Stolen packages have increased in frequency in the Austin metro area year over year.

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Safewise partnered with Vivint Smart Home to research porch pirate trends all around the nation. They found out that 260 million packages were swiped off of Americans' porches in 2022. That's up by 50 million packages according to the 2021 figures.

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Austin moved up three spots on their list from 2021, and this is definitely a list you don't want to move up on.

Top 10 Worst Metro Areas For Porch Pirates:

  1. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA
  2. Seattle-Tacoma, WA
  3. Austin, TX
  4. Hartford & New Haven, CT
  5. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA
  6. Los Angeles, CA
  7. Portland, OR
  8. Fresno-Visalia, CA
  9. Milwaukee, WI
  10. New Orleans, LA

Here's some interesting stats from Safewise.com:

  • More than 3 in 4 Americans have been a victim of package theft in their lifetime.
  • 79% of Americans have been a victim of package theft in the last 12 months (15 points higher than last year!).
  • Over half porch pirate victims have had multiple packages stolen in the past 12 months.
  • 40% of all packages stolen are valued between $50–$100—that’s an estimated loss of $19.5 billion.

Safewise also mentions that even though porch pirates are becoming more common, online orders in Austin and around the country aren't slowing down, in fact, they're increasing.

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One of the reasons they attribute to why package theft is increasing is that it's a low-risk crime. Even when caught, the penalties are minimal. It sounds to me that we need to contact our local and state politicians to pass local ordinances and state laws that make more severe penalties for package theft.

Here's some tips on what you can do to help minimize the chance that you will fall victim to a porch pirate:

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