put your phone number in the order form, and you click to confirm your placement of your order. One week later, you still haven’t received your order, and FedEx has confirmed that your order has been delivered two days prior, you moved from your previous address one month ago, but luckily your still in the same city, your shoes have been sitting at your former address for the last two days, and luckily a porch pirate hasn’t stolen them, and your former letter carrier sees the package, and knows that the house is vacant, and that you have moved, so on the package your name is identified with your former address, and below it is a phone number in the area code of the city where you live in, so the letter carrier takes a chance and calls you, and it happens to be the former resident who lived at the address, and you tell the letter carrier that you will come to pick up the item in 20 minutes during your lunch break, so you no longer have to file a claim with Stacy Adams, you simply need to change your auto-shipping address to your new address in the event that you will order anymore items in the near future. The significance of a phone number on a package. www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!

Moving, receiving packages, and the importance of the maiden name. Everyday no matter where one might be in the world, someone is preparing to move to a new city, joining the military, graduating from high school, and attending college in state, or out of state, or staying in the same city, and moving on campus to the college dorm. People order items online from the comfort of their desktop, laptop, or smartphone, and if it’s a website where we have previously ordered items from normally all of our credit card information is stored, so we simply click to confirm our order, and in a matter of days the item arrives at our doorstep, apartment complex, condo, townhome, college, military duty station, and etc. In the event that Sherry Doe decides to get married to Kevin Simpson, and they decide to move from Buffalo, New York to Los Angeles, California in two weeks, both parties need to fill out a change of address form online, or the change of address form that they can receive from their letter carrier, but Sherry doesn’t plan on using her maiden name anymore, she plans on dropping it for her husbands last name of Simpson, so to make this happen she needs to change her accounts where items are auto-shipped from, and change her last name from Doe to Simpson, but to cut out the confusion she should keep the maiden name until she receives new credit cards, and she notifies all friends, and family members that she is making the change, because a relative in London, England could possibly mail a gift, and could spend $50 to ship the item in her maiden name of Doe, only to have the item returned because she filled out the change of address with her new last name of Simpson instead of using her maiden name as well on the form to have her mail forwarded. Ladies if you plan on moving, receiving packages, your maiden name is extremely important during the moving process. www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!

Making the extra effort to deliver a package can go a long way for a customer, or a business. People never forget when a delivery merchant makes an extra effort to deliver a package, that they have been waiting for to be delivered, it could be medication, boots that a solider ordered for an upcoming dress inspection, a mountain bike that a customer is looking to ride for a charity event this upcoming weekend, or a variety of other things. Leaving a package in at the front door of a building that you have access to isn’t making the extra effort, as a matter of fact leaving a package at the front door of an 8-plex apartment unit can enable a porch pirate who isn’t a resident of the building to simply walk up, and take the item without being challenged by the residents who live in the building, and what makes it even easier is the fact that the 8-plex doesn’t have a camera to capture the porch pirate committing the crime, and when the package says to leave the item if the resident isn’t present, gives the delivery merchant the green light to leave the item, and prevents them from having the responsibility of having to refund your money, or replace the item. In a residential neighborhood, it doesn’t make sense to walk all the way up to a house, and leave a package out in the open when the house has an area where the package can be hidden from the eyes of potential porch pirates, it’s kind of like Super Bowl XXXIV, when Kevin Dyson a wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans, caught a pass to attempt to score the game winning touchdown for the Titans, but was tackled by the St. Louis Rams linebacker, Mike Jones, a yard short of the end zone. Customers, and businesses deserve better, it can cause a large delivery merchant to lose business if employees don’t make the extra effort to deliver a package. www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!

Two names, two addresses, one package, who receives the package? You’re sitting at home, and browsing on your computer, and you see an item that you want to order off of cookies.com, and so you place your order, and wait for the item to arrive at your address, and your address is 10628 Pickle Dr., Frankenberry, Mo. 49021, and a customer who lives in the same zip code, by the name of Brian Johnson places an order on the same website, cookies.com, and his address is 10628 Wolfberry Dr., Frankenberry, Mo. 49021, so the item is shipped with both addresses on the package, with only the name of Brian Johnson on the package, the item is shipped via the U.S. Postal Service Priority 3 day mail, so who is going to receive the shipment of cookies? By default one would think that since Brian Johnson’s name, and address is on the box that he should receive the item by default, but the carrier catches the error, and gives the item to the Supervisor for inspection to find out who should receive the item, so the Supervisor opens the package, and sees the invoice inside of the box for the recipient whose name is Julie Denshire, who lives at 10628 Pickle Dr., Frankenberry, Mo. 49021. So the Supervisor, takes a sharpie, and crosses out the address on 10628 Wolfberry Dr., and contacts the merchant to let them know that an error was committed, so that they can send Mr. Johnson the box of cookies that he ordered as well. So the company reaches out to Mr. Johnson, and offers him free shipping for his order, and 50% off of his next order on cookies.com, and this particular order of cookies is mailed to him free of charge, mistakes happen in the world of business, and logistics, sometimes it’s the merchant who makes the mistake, and sometimes it’s the customer, but in a perfect world sometimes companies, and individuals don’t like to take the ownership of a simple mistake with a click on the mouse, or keyboard. Two names, two addresses, one package, who receives the package? www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!

The misdelivered package, who picks it up? It depends on what the package has listed on it in regards to who possibly delivered it. So if the package has Amazon on it with Amazon’s logo, then more than likely Amazon delivered the item, and that’s who you would need to call to come, and pick up the misdelivered package, the same can be said for a DHL, FedEx, UPS, USPS package, and etc., if this doesn’t help then normally you can look at your tracking information, as well as a ping on your smartphone to let you know what company delivered the item, what time of the day was the package left, and normally there will be an email address, or a number that you can call to reach the merchant in the event that a package was misdelivered to your address, depending on the time of the day, it might be possible for the merchant to stop back by your home to pickup the misdelivered package, but with today’s technology customer’s can normally tell where their package was left by calling the delivery merchant in the event that there’s a dispute over if the item was left at your address, GPS technology can pinpoint where exactly was your package was left at, and Amazon normally takes a picture of the package when they leave it at your residence to be able to identify your property with the photo, and in the event that your package might possibly be stolen by a porch pirate, this would be the merchant’s proof that the item was left, before it was stolen. What should you do if you receive a misdelivered package? Call the delivery merchant to let them know that the item was delivered to the wrong address, if it’s not a hassle, and the item is two houses down, and you know your neighbor, why make them wait, take their package to them, if it’s a block down the street, don’t write all over the package with a sharpie, you might smear out their name, and what was once deliverable, has become undeliverable. The misdelivered package, who picks it up? It should be the merchant who delivered it, but sometimes your Mailman will go above, and beyond, and will deliver the item, as a courtesy for you. www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!

Porch pirate season begins, watch out for your mail, and packages. Although, Christmas is only 115 days away, people are beginning to order their favorite items for their favorite online stores. So from now all the way through New Year’s Day, porch pirates will be coming to neighborhoods across the country to see if they can steal your packages without you being at home to catch them. One factor that you should always look for is a car trailing behind a UPS, FedEx, USPS, Amazon, DHL truck, and etc., if they wait for the driver to drive off, and get out the car, and walk up to the residence, and ring your doorbell, that could be a test to see if you’re going to come to the door, and if you don’t then it’s the opportunity for them to steal your package. What’s the best line of defense to prevent packages theft? Invest in a camera, or an alarm company that provides 24 hour security for your home in the event that you might be out of town, or shopping at the mall for the next 3 hours, if you have the ability to see the activity going on at your home and you can speak to someone walking up to your home, then you can scare off a thief if they hear your voice, they will assume that your at home, and chances are they will not try to steal your package for the fear of being caught on camera, and the police responding to the theft as well. Things that can help you guard against porch pirates are, if you have a neighbor that is retired, and you ask them to watch your home for package deliveries, normally they will pickup your packages until you come home, if your doorbell is rung, answer the door as quickly as possible if you see that it’s a Postal vehicle, or another delivery merchant, it might be a package that requires a signature, if it’s night time, and you notice that your delivery hasn’t been made yet, turn on a light for the delivery driver for safety purposes, and also porch pirates don’t like to be seen in the light, they’d rather operate in the dark. Porch pirate season begins, watch out for your mail, and packages! www.iwantmymail.com More than just a blog!