It can be irritating relying on deliveries arriving at home when you’re busy working a 9 to 5 job, but more so than annoying it can be anxiety-inducing. As ideal as it would be to trust in our fellow man, the fact remains that there are those that see a parcel on the doorstep as a free mystery box; you might have ordered a book by your favourite, lesser-known author but a burglar doesn’t care, they’ll see it as a potential treasure trove.
So what’s a concerned online-orderer to do? Do you rely on a safe space? Trust a diligent neighbour? Train a diligent goat to ram off any intruders? It’s hard to know what to trust nowadays, but luckily there are plenty of modern methods to ensuring you can boast safe post.
Thinking completely outside the box can provide you with some fancy gadgets, effective tech and even useful improvements to home security. Recipients of packages all across the UK have their own different ways of ensuring that their online orders don’t go astray in the hands of a callous thief. Post in Manchester is no exception, so some of these might be beneficial to you.
1. Anti-Theft Devices
There are plenty of creative anti-theft devices on the market; some more malicious than others. Thanks to this variety of options you can cater your security by whether you’re looking for a genuine means of keeping packages safe or you’re looking to deal out some justice to be.
It all depends on how much you’ve been burned by package theft.
Many will recall the ‘glitter bomb’ style packages, which rightly deliver ‘package pirates’ some karmic retribution. Much like in the video above, some have been designed to simply shower the offending thief in glitter, marking them with shame, or they also record the event and dispense foul odours.
It goes without saying that these elaborate deterrents would require some serious DIY and know how to pull off, given that the glitter box above has been designed by ex-NASA engineer Mark Rober, so perhaps focusing on security itself would be the safer option for most.
2. Smart Doorbells
One of the ways you can keep yourself in the loop, even from the office, is by installing a smart doorbell. It might seem like nowadays everything can have ‘smart’ applied to it, but in this case a smart doorbell might be a superb & subtle way of boosting your home security.
Though it’s not something most police forces will take time to deal with, by recording the foot traffic coming and going past your door you’ll have plenty of chances to catch a thief red-handed. Some smart doorbells are connected via an app and allow you to speak to the would-be burglar and kindly tell them to go to hell.
The biggest advantage of these smart doorbells is that it gives you a little more power, a little more sense of security. If you’ve got a package arriving while you’re at work and feeling nervous about whether it’s still going to be there when you get home, knowing that you can keep an eye on the door should alleviate some of your fears.
3. Require Signatures for Parcel Delivery
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best; signing for packages. Signing for your packages means you’ll have to be there to receive it but it does guarantee that it’ll be entering your hands and not being taken away by a petty thief.
This can also ensure that the delivery person does actually try; there are countless reports of a delivery ‘attempt’ consisting of a courier simply walking to the door, registering as trying and then driving away. By requiring a signature you’ll have that added layer of security and assurance.
4. Amazon Lockers
There are several distinct postage lockers dotted across Manchester, many of which are Amazon Lockers. These Amazon Lockers, based in the city centre, Rusholme and other spots in Greater Manchester, act as safe havens for your packages and can be accessed essentially at any time; serving as perfect spots to have post delivered to.
Of course, as the name suggests, these Amazon Lockers primarily deal with Amazon orders, but when considering the certain reports this sole provider and resource is invaluably useful. Reports across Manchester and the UK stated that 1 out of 5 packages delivered around Black Friday over the last few years were stolen, so having parcels sent to these Amazon Lockers could mean the difference between getting that new coat you snagged at half price and paying half price for someone else’s new coat.
5. Have Packages Sent to Your Office
Another much more simple method of ensuring you get your packages safely when at work is to actually have them delivered to your workplace. You’ll have to ensure that your workplace allows parcels to be delivered in your name and, of course, that you’re ordering a package of reasonable size.
It’s just common courtesy not to order a new 4k TV to your workplace, after all. Putting your work address as the delivery address guarantees you’ll get your package safely, especially if you have a receptionist who’s prepared to receive it.
6. Make Sure You Can Get It
One of the most obvious methods (yet one that can slip people’s minds when ordering online) for securing your post is to ensure that you can actually be at your delivery address when the delivery arrives. Last minute changes can be made with a lot of couriers, such as Hermes Parcels in Manchester, if you realise that you’re not going to be home on a certain day, or you’re suddenly called away urgently.
Much like entrusting your packages to the discretion of an office receptionist, there’s also the option of informing neighbours, friends or family when something is going to arrive at your door; utilising your circle of trust is certainly one of the best ways to keep your parcels out of thieves’ hands.
Failing all other alternatives, informing couriers (or leaving a note at the door) should resort in any undelivered parcels being returned to a local post office in Manchester. Manchester post will go back to Manchester post offices, after all, so even though it might be inconvenient to find one of those red slips it still beats finding nothing.
7. Classic Misdirection
Last, and almost certainly least, is a solution for the more insidious minded, or those with a little extra time on their hands. Leaving an empty box with some form of trap or warning in it (maybe even a pamphlet on why stealing is wrong) will deliver a healthy dose of disappointment to any potential thieves, and might help you sleep a little better at night knowing that this deterrent is irritating those after your precious packages.
Better yet, having some form of tracking device in there could pinpoint the thief’s location; but that’s taking it to a whole other level. More mature minded people might not resort to this petty tactic and take solace in some of the other examples, or they might have found even more ingenious ways to securely keep their packages safe.
Have you got any particularly brilliant ways of keeping your post secure? Let us know in the comments section below! And for any super secure methods of getting your post hassle-free, be sure to take a look at our many postal & packaging services!