Package theft may be more common than you think. According to a survey by Security.com, 38% of Americans believe they’ve had packages stolen from their homes (older surveys found the number to be lower – just 31%).
Whatever the number, it’s normal to feel angry when someone has taken your property, especially from the relative safety of your front porch. That’s only a few steps away from being in your home.
Anger makes us do all sorts of harebrained things, but viewers are lauding one man – Jaireme Barrow, from Tacoma, Washington – for his controversial approach to punishing so-called “porch pirates.”
The “porch pirates”
Barrow took quite a bit of video of people trying to take a box from his porch. And all we can say is: what the heck makes his house such a target?!
It even continues to happen once he puts up a fence!
We were frankly shocked to see just how many people stopped by to help themselves to his packages.
But the way he rigged the boxes was enough to send each and every thief running for their lives, sometimes tripping over themselves just to get out of his yard.
It turns out what he did was pretty effective.
Laying the trap
Barrow constructed a box to look like a package being delivered to his home while it actually contained a booby trap.
And it turns out that will really send a person scurrying.
Using the blanks, fishing line, bricks, a wooden box, an aluminum carrying vessel for the blanks, a small plate, and a cardboard box, Barrow seems to have thwarted their attempts.
He often orders expensive parts for his Jeep and was fed up with watching them get stolen on his security camera.
A new business
The “BlankBox” is so effective he now sells them on his own website, where he says:
“TheBlankBox is an entertaining way to deter package theft or a prank device that gets A LOT of attention. TheBlankBox originated from watching people run away with our packages while we were at work and we wanted a way to prank a porch pirate! TheBlankBox is an effective way to deter someone from stealing from you, plus, it makes for some entertaining video!”
Every box on the website is out of stock at the moment, but typically a BlankBox will run you $59.99.
Is it safe?
But Barrow addresses the safety concerns in the FAQ on his site.]
Of course, he’s careful to tell people never to load the device with live ammo.
But obviously, one needs to be concerned about delivery people thinking it’s an outgoing package or trying to move it to make room for a new delivery. To that, Barrow can only provide the advice: “I recommend putting out a note that says, ‘Don’t touch or move any packages on my porch.'”
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Is it legal?
For that, you have to check your state guidelines, but Barrow recommends (and sells) “No Trespassing” signs.
“Post a No Trespassing sign(s) within clear visibility of your property entrance. State laws vary, but by posting the sign, you are saying that you have warned trespassers that you are not responsible for their safety on your land and trespassers DO NOT have your permission to be on your property.”
[imgsrc caption="YouTube Screenshot - TheBlankBox" link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2yD4PZujuU"]
Be sure to scroll down below to see just some of the footage Barrow captured at his home below!
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