If you're ordering gifts online, read this!
 

It's an article that appeared in my local newspaper today; it's about package thiefs, and how you can prevent yourself from becoming a victim.

http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs...121209269/1005

One of the main points of the article is that if you're ordering something valuable, you should have it shipped by a method that requires a signature be obtained upon delivery. This will prevent a package being left unattended where a thief can nab it.

Interestingly, the article mentions that Amazon.com only requires a signature on packages valued above $1300.00. (That's a pretty high value! I've never purchased anything that expensive except maybe cars & furniture.)

In my business, I've always made it a point to require signatures on anything over $150 ($100 if being sent to an apartment) to protect my customers from this sort of thing. Apparently that's not commonly done! But I would rather be safe than sorry. When something goes wrong in shipping the problem always bounces back to the merchant anyway. And none of the carriers (UPS, FedEx, USPS) will help either the shipper or the recipient once a package has been delivered.

Read, and become a bit wiser!

I am SO glad I live in the country, down a 1/2 mile private gravel road, with only a couple close neighbors, horses, cows, pastures and the barn kitties around me! The world seems to become more demented every year.

Jan in VA

Jan, I have had more packages go missing from my mailbox since I moved to the country than I ever had go missing in the city! Especially when the package has a microchip in it for a computer or cell phone! and every time the carrier has it marked as delivered and nothing can be done about the fact it never reached me. I try to have everything sent to my rural post office to be picked up there. And yes, my closest neighbors are cows and horses. It doesn't seem to matter who delivers the package, chances are electronics will be stolen.

I have seen videos on the news of thefts. Mine are sent to the post office.

piney

I send everything to my work just cause it easier. But we have had lots of things shipped to the house over the years and no one has ever bothered anything. Guess we've been lucky!

I do really miss our area like that in MT.

If your driveway/lane is less than half a mile, you can request pkgs be brought to your house. Retired USPS

We're lucky that our USPS man delivers our mail by coming through our gate onto our property. :-) My Dad worked out a deal years ago (he could charm the birds out of the trees and I miss him) with the mail delivery and it has continued on. No missing packages. My son...not so lucky as he lives in a downtown area, so I have packages sent to dear retired friends who are retired. Then he has to go get them, but at least the goodies are safe. And the friends always get some pecans as a thank you.

Sad world we live in, and the times are going to get worse .. Unfortunately with the economy the way it is, and will be with the things coming down the pipeline for us all- Prices of gas, groceries, milk and cotton are only gonna get worse before it gets better.

Amen to that. I also live in the country and we also have neighborhood watch. We recently had a neighbor pass away and the his kids rented the place to a bunch of jerks. So far they have stolen from some of our neighbors but not us.