Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, February 3, 2010
Crime / Life Mail-Order Shoppers Beware
Posted by David Schmader on Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 12:36 PM
"Hi," writes a Slog tipper who wishes to remain nameless. "I submitted this to MyBallard.com and thought there's a chance you'd be interested as well. It's a video of someone stealing packages off my porch last week."
As the tipper told MyBallard.com, "UPS delivered the packages at 2:25 PM, and the theft occurred at 2:43 PM, so the thief might have been trailing the delivery truck. Yes, I could have placed the camera in a position that would have better picked up the thief's face, but I don't want to pick up the sidewalk, etc. and intrude on our neighbors' privacy. Regardless, there's some peace-of-mind value for us to know how the theft went down, even if it doesn't lead to an arrest. The contents included cat urine neutralizer and a box of 350 assorted washers. Not much of a score for the thief. ;) Amazon.com refunded the order."
Thanks for sharing, nameless victim. Time for all of us to begin insisting on signatures upon delivery, I guess...
2
Light blue I think. Honda hatchbacks of that era usually have hatching on the back, but maybe. Toyota?
4
The young woman in the video appears to be around 5′1″ to 5′3″ tall and took off in what appears to be a blue ‘85-’89 Mazda 323 hatchback.
according to the post on MyBallard
according to the post on MyBallard
5
From MyBallard: "The young woman in the video appears to be around 5′1″ to 5′3″ tall and took off in what appears to be a blue ‘85-’89 Mazda 323 hatchback."
7
Sadly, insisting on a signature won't stop this sort of thing from happening. Both UPS and the post office (with an insured package, no less) have thrown things on my doorstep within the past week, even though a signature was "required."
11
I thought the signature required would, like other posters suggest, stop the problem. my coworker informs me that in her neighborhood, people will actually run up to the truck and claim they live there, sign for the package and take off.
Where's Ted Kaczynski when you need him....
Where's Ted Kaczynski when you need him....
12
You have to be a real shithead to steal stuff when you don't even know what it is. Hope they catch her.
15
its strange..... but I am fine with people stealing things from corporations and their jobs...but when it comes to citizens stealing from other citizens porches then I get in a fury of anger. There is just something so wrong with stealing from middle class individuals.....
19
Others have noted it, but it's a metallic blue 323. Contrary to what others are saying, however, this is not a 1985-1987 vintage. The suspect's car is a 323 from the pre-Protegé years (1988-1989). 1990–94 have similarly-shaped headlights, but are slightly smaller. 1985-1987 headlights are big and rectangular sealed. The post-1987 models were notably smaller and included bevelling on the upper-inner corner of the fixture.
References:
1987 Mazda 323 hatchback
1988-1989 Mazda 323 hatchback
1990 Mazda 323 hatchback
Last bit: the thief got in on the passenger side, so there is a driver involved in accomplice capacity.
References:
1987 Mazda 323 hatchback
1988-1989 Mazda 323 hatchback
1990 Mazda 323 hatchback
Last bit: the thief got in on the passenger side, so there is a driver involved in accomplice capacity.
22
I have packages delivered to work now (after someone opened a Powell's box on my front porch and stole the books from it, leaving the box behind). But the other option is to have packages delivered to places like Lake Union Mail (are there other places like this around town?); for a dollar a day they will hold packages for you even if you don't have a mailbox with them.
23
I used to rent a box at the UPS store and get all my packages and financial mail delivered there. It was a bit inconvenient, but after coming home from work one day, and finding my apartment building's boxes all open and mail strewn everywhere, I figured it was the prudent thing to do.
24
Following up - private mail boxes like UPS store DO accept mail from FedEx and UPS, so they're not like having a PO box.
25
On a bright bit of news, my best friend's dozen-year-old Subaru was recovered intact today after being kifed on Monday morning. Police traced some of the stolen items inside to a pawn shop up in Everett.
(Of course it'd be Everett.)
Moral: this story may have a happy ending. Keep us posted.
(Of course it'd be Everett.)
Moral: this story may have a happy ending. Keep us posted.
28
I'm fortunate enough to live a block away from a UPS store, where I have a mailbox for about $10/month. It's a small price to pay for never having to worry about the delivery guy ignoring the "signature required" requests.
I'm fortunate enough to live a block away from a UPS store, where I have a mailbox for about $10/month. It's a small price to pay for never having to worry about the delivery guy ignoring the "signature required" requests.
29
A better forum for car identification. As noted above, consensus seems to be a Mazda 323. Someone thinks they've found the car parked in Maple Leaf.
30
Okay, so we've more or less figured out the car. But what I'm REALLY interested in are her clothes. American Apparel hoodie? yes? no?
And are those designer jeans...?
And are those designer jeans...?
32
Put a box out with packing foam peanuts and 3 cocked rat traps inside. The type that will break fingers. Don't put your address on the box; these are tweakers, they'll never find their way back to your house.
33
@26 sure, if stealing useless circuit boards and 0603 resistors on reels is your thing....but you probably wouldn't know what to do with it....or maybe I can hire you as my secretary and you can steal paperclips, you don't even have to be sneaky about it though, just let me know!
34
@26 basically the reason for saying this about employers is that probably more than 80% of corporations & even small businesses are INSANELY wasteful. I have built an entire home office from things found in the dumpster outside my workplace....I didn't even need to steal, I started my own business from the excessive waste and neglect of my previous boss......this even includes illegal software which he stole to start his business.
35
@31, not fake.
Thefts like this have been reported all over town. There's been a rash of them lately. I've seen video from a neighbor down the street's house, showing a very similar package theft. Might even have been the same girl (was the same size, anyway).
Thefts like this have been reported all over town. There's been a rash of them lately. I've seen video from a neighbor down the street's house, showing a very similar package theft. Might even have been the same girl (was the same size, anyway).
37
Exactly. The video quality is really good. How much disk space would it require to have this thing running whenever you were gone? Does this person then come home and review ALL the footage just to see if someone happened to steal something from the porch? And the car is parked in such a perfect location...
38
They will totally let anyone sign for your package - I'm a nice girl, so I agreed to sign for my lovely neighbor's package when the UPS man was about to leave it at the doorstep. But what if I wasn't a nice girl? I'd have had a few sweet new pairs of shoes from Zappo's....
39
Amazon has been great about quickly replacing stolen stuff for me twice now. But I imagine they might get tired of it after a while.
40
@37 -- most cameras these days are motion sensitive (meaning they'll only turn on when the camera detects movement within a set parameter). So, camera detects movement, then stops recording after movement stops. Doesn't take up a lot of space, especially when you're able to buy hard drives measured in terabytes.
41
@40: Maybe. Not sure why the guy would've considered positioning it to pick up the sidewalk if it was motion sensitive, though.
43
Andy Squirrel @33 & 34, I know my way around a circuit board, as a matter of fact, and have handled plenty of reels of resistors. And if I ever had an employee who said what you did @15, I'd be looking to fire your ass out the door.
Oh yeah, and I'm way overqualified to be your secretary. But thanks all the same.
By the way, if you pull it out of a dumpster, that's not exactly stealing, is it?
Oh yeah, and I'm way overqualified to be your secretary. But thanks all the same.
By the way, if you pull it out of a dumpster, that's not exactly stealing, is it?
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