Now that Black Friday has come and gone, the holiday season is ramping up as Canada Post continues their strike for better wages and conditions, a survey has found that most British Columbians are worried about their packages.
FedEx conducts a survey every year during the holiday shopping season, and this year the results show 72% of online shoppers are worried about their packages being stolen by ‘porch pirates.’
Porch pirates is a slang term referring to those who steal packages from people’s porches once they’ve been delivered by services such as Amazon, FedEx, Purolator and others.
According to the FedEx survey, around 19% of BC residents have experienced porch piracy.
However, despite the concerns over stolen packages, the survey also found that 65% of BC shoppers continue to shop online because of the ease and convenience of e-commerce.
Additionally, because of systems put in place such as picture proof of delivery, real-time tracking, mobile apps and tracking alerts, only 8% of British Columbians have reported packages being stolen in the last year.
This figure represents a significant decrease from 2023’s 14%.
To avoid having packages being stolen, FedEx recommends BC shoppers do the following:
- Utilize package tracking
- Redirect a package to a FedEx pickup location if you can’t be home for the delivery
- Give detailed delivery instructions to have packages hidden from street view
- Get picture proof-of-delivery when possible
In terms of package tracking, the survey shows that around 67% of BC online shoppers use this service to be offered by the delivery company and 83% expect it to be available to them.
Companies such as FedEx are being used in heightened volumes this year due to the ongoing national Canada Post strike.
The strike is now in its third week and neither the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, nor Canada Post have reported being close to a collective agreement being made.
