
Amazon has a way to catch package-stealing thieves - prostoalex
https://qz.com/1495241/amazon-has-a-clever-way-to-catch-package-stealing-thieves/
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craftyguy
dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18674892](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18674892)

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rmason
Just learned tonight that UPS will no longer insure packages containing gift
certificates. When I asked why the clerk said there were too just darned many
porch pirates.

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reificator
So then why leave the packages unsecured?

I think parcel lockers are a great invention, but if you don't have them, you
can have Amazon packages show up in their own lockers.

Since this is HN I'll leave it to the technological solution rather than
questioning why delivery protocol is no longer to hand off to another human
being.

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AWildC182
GPS units seem insufficient unless they're really well hidden. You'd want to
get a bunch of xboxes or something and put the devices inside the enclosure
then seal everything up so they can't just rip the boxes open as they depart
and toss anything that looks suspicious. This also ignores the possibility of
thieves using makeshift RF bags to hold everything. Maybe we should just go
back to the days of dye packs?

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thefifthsetpin
I doubt that the kind of premeditated theft you're describing accounts for a
large % of the losses.

Also, if a package with a dye pack were delivered to me, I'd be extremely
pissed off. (Which I suspect is almost guaranteed to happen, if not by
accident then by a thief that detects the trap and just ditches it at the next
doorstep.)

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UncleEntity
I would say if a thief dropped one of your neighbor's packages on your
doorstep and you got a face full of dye pack from opening it then you pretty
much got what was coming to you.

My mailman drops packages for the building next door on my doorstep every once
in a while and I just go walk it over to them fully avoiding the dye packs.

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gesman
Add explode-spilling permanent ink to packages to add more to fun

