Tips to protect packages from porch pirates

Fargo, North Dakota – As the holiday season draws near, a local postal inspector offers tips on how to prevent package theft.

A Regional Contraband Investigation and Interdiction Team covering North Dakota, Minnesota, and a portion of Western Wisconsin is led by Rachel Williams, a Postal Inspector Team Lead.

Williams claims that although individuals talk about package theft more frequently over the holidays, particularly around Christmas, the reality does not match the rhetoric.

Williams stated, “We keep an eye on this… there does tend to be an enhanced awareness of it during the holiday season. There hasn’t been a general upsurge in mail theft recently.

The US Postal Service does offer several suggestions for lowering your risk of experiencing mail theft. Williams advises that a secure location other than your house, such as work, an Amazon locker, a PO box, holding the item at a mailing site, or even having a neighbor keep the mail for you to pick up later, maybe a good place to start.

Because package thefts can occur over an entire area at once rather than being a single incident, she also advises talking to neighbors in the event of a missing box. Williams suggests either reporting a mail theft to the police so they can keep track of theft instances in the area or reporting it to the USPS directly through their website.