As Novemeber turns to December, we now find ourselves in the midst of the holiday shopping season. This season brings along with it the hustle and bustle, stress, and joy of giving and receiving gifts. Unfortunately, this season also brings along the increased risk of experiencing crime at your home. After all, ’tis the season for “porch pirates” monitoring your porches and doorways for easy-to-poach gifts. In this post, we aim to help you avoid giving “gifts” to thieves by stopping package theft over the holidays.

First, we’ll share some holiday shopping “best practices” that you should find helpful. Sometimes, common sense measures go a long way towards adding holiday security. However, we often surprise customers with the options they have to keep thieves at bay. Then, we’ll look at a couple ways you can keep “eyes” on your home’s entrances. We offer a couple types of cameras that can help you deter and, if necessary, catch thieves. Finally, we’ll share a few ways that installing smart locks can help you in this endeavor. Now, let’s get started with a look at some ways you can keep gifts out of the eyes — and hands — of thieves.

Holiday Shipping “Best Practices”

Of course, one of the main factors in the popularity of package theft lies in the ease of the crime. Gifts sitting for hours on sidewalks and steps almost “beg” to get stolen! Fortunately, you can take a couple steps to keep these tempting valuables out of sight and out of mind. We recommend using alternate means of package delivery and pickup to help you accomplish this goal.

For example, consider delivering packages to a work address or even a retired family member’s household. Doing so will add both security and peace of mind while you wait for gifts to arrive. Additionally, you can often request that packages get held at the post office. After all, not everyone has a secure alternate means of delivery for deliveries. This option lets you pick up gifts at your own convenience. Next up, let’s check out a couple camera options to assist you in stopping package theft this year!

A smartphone displaying a doorbell camera image of a mailman.

A doorbell camera by Alarm.com will alert you when someone approaches your door. This both improves door security and ensures that you will never miss the delivery of a package.

Keeping an Eye on Your Entrances

Follwing the steps above can greatly reduce the risk of falling victim to package theft over the holidays. Of course, we also recommend taking additional steps in case an incident does occur. After all, packages come from many different sources, and errors on your part or that of a delivery worker can lead to a gift falling at your door for the taking. In this section, we’ll look at a couple camera options to help you combat this security threat. First up, we’ll look at the unique security benefits of smart cameras. From there, we’ll also examine the many uses of doorbell cameras!

Smart Cameras for Exterior Monitoring

We’ve long recommended installing cameras to provide video monitoring of your property’s exterior. Recently, the addition of smart home cameras to the home security market has made adding this security easier than ever. Unlike traditional surveillance, which requires running wiring from a recorder to every single camera location, smart cameras communicate with your network wirelessly. This makes installation easy and relatively inexpensive. Furthermore, it makes it possible to install cameras in locations inaccessible to running wires. In fact, many homes prove difficult or impossible to effectively wire for traditional surveillance. Therefore, smart cameras provide the perfect solution to this issue.

Moreover, smart cameras also provide unique security features that their hardwired counterparts do not. For example, smart cameras can send you live video upon detecting motion. This allows you to track activity in and around your home in real time. Furthermore, smart cameras save video to a cloud service, such as our preferred smart camera service powered by Alarm.com. In turn, this lets you save and share clips that may catch suspicious activity around your home during this time of year. For more information, check out our post sharing Unique Alarm.com Smart Camera Features. Now, let’s see how you can add even more specialized video monitoring to your home with doorbell cameras!

Doorbell Cameras for Unique Door Security

Doorbell cameras add a tremendous amount of security to any entrance where you install them. For starters, doorbell cameras record motion-based clips of anyone who approaches your door, just like the smart cameras we described above. If desired, you can have live motion-based clips sent to your phone as soon as the cameras detect motion. Your video clips remain stored in the cloud for reference in case they do capture any illegal activity. This obviously adds significant security against package thieves to your entry points.

Furthermore, audio-enabled smart doorbell cameras allow you to communicate with visitors who ring your doorbell. Activation of your smart doorbell will create a live video alert on your smartphone. This alert prompts you to then have a conversation with anyone who rings your doorbell. The added security and tremendous convenience offered by these doorbells make them an extremely popular security addition for any home. In addition, pairing these doorbells with the equipment listed in our next security tip can really pay off. Similarly to our smart camera offerings, we recommend installing Alarm.com video doorbell products. Now, let’s take a look at a security product that can interact with your smart cameras for a great 1-2 security punch!

A Yale smart deadbolt is operated by a user.

Smart keypad locks, such as this model by Yale, let you grant access to anyone delivering a package to your door without providing them with a key or a code!

The Smart Lock Advantage

As with our smart cameras and video doorbells, smart locks such as the model by Yale pictured here provide several unique security measures. The touchscreen on this smart lock allows users to unlock the door without a key. This helps with key security, as you can grant temporary access to contractors or house sitters without making a copy of your key that they may also copy for future use. Simply providing a temporary code that you delete after these individuals no longer need to access you home can solve this security issue.

Furthermore, these locks pair with your doorbell camera to allow you to grant quick access to your home without providing a key or a code! We mentioned earlier that smart doorbells sends an interactive video alert to your smartphone when a visitor rings your doorbell. If you have a smart lock, you can then unlock the door remotely as well. Now, when delivery drivers ring your doorbell to alert you to a package delivery, you can unlock the door and have them leave it inside for you! The ability to do this without granting permanent access to your home via a key or a code secures you against package thieves. These unique security features make installing smart locks a no-brainer for many of our residential security customers!

Putting it All Together and Stopping Package Theft This Year

We hope that this post will boost your efforts in stopping package theft this holiday season. Experiencing a crime during any time of year is always hard on families. However, theft during the holidays can hit extra hard. Therefore, we encourage you to utilize the advice found in this post as much as possible. Furthermore, we encourage you to contact us with any questions you have about the material presented here. We will happily answer any security-related questions you may have.

Moreover, we encourage you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We offer free home security audits for both new and existing customers alike. While on site, we can address any specific concerns that you may have. Additionally, we can make suggestions of our own, based on observations we make during our visit. Together, we can create a complete security plan to keep you, your family, and your family’s holiday treasures as safe and secure as possible all year round!