Darn Porch pirates

[Mel Fulks]

Thanks ,for “going postal” ,in a nice way ! I do remember that the Presidents USED to choose a new postmaster when one was needed or
when a friend of his who helped him get elected needed a job.
Don’t remember ever hearing about any being fired. Remember, guys who get paid a big salary seldom steal pens and paper clips, and that
makes sure things run smoothly.

[Rob Luter]

We had a pirate story in the local news today. It reeked of stupidity. Woman orders a large flat screen TV on line. She’s notified by tracking that it’s out for delivery. Decides she has time to go to Walmart. While she’s gone the FedEx truck shows up. A passer buy (she lives on a busy street) helps the driver unload the huge box. Driver leaves. Same passer by returns and steals the TV. All captured on a ring doorbell cam. Woman is amazed this could have happened (really?). The good news is after footage of the theft was televised the thief returned the TV. You can’t fix stupid.

[Bill Dufour]

contact postal police not FBI for this federal crime. Al Capone went to
alcatraz for tax evasion and using the us mail for fradulent purposes. mailing in those fraudulent tax forms.
Bill D,

[Ole Anderson]

A year or so ago, our carrier retired, he was very good...
Our new carrier is even better... she puts packages on our daughters porch for us even though it is inconvenient for her...
UPS is also good...
Fedex is another story...
Amazon depends on the driver..

Yea, FEDEX has a habit of putting packages in front of our garage door. Came close to backing the car over packages more than once. Well covered porch is in clear view of the garage door, 25' away.

[John K Jordan]

Its up to the people who order the stuff to be home or make arrangements. Sometimes when I’m driving I will see a big steel
box in front of a house . They are usually out in the open , bolted down to concrete , painted with a bright color and marked as the place
for packages. And my guess is most of those people have guns.

That's what I have, except I painted it black. I bought a steel job site box from Tractor Supply, fastened a hasp on the lid for a padlock, welded up a stand from 1" and 3" square/retangular steel tubing, bolted the stand to the bottom of the box, then embedded the bottom of the stand into concrete.

I have a note inside the mailbox id asking the carrier to put larger packages into the lock box. Fortunately we usually have the same mail carrier every day. I also put a sign on the box and another on the gate to ask the carrier to put a package in the lock box, or if too big, set it on the ground by the gate and call my cell phone. This has worked very well. The only time I had to go to the post office for a package was when the package was too large for the carrier to fit it into her car. (Now all carriers have little mail vans with a lot more space - a big improvement, and the carriers no longer have to supply their own car with a second steering wheel and foot controls on the!)

The only problem is when I have two deliveries from different carriers coming on the same day. Fortunately the driveway monitors I mentioned usually alert me and I go out and get the first one as soon as it comes.

When I order large things delivered by Amazon truck I provide my phone number and the drivers always call when they are a few minutes away so I can meet the truck at the gate. Unlike other carriers these deliveries let the buyer pick a 2-hr delivery window which makes it easier to plan to be there.

JKJ

[Ken Fitzgerald]

When I first moved here 40 years ago, in about 14 months I had to replace the wooden mail post 4 times. I know because I am making a pile to take to the construction debris dump site and I pulled the remnants down from the carport rafters. I got tired to trying to paint a new post in my unheated shed at the time. So I enlisted a local welder. He made a post to my specifications. 4" schedule 40 steel with a 1/2" steel plate at the bottom and a 1/4" steel plate at the top. I made a form, dug out the ground, mixed the concrete and using 4 J-bolts I manufactured a base to which I mounted the new post with an attached mailbox.

I still don't know why people hit that box with their vehicles because about 16" away is a utility pole but they do. I have replaced the mailbox 3 times now, used a comealong attached to my SUV to pull it back vertical. I haven't had to replace it. The owners of the vehicle are now paying the price. BTW, I have hazardous zone reflective metallic tapes attached to the pole and mailbox.

[Lee Schierer]

When I first moved here 40 years ago, in about 14 months I had to replace the wooden mail post 4 times. I know because I am making a pile to take to the construction debris dump site and I pulled the remnants down from the carport rafters. I got tired to trying to paint a new post in my unheated shed at the time. So I enlisted a local welder. He made a post to my specifications. 4" schedule 40 steel with a 1/2" steel plate at the bottom and a 1/4" steel plate at the top. I made a form, dug out the ground, mixed the concrete and using 4 J-bolts I manufactured a base to which I mounted the new post with an attached mailbox.

I still don't know why people hit that box with their vehicles because about 16" away is a utility pole but they do. I have replaced the mailbox 3 times now, used a comealong attached to my SUV to pull it back vertical. I haven't had to replace it. The owners of the vehicle are now paying the price. BTW, I have hazardous zone reflective metallic tapes attached to the pole and mailbox.

Ours was taken out at least once a year by either wandering drivers, teenagers with baseball bats or the snow plow until I moved it farther off the road and hinged the arm.
IMG_4679.jpg

This one has been hit several times and it still looks good.

We haven't had a Porch Pirate problem yet, but you can't really see the porch from the road. I've seen a couple of videos of people putting fake packages with out for potential pirates. The packages have questionable contents inside.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have had my mailbox taken out by snowplows 3 times in the 33 years we have lived here. The picture is of my current mailbox on a 4" x6" post instead of the normal 4x4. Since this picture was taken the post was hit and shattered again. I simply cut a step (lap joint) in what was left of the post and grafted on a new top using most of the original parts. Our town road agent is a friend and I rarely miss a chance to bust his chops about the events.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Just heard a really good one, that I suppose may turn into a lawsuit. A person placed a marine smoke flare cartridge inside a carboard box with a smile on the lid and placed it on their front porch. Apparently the flare was rigged to activate, when the box was opened. Thieves got down the road and passenger opened the box. car filled with red smoke, they hit a mail box. and a grand in damage to the car. not to mention the red smoke crap all over the inside of the car. Years ago, I heard of someone putting such a flare inside a piece of firewood at a vacation community where firewood was being stolen all the time. One cold winter weekend suspicious bright green smoke was coming from a chimney.

My imagination would be limited to a dog pile in a package. maybe some really smelly urine like trappers use to attract animals.

.

[Jim Koepke]

Just heard a really good one, that I suppose may turn into a lawsuit. A person placed a marine smoke flare cartridge inside a carboard box with a smile on the lid and placed it on their front porch. Apparently the flare was rigged to activate, when the box was opened. Thieves got down the road and passenger opened the box. car filled with red smoke, they hit a mail box. and a grand in damage to the car. not to mention the red smoke crap all over the inside of the car. Years ago, I heard of someone putting such a flare inside a piece of firewood at a vacation community where firewood was being stolen all the time. One cold winter weekend suspicious bright green smoke was coming from a chimney.

My imagination would be limited to a dog pile in a package. maybe some really smelly urine like trappers use to attract animals.

.

Yeah, some guy is going to call the cops because someone's stink bomb he stole off of their porch made him crash his car.

Check YouTube, search > porch pirate vs glitter bomb < One guy has made glitter bombs with old cellphones in side so he can video the thing going off in the car. My recollection is he has also rigged some with nasty smelling sprays that stay in the vehicle for a long time.

My feeling on porch pirates and mail thieves is they should spend a long time in jail and have no right to file assault charges if the people they are steeling from take action.

jtk

[Kev Williams]

The current postmaster is Louis DeJoy. He took office in May 2020 and is still serving. He is appointed by the Board of Governors for the Postal Service, not the President. The Board of Governors are the only ones who can remove the Postmaster General unless he quits.

Direct from Wikipedia:
On May 6, 2020, the USPS Board of Governors, all selected by [The Current President at the time] and confirmed by the Senate,^[28] announced DeJoy's appointment as Postmaster General and CEO, despite concerns about conflicts of interest.

I'll leave it at that...