posted by SpringTrailsSarah 1mo ago

Package thefts getting worse on our street - what are you guys actually doing?

Sorry to bring this up if it has been posted about recently! We had two packages taken right off our front porch in Spring Trails this week. One was just basic household stuff from Amazon and the other was a birthday gift from Target. Our Ring camera caught a blurry video of someone dropping off a flyer and then grabbing the boxes at 2 pm while I was picking up the kids. Back in Ohio our old neighborhood had those shared postal parcel lockers, so I am still trying to figure out the best setup here. Is anyone using the Amazon Hub lockers at the HEB on Rayford or Grand Parkway? Or do the porch drop boxes actually work, or do delivery drivers just ignore them? Thanks in advance for any tips!

Ohio raised, Texas humbled

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CommuterKateSpringwoods Village11 points1mo ago

If you are not home during the day, a porch camera is basically just a camera that records people stealing your stuff in high definition. I leave at 6:15 every morning for the Galleria and I am not back to Springwoods Village until almost 7:00 depending on I-45 traffic. I stopped having anything delivered to my house last year. High value stuff goes to my office downtown, everything else goes to the Amazon hub at HEB off Riley Fuzzel. It adds two minutes to my commute home and I never have to track down a stolen package.

I 45 is my second home

DIYDanielleLexington Woods16 points1mo ago

I built a lockbox for our porch last summer out of pressure treated pine from the Lowe's off 249. It has a one way drop mechanism so once the driver drops the package in, nobody can reach down to grab it out without the key. The trick is you have to write CLEAR instructions in your delivery profile for Amazon, UPS, and FedEx. I also put a bold sign right on top of the box that says DROP PACKAGES HERE. FedEx and UPS follow it about 90 percent of the time. Amazon flex drivers can be hit or miss depending on how fast they are rushing.

Home Depot loyalty card

BudgetMomBeckDevonshire Woods13 points1mo ago

Please do not go spend $200 on fancy porch bins when there are completely free ways to solve this! FedEx lets you redirect any package to the Walgreens on Louetta or Spring Cypress for free pickup through their app. UPS does the exact same thing with UPS Access Points. For Amazon, the hub locker at HEB is totally free. I just pick my packages up when I do my weekly grocery run. Haven't had a package on my porch in four years and it costs me zero extra dollars.

Sale price or no price

LurkerLisaImperial Oaks15 points1mo ago

Seconding the Walgreens option on Spring Cypress, I have sent all our expensive electronics there for pickup and the staff at the counter is super quick.

BusStopBridgetNorthampton15 points1mo ago

On our block in Northampton we just rely on neighbor math. We have a street group text and whenever someone sees a delivery truck drop something off, they text the group. Whoever is working from home or walking their dog goes and grabs the box off the porch and puts it in their own garage until evening. Old school but it works.

7:04 or you are walking