With the new trend of ordering things online, ensuring you can get your packages on your doorstep has never been more important! But with apartments, there are often plenty of strangers walking past your door at any point, increasing the risk of having your new items stolen. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to assure the safe arrival of your packages, so you can be sure your new clothes or goodies don’t go missing!
Schedule delivery when you’re home
Whenever possible, schedule the delivery of your new finds to a time that you know you’ll be home. UPS offers a MyChoice option (free!) that gives you some flexibility to schedule your packages’ delivery times, or choose a delivery date that fits your needs. My trick for non-essentials is to place my order on the date that delivery on Saturday is free. (Amazon is a great example — With Prime, I do most of my orders on Thursdays, so I know it will arrive Saturday when I’m home more often.)
By scheduling your package to arrive when you’re likely to be home, you’ll rest assured knowing you’ll be around to take the package from your mailman or front stoop before anyone else can!
Send it somewhere else
If your apartment isn’t completely secure and you’re unable to schedule a delivery time, consider sending your package somewhere safe, where you can pick it up at your convenience. Some ideas:
- Parents’ home
- Friend’s home
- UPS or local post office
- Apartment front office
There are plenty of places to send your package so you can get to it. It may add a layer of inconvenience to pick it up, but if you ship to a friend or family member, you can ‘thank’ them by bringing over dinner or a board game and spending some quality time when you grab your package.
When thinking about places to ship your items, be sure that they are actually secure, you’ll have access to the package when you need it, and that you have permission to send it there.
Ask a trustworthy friend
If you have a friend or neighbor nearby, consider asking them to stop by and pick up your package when it arrives! If you have an expensive item arriving while you’re stuck at work, or accidentally scheduled a delivery while you’re out of town for the weekend, close or trustworthy friends will often be willing to help you out. Be clear about when you’d like them to swing by (identifying the time that your package should arrive helps!) and be specific on what you’d like them to do with it, whether that’s using your spare key to bring it inside or taking it to their place.
Shipping items to your apartment isn’t tricky, but thinking of the safest way to get everything you ordered is always smart. What else can you do to avoid package theft?
