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A Complete Look at Package Theft Statistics

A Complete Look at Package Theft Statistics

We know that porch pirates are on the prowl in the US. There are enough posts on Twitter, YouTube and other forums to prove this. However, package theft falls under larceny and is not reported by most police departments under its own category. This makes it difficult to understand exactly how common it is.

This said, there are some significant studies, surveys and reports that have been conducted to get a clearer understanding of the key statistics related to parcel theft. For convenience's sake, we’ve compiled data from the variety of sources available here.

How Common is Package Theft?

According to C\+R Research in 2020:

  • 43% of Americans had a package stolen, up 7% from the previous year
  • 64% of package theft victims have had a package stolen more than once
  • 43% say they know a neighbor who was victimized

In a 2020 survey by valuepenguin.com conducted about 4 months after the Covid-19 outbreak:

  • Nearly 1 in 5 Americans were victims of porch piracy
  • 18% had a package stolen since the outbreak
  • 43% had reported a package theft in the past
  • 54% of respondents had multiple deliveries stolen in the prior 12 months
  • 57% of stolen packages were delivered by Amazon
  • Groceries delivered by services like HelloFresh and Instacart made up 14% of stolen packages.

In a report by Bellevue, Washington police:

  • Mail theft increased 72% in Nov 2020 compared to the previous year

In a Los Angeles police department report:

  • Porch piracy increased almost 600% from 2010 to 2017

According to a survey at Finder.com in 2020:

  • 35.5 million Americans had been a victim in the last year.
  • 39% had a package stolen once, 36% twice, 11% three times
  • 52% were worried a package would be stolen during the holiday season

In a 2019 New York Times Report:

  • Over 90,000 packages a day were stolen or disappeared without explanation in NYC, up roughly 20 percent from four years prior
  • José Holguín-Veras, an engineering professor and director of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center of Excellence for Sustainable Urban Freight Systems, found that every day over 1.7 million packages disappear

For a more detailed look, see How Often are Delivered Packages Stolen