skreeky: (Default)
skreeky ([personal profile] skreeky) wrote in [community profile] davis_square2013-07-29 05:29 pm
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Common to have items taken from porches?

I really don't want to start a flame war - this is an honest question for people living in the area between Davis and Ball Square.

When I was younger I lived in JP. I loved it. However, it was a town where you didn't bother to put out a pumpkin in October because it would be smashed by morning, and you tried very hard to be home for deliveries because boxes would be stolen from the porch.

I've spent the past decade in West Roxbury, where you could have anything at all on your porch and yard and it would not be disturbed.

Now, in the process of moving in, I've been tossing empty boxes on the front porch. Some are broken down, but others are not obviously empty (full of packing material). The idea is to eventually post to Craigslist that there are empty boxes at *address*, and they go away. However, I have not posted that yet, because I have recently placed a number of mail orders, and I don't want my items to be taken by "accident" with the empties should they arrive. The problem is that I just got home, and someone has helped themselves to my empties anyway. On the face of it, that's fine - I wanted to be rid of them.

What I am wondering is, is this the sort of neighborhood where I ought to be trying to have my deliveries taken around to the rear for safety? Do people generally help themselves to things on porches? Some of my neighbors have quite elaborate sitting areas on porches and I figured there was no problem with respect of that space.

I'm "fine" with living in either sort of neighborhood, but I'd rather not find out the hard way which this is.

[identity profile] thetathx1138.livejournal.com 2013-07-30 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
I have a problem with dickish UPS guys, not people stealing stuff from the porch. Seriously, my UPS guy keeps insisting that my neighborhood is "too dangerous" to leave packages on the porch.

We live a few blocks from Magoun in a neighborhood full of families and old people.

[identity profile] hammercock.livejournal.com 2013-07-30 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
We also live a couple of blocks from Magoun, and someone just stole our $30 umbrella stroller off our front porch this afternoon. WTF. But no one's ever stolen any package from our porch that I know of, and after 3 years of living here this is the first theft we've experienced.

[identity profile] wintahill.livejournal.com 2013-07-30 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
I live a few blocks farther from Magoun over in Winter Hill. I have the same issue with UPS, they refuse to leave any packages at my house if no one is home. That is pretty much all the time during week. I really don't know if UPS boxes would be stolen off the porch because they never leave anything, but USPS/Amazon Lasership stuff has never been a problem.

Really annoying and it makes online shopping so much less convenient.

[identity profile] enveri.livejournal.com 2013-07-30 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
We live on Winter Hill too. Had to sign the affadavits with UPS to leave stuff without a signature (we have a closed porch).

Grumble.

[identity profile] intuition-ist.livejournal.com 2013-07-30 11:22 am (UTC)(link)
sadly, i can even understand why they say that.

I'm near-ish to Magoun. i've never personally had a package go missing, but someone stole our little solar lights that we had planted by our front steps. And a sheet of aluminum that I was using to direct water away from the foundation. :(

[identity profile] thetathx1138.livejournal.com 2013-07-30 11:27 am (UTC)(link)
The annoying thing is he'll happily leave some packages but not others, and deliberately ignores the slips we sign.