Half of Online Shoppers Did Not Receive a Package They Ordered in Past 6 Months. How Can Consumers Protect Their Deliveries?

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As the holiday season approaches, consumer awareness of "porch pirates," or thieves who target deliveries left in open spaces, surges. Clutch, the leading B2B ratings and reviews firm, surveyed online shoppers and found that more than half (51%) say they did not receive at least one package they ordered online in the past six months.

Among those who did not receive a package, 16% say the package was stolen. Nearly one-third (29%) aren't sure why their package was never delivered.

Consumers can take different approaches to protect their packages from thieves, including:

• Installing a secure dropbox for packages
• Installing a security camera to identify and deter thieves
• Using a service such as Amazon Key, which allows couriers to access your home and leave packages inside

Arthur Ruth, of Memphis, Tenn., is a member of Amazon Key: "I have never lost any package since. This is a revolutionary world, where you just need an app to have the best service possible."

The majority of consumers should re-evaluate the security of where their packages are typically delivered. More than half of online shoppers (57%) say their packages are usually left in an outdoors, unsecured area such as a front porch.

Most Lost Packages Disappear in the Mail

The largest percentage of missing packages (32%) disappear in a more mundane way — in the mail.

The United States Postal Service handles 484.4 million pieces of mail every day. Private delivery services carry high volumes of packages, too: FedEx handles 6.2 million packages, and UPS handles 20.7 million packages and documents daily. With such a high volume of deliveries, it's easy to see how some parcels disappear.

People should pay special attention to shipping labels on packages to ensure a safe delivery.

"The top two reasons packages get 'lost' in the mail are due to the wrong address on the shipping label, followed by [a] missing shipping label," said Karan Singh, Principal at Kersch Partners, a business management consulting firm that offers supply chain and consumer packaging consulting.

What customers and businesses can do regarding parcels lost in the mail depends heavily on the delivery service and if the item was insured.

"If the package was insured, the consumer can file a claim," Singh said. "If not, the majority of delivery service providers assume no liability for lost packages sent by a third-party retailer."

Instead, any refunds or new shipments must be negotiated between the retailer and the customer.

Clutch's survey included 528 U.S. respondents who ordered an item online within the past six months.

Read the full report: https://clutch.co/logistics/resources/package-theft-statistics-prevent-lost-stolen-packages

For questions or comments, contact Riley Panko at [email protected].

About Clutch

Clutch is the leader in connecting global service providers with corporate buyers from around the world. The ratings and reviews platform publishes the most extensive and referenced client reviews in the B2B services market. Clutch has grown by 50% or more every year throughout the past five years and is ranked #412 in Inc.'s 2018 and #773 in Inc.'s 2019 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. and #27 in LinkedIn's list of the top 50 startups.

Contact

Riley Panko
[email protected]
(202) 899-2779

SOURCE Clutch