ST. LOUIS — As the holiday shopping season approaches, your porch might see more deliveries than it does any other time of the year. But in the St. Louis area, there's a chance your parcel might go missing before you're able to collect it.
According to a study from home security company Vivint, St. Louis ranked No. 1 out of the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. for porch piracy.
Vivint, according to the report, used Google Trends search data to calculate porch piracy prevalence. For each city and state in the study, it looked at the search volume for "package stolen," "package lost" and "package theft" per 100,000 residents.
Here are the top and bottom five U.S. cities for porch pirate-related searches.
Cities with the most porch pirate-related searches
- St. Louis, Missouri (118 searches per 100,000 residents).
- Jersey City, New Jersey (115 searches per 100,000 residents).
- Madison, Wisconsin (111 searches per 100,000 residents).
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (104 searches per 100,000 residents).
- Fremont, California (100 searches per 100,000 residents).
Cities with the fewest porch pirate-related searches
- Houston, Texas (19 searches per 100,000 residents).
- Phoenix, Arizona (21 searches per 100,000 residents).
- Chesapeake, Virginia (24 searches per 100,000 residents).
- San Antonio, Texas (24 searches per 100,000 residents).
- Corpus Christi, Texas (25 searches per 100,000 residents).
What happens if your package is stolen?
According to our D.C. affiliate, WUSA9, shipping companies usually will not refund or replace stolen items, but here is how to report a stolen package with popular shipping companies.
The U.S. Postal Service said customers should contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to report a stolen package.
Amazon said customers should contact them within 30 days of expected delivery, and the company will do "everything we can to help."
How to protect your packages from porch pirates
When it comes to protecting your packages, Vivint offered the following tips:
- Have your packages delivered to your office rather than your home.
- Opt for an Amazon locker delivery.
- Require a signature for high-value packages.
- Install a doorbell camera to deter thieves and catch any thefts.
- Choose in-store pickup rather than home delivery.
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