Every year around the holidays, CNET conducts a large-scale package theft survey to determine how many Americans say they are affected by porch pirates and how much they stand to lose from this activity. Our latest survey found that around 30% of respondents said they have had a package stolen, almost stolen or know someone who has experienced this. That's a significant risk, especially during the holidays, but we have the tech and knowhow to stop it.
Porch piracy has become a common tactic for burglars in recent years. Put yourself in the mind of a criminal and you'll see porch packages are easy targets. It's much faster and much lower risk for the thief. We're even seeing claims of thieves using Wi-Fi jamming devices that may interfere with video doorbells sending footage.
If we learned anything from last year's survey, it's that 71% of US adults chose to take action to prevent package theft, including 28% of Americans who didn't plan on leaving their home unattended for more than a few hours to avoid it. But that's a tough ask for the average busy adult during this season.
In 12-plus years working with home security devices, I've been paying attention to advances in home security tech and how it can help you defend against package theft and other security harms.
Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Key takeaways
The estimated mean value of packages that will be delivered to an individual's home or someone else's address this holiday season is $300.06 per US adult, an $8.68 increase over 2024 findings.
Gen X and Boomers account for the highest expected value of delivered packages.
Over one in five (21%) US adults know someone who has had a package stolen.
One in seven (14%) US adults have had a package stolen in the past year.
... continue reading