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A congressperson from New Jersey thinks porch piracy should be a federal crime. "There's a literal Grinch that tears through neighborhoods, stealing away Christmas presents and essentials from grandparents and children alike - right off their own front porch when a package arrives," he said.
Josh Gottheimer introduced the Porch Pirates Act on Cyber Monday (December 1), saying that so far this year, 104 million packages have been stolen.
The Porch Pirates Act would do the following:
- Make stealing a package delivered by a private carrier (such as UPS, Amazon, FedEx, and others) a federal crime, a protection that currently only applies to mail and packages delivered by USPS;
- Apply federal penalties including fines and imprisonment up to three, five, or ten years depending on value, method, and circumstances of the theft;
- Give the FBI, DOJ and federal task forces full authority to investigate any porch piracy theft of a private carrier package, a major improvement in investigative authority;
- Create a uniform national baseline by clarifying that existing criminal statute includes delivered packages, creating a uniform national baseline to combat porch piracy and set standard penalties without preempting individual state laws; and
- Extend interstate commerce protection to the final delivery point - including all the way to a front porch - rather than only protecting packages in transit in interstate commerce.
Gottheimer also wants to shift the burden of porch theft onto the shoulders of retailers. "Additionally, Gottheimer is asking retailers to figure out why 25% of families are not able to receive refunds for stolen packages and to take steps to fix this," according to his press release.
Apparently the Congressperson is not acquainted with bad-buyer behavior.
Would making porch theft a federal crime be an effective deterrent? And should sellers be made liable for theft that occurs in lawmakers' jurisdictions?
As I have been saying for years you should not have any eBay branded boxes or tape visible on the outside of the package as it acts as a magnet for thieves.
If you must use their tape confine it for internal packaging.
If you must use their boxes or envelopes then cross their branding out to make it appear that its being reused.
Not only do you have worry about porch pirates, but thieves will be attracted to eBay branded packages sitting inside vehicles.
Such branding also attracts thieves working for the carrier and for contractors being used by the carrier. For USPS that includes UPS, large trucking firms like J.B. Hunt and small time truckers bidding on local post office to sorting center mail routes.
They also need to make misusing postal supplies a federal crime and go after these people posting videos on YouTube documenting their crimes.
Making Porch Piracy a Federal Crime
by: AddyUp
Wed Dec 3 12:27:21 2025
A recent Amazon advert goes on about how they are using less packing. In fact they said some have no extra packaging at all and goes on to show the driver delivering an item in just the manufacturers packaging.
So no mystery there. Everyone will know what's on your doorstep.
Making Porch Piracy a Federal Crime
by: Shanna
Thu Dec 4 01:31:53 2025
It is up to the customer to provide a safe shipping location. If your packages are stolen, get a PO Box, have Amazon deliveries sent to an Amazon locker, or have your packages delivered to your work location.
Making Porch Piracy a Federal Crime
by: Nonesuch
Thu Dec 4 03:36:16 2025
Making theft of packages a federal crime is fine, but legislation should NOT shift the burden to sellers to rebate buyers for stolen packages. As @Shanna notes, it's also up to the recipient to provide a safe location for package delivery and if they cannot do that at their residence, then to use a package locker, at least for Amazon deliveries. Either way, it's not a seller's fault that a porch pirates lift a package.
Making Porch Piracy a Federal Crime
by: NYSteve
Thu Dec 4 12:37:39 2025
Its ABSOLUTELY no fault of the shipper, if a box is stolen after delivery.
As to this new bill, good luck! the penalty for the crime of stealing USPS mail, already a FEDERAL offense, is usually a slap on the wrist (and i am referring to 3' high bags full of mail, posted clearly on them 'federal offense' etc etc) (by postal worker or not)
Making Porch Piracy a Federal Crime
by: BargainzBabylon
Fri Dec 5 23:48:29 2025
Branded boxes and packaging make no difference to porch pirates - good grief. They'll filch anything.
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The AuctionBytes Blog has been giving a voice to online merchants since its launch in 2005. Named one of the world's top 30 blogs in 2008 by "Blogging Heroes." Weigh in with your thoughts on the joys and pitfalls of selling online.
Making Porch Piracy a Federal Crime