The second round of holiday travel is now underway. We’ve talked about not posting pictures on Facebook while you’re visiting relatives or making your way to some sunshine. One travel expert has another tip about keeping your “home” safe while traveling.
“They just drive around neighborhoods and sometimes follow delivery trucks from UPS and FED EX and see a package dropped off on a front porch… and off they go."
Travel expert, JoAnn Verboom with Gagnon Travel warns residents should play it safe to keep their homes safe if traveling over the holidays. She says it’s not really new, but people may not even be aware of what they’re calling “porch pirates”.
“There are now porch pirates that cruise your neighborhoods and look at porches to see if there are packages that are piled up. You may have ordered an online package, and it’s delivered while you’re away.”
Verboom offers this advice if you have any concerns.
“Certainly, it's much smarter to have your packages delivered to place of employment, or if you work in a home office, maybe you have a relative that works in a retail location that would be willing to accept your packages so that boxes don't pile upon your porch and they become visible for these porch pirates.”
Other safety tips Verboom offers for travelers hoping to keep their homes safe include, using your work address on your luggage tags rather than your home address, make sure your put a hold on mail and newspaper deliveries and she continues to stress not posting pics on Facebook or other social media while you’re away.
