Package theft -- just my building, or a bigger problem?

[ron_newman]

My apartment building lobby has four notes posted, by four different tenants, about packages that have gone missing in the last week. That's four tenants out of 50.

Is this a general problem in the neighborhood between Davis Square and Mass. Ave., or is it specific to my building? I'm wondering if we need to ask management to re-key the outside locks (an annoying and expensive process).

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I believe package theft has come up before in this comm, but generally it's off of people's doorsteps. You might want to check that the UPS guy leaves packages in a locked area first.

[nuns.livejournal.com]

or that the UPS guy leaves packages AT ALL. I know I have on numerous occasions gotten the note saying "third notice" from my UPS carrier when there has never been a first or second notice. If the packages are all UPS it could be that they haven't been stolen, but that the carrier just claimed to drop them off instead of actually dropping them off.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It's more likely the first and second notices simply fell off the door: those pads have lousy, lousy adhesive. I've had that happen to me multiple times, only to discover notices one and/or two halfway down the hall or in the bushes or in the gutter.

[nuns.livejournal.com]

Well, I am inclined to believe that the carrier just didn't feel like hauling my box off the truck, and the reason is this:

On several other occasions, times when a first notice has been left, I have been at home waiting for a package to be delivered, waited all day for the delivery, then at 6 PM gone finally gone outside to get my mail, only to discover a "notice of delivery" sticker on the door - indicating that the carrier hadn't even bothered to ring my doorbell. Much easier to carry a pad of stickers than to carry boxes. If they leave enough stickers, they don't have to carry my box at all, because I have to go to the pickup center in person to collect it.

I now tell vendors that if they ship with UPS, the package will never reach me, and that if they knowing that they ship with UPS anyhow, I will stop ordering things from them.

[nuns.livejournal.com]

that should have said "notice of delivery attempt" - the package was not there.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Depends on the driver, I suppose. I've had absolutely no problems whatsoever at my current location with UPS, and I tend to order heavy, awkwardly shaped objects that they have to lug up a flight of concrete stairs.

[nuns.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I probably shouldn't suggest that *all* UPS drivers are irresponsible morons. Just mine.

[leko.livejournal.com]

This is a problem for a wider area than that. I'm sure it's a problem in other cities as well, but it's not one I ever had to deal with before coming to boston. I know my UPS driver won't leave _anything_ at my door over on central street, and have heard of package theft both in the davis area, and way down in JP as well.

It's really annoying, too, since if the UPS driver would put packages around the side of the house at the back door, it would be completely invisible from the street, but the UPS driver would rather take it back to the depot than do that. I've basically thrown in the towel and decided to get all my packages delivered to work.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Never mind leaving it on the back porch, which would add extra time.

Most of us here have front porches with a low wall facing the street, and you could tuck a package in the corner so it would be almost invisible to anyone passing by on the street.

It wouldn't add any extra time to do that, but everybody seems to leave packages at the very top of the stairs.

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

I had a FedEx package coming and told them it was okay to leave it on the screened front porch, because I wouldn't be home to sign and it would be invisible from the road. I *thought* the package had been stolen, since the tracking website told me that it had arrived one day last week, but I didn't see it anywhere. Then I went to take the garbage out and saw that the delivery person had gone around the back of my house, up the fire escape to the back deck, and left the package tucked in between the screen door and the back door. Ain't NOBODY gonna steal that. Even I could barely find it. So, it seems that they will do this in some cases. This is in Decatur, GA though... *snif* I miss you b0st0n.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

We miss you too. (And so does Yelp!)

[cos]

I had the same thing happen with a package in Cambridge, MA. In my case, I was on the third floor, and it was fall so I'd stopped using the back porch at all and it never occurred to me to look for a package there. Unfortunately, communication with FedEx was horrible. I tried for several weeks, and many cycles of back and forth, to try to get them to ask the driver for me: where did you leave the package, and/or who did you give it to? Each time, after several phone calls and a wait of one or more days, the response would come back in the same form: We confirm that the package was delivered to [address] at [date]. Well, duh!

I eventually had the shipper file a missing package report, and send me a replacement (compensated by FedEx, I believe). The following spring, someone from the other side of the building asked if anyone knew who the box on the porch belonged to, and there it was. An external hard drive, that had been left out through a number of rainstorms and other bad weather.

[ron_newman]

Did the drive still work after all that?

[jovianconsensus.livejournal.com]

My UPS and Fedex drivers use that wall quite often, but not always.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

One time when I ordered something they tucked it in on the opposite side, which was nice because nobody could see them, but bad, because I thought they were for the neighbors!

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

The delivery guys have keys to your building's vestibule?

[ron_newman]

Some of them may. I'm not actually sure.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

That wouldn't make any sense. How would every possible UPS and FedEx driver get the key to your building? How many dozens of keys would the drivers have to carry for all the buildings on their route?

If a package ends up inside, it's probably because a neighbor brought it in for you. That's what we do in my building.

The Post Office *can* bring packages inside, if your building has a second keyhole that accepts a key that all mailmen carry. This lock has a distinctive shape, and it's the same as the lock on blue mail drop boxes and apartment building mailboxes.

[ron_newman]

I never knew that last part. Our mailman definitely has no trouble getting in to our lobby. He has to do it every day because all of our regular letter mailboxes are there. UPS and FedEx drivers never have this special key?

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Nope -- these keys are just for mailmen. It's the same key that lets them open locked apartment mailboxes to put in the mail, and I suspect it's the same one that opens blue mailboxes. So it would be a serious security breach for anyone other than a USPS worker to have one.

[ms-info.livejournal.com]

I had that problem in Winter Hill, and across the river in Mission Hill, but have had better luck in the greater Davis/Ball Squares area. (knock on wood). Though that may have something to do with being on a street that has an unofficial neighborhood watch (otherwise known as general nosiness - myself very much included).

[phoenixy.livejournal.com]

I live between Davis Square and Mass Ave and have never had a package stolen, nor have I seen notes from other people in the building complaining about package theft.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It's more a problem on the main drags and with carriers like DHL.

UPS Store

[sueb226.livejournal.com]

I have had problems in the past, after a ordeal involving a discontinued brides maid dress I opened up a box at the ups store. It is great. Because it is not a P.O. Box I have never had a problem with delivery and they will sign for things like FedEx envelopes too. You can sign up for a year or two at a time and that saves you quite a bit.

[kidsmokes.livejournal.com]

i live on Winslow, the street behind the T, and have never had any problem with packages.