But that doesn’t mean people didn’t shop. Many chose to take advantage of Cyber Monday and do their Christmas shopping from the comfort of their own homes. Adobe said U.S. shoppers spent a total of $9.4 billion in online sales on Cyber Monday. That’s a lot of packages to be delivered. And you know what that means; here come the porch pirates. Keep reading and we’ll tell you how to keep your deliveries safe.

What are porch pirates?

Porch pirates are crooks who roam through neighborhoods stealing packages that have been delivered right from people’s porches. This is a problem across the U.S. year-round, but with all the online holiday shopping deliveries, there are more packages for criminals to rip off. If you’ve ever been a porch pirate victim, there are ways to get refunded for your losses. Tap or click here to learn what to do if your packages get stolen.

5 ways to keep your deliveries safe

With more and more people choosing to shop online, we can expect the number of stolen packages to climb. To help combat porch pirates, here are five ways to avoid having your packages ripped off.

  1. Ship packages to the office One trick is to ship packages to your work address instead of your home. This is a great option if you know no one will be at the house when things are delivered during the day. Click “Enter a new address” and put in the details. For security reasons, you will be asked to confirm your credit card each time you place an order using a new or edited address. You might also like: Watch how this man gets revenge with a genius prank on porch pirates. If the idea of having a complete stranger open your front door creeps you out, or if you have pets, then this service is probably not for you.
  2. Ask your neighbors for help There’s nothing like a community effort to stop thieves from targeting your neighborhood. If you trust your neighbors, you can ask them to look after your packages. Even better, if you have a neighbor who works from home, ask them if you can ship packages to their house directly. More and more people work from home these days and if you are friendly with each other, this is a great opportunity to take advantage of.
  3. Choose your delivery day Many of us have a Monday through Friday job that keeps us in the office during the day when packages are delivered. This is one reason porch pirates are so successful. They know that package is going to be on your doorstep unattended until you get home from work so they strike in the light of day. Instead of having packages randomly delivered on any given day of the week, choose which day they should be delivered. That way if you always have Tuesdays off from work you can be home to accept deliveries. Select this option to choose the default day packages will be delivered. Schedule deliveries for days you know someone will be home, cutting down the chance of theft. You can choose from Monday through Saturday. Sunday is the only day that’s not available. Now that you know how to outsmart porch pirates, you can get online and finish your Christmas shopping worry-free!