Are “porch pirates” a thing in Germany?

22 comments

1. In Germany packages don’t get delivered unless there is someone there to receive it. If you’re not home when something is being delivered they will typically check with your neighbors to see if someone will receive it for you and if there are you’ll be notified with a slip in your mailbox that there’s a package at x’s house for you.

   If the neighbors aren’t home either it will go to the nearest post office with a notification in your mailbox that you should pick it up.

   EDIT: it sounds like I’ve been getting lucky where I live.

2. > are packages in single-home neighbourhoods sometimes left outside of the front door?

   It does sometimes happen, but it’s probably quite rare. I have once had a package left in the carport, but only once — and I live in a place where the crime rate is basically zero.

   > I’ve never heard of “people stealing packages” being a problem in Germany, but perhaps I just missed it?

   Somebody [posted on this very sub](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/rmtjul/packets_are_being_stolen/) just about an hour and a half ago saying their packages were being stolen. It absolutely does happen, although it may not happen quite so much.

3. My package with christmas presents was for the first time delivered by an Amazon logistics driver rather than DHL. The driver left it in the open hallway of my appartment complex. Package was gone when I went down later that day to pick it up. So yeah, porch pirating is rare, but it does exist.

4. Additionally to what everyone else already said: you can sign up for free for an acoustic with DHL that allows you to use the Packstation lockers. Available in every major city it allows you to receive (and send) packages in a locker. You can chose to have them delivered there as they have their own address. You can also detach,t your account to router every deliveries there automatically . It’s a bit tricky with Amazon as they try to force their slaves to deliver but they mostly have the option to deliver to a Packstation as a separate delivery option.
   I use this mainly because i usually have to work and the locker is right on my commute.

5. No porch no pirate!

6. I let my packages send to the nearest DHL branchlet, so I don’t have to worry about porch pirates. A few years ago, a deliveryman just put my package on the postbox instead of ring the bell. I think a neighbor became curious and opened the package but fortunately this person put it back.

7. Never happend to me even once in my 25 years alive.

   My parents regularly get large packages delivered especially if we have construction work going on around our house and we never had anything stolen.

   Generally I think people don’t steal or take unattended things in Germany. However there are always exceptions.

   I once lost my wallet with 70 euro inside at a fair, and it was given to the police with everything still inside.

8. They only deiner if you are home. If youre not home they will ask neighbors to take it for you or will send it to the nearest Post Office, then they will notify you were it is. Or they put it on a place you chose where to put it. Like the garden or a little hidden place.

9. I’ve never heard about something like that happening in the six-family apartment building I live in even though I see packages left by the stairs all the time

10. Not yet.

11. I’ve lived in some “low income neighborhoods” but even there I’ve never had a package gone missing. That’s not to say that it doesn’t exist at all, but I think it’s extremely rare.

    What really is quite common though, when you put stuff out for the garbage collection (“Sperrmüll”, my dictionary suggests “bulky items” for that?), it rarely lasts an hour until someone else picks it up. I’ve even had it two times that stranges asked if they could have the item I was carrying down to the street. Sure, why not? I was going to throw it away anyway. 😅

12. In my town someone stole a packet of bread rolls that were hanging on the front door, so yes it does happens

13. It definitely happens, but I think the problem is in a different place. In the US it seems porch pirates target single family homes, whereas all the theft I hear about here is in large buildings with negligent delivery workers. Here in my building, Hermes likes to just leave all packages in the publicly accessible entry hall without ringing the doorbell or alerting people and then get pissy when inevitably these packages aren’t there any more after a couple of hours.

14. I live in a Berlin apartment building. Would be impossible for me because they leave all my packages with neighbours when I am not home.

15. Packages are not left outside of peoples front doors. They may be left inside an apartment building. If someone steals it from there it is your neighbor, which is quite rare, not a porch pirate.

16. Mostly no. But there are suspicious many packages that are delivered with looking holes. Or go missing.

17. Most packages get delivered to a neighbour if no one is home. It tends to be the same people as the delivery guys quickly learn who is home on a Tuesday afternoon. I know that because it was me for quite a while 😂

18. Most packages get delivered to a neighbour if no one is home. It tends to be the same people as the delivery guys quickly learn who is home on a Tuesday afternoon. I know that because it was me for quite a while 😂

    Edit: height of corona all delivery companies went “kontactlos” but are now back to signature required.

19. Nah. I once had a parcel worth 300€ in my driveway over night, fully accessible from the street and for everyone to see (and grab). Nobody took it. I guess it also depends on your neighbourhood though.

20. As others have mentioned, it can occasionally happen that your package gets stolen, but porch pirates aren’t a thing here, as in actively lurking around waiting for a package to steal. At least not that I’ve heard of.

21. No, there is no package, just the piece of paper that tells you to go get it at the post office. You won’t find packages lying around let alone things worth stealing.

22. Recently our delivery guys started to leave packages before the door. Amazon informed us about that move, I guess, they are okay with the flood of complains, but others do it too. I recently was notified by GLS about a delivery of an HDD. According to them, it was left with our neighbor, my wife’s grandmother. She was home, she saw them leave. She thought somebody opened and they went. They didn’t ring at her place. Needless to say, that I never received the package and am now waiting for a replacement.