Having a package stolen off your front porch sucks and it does not matter what was inside the box. The growing number of online shoppers over recent years has led to a rise in thefts of packages from unsuspecting residents.
This is why Dummy Amazon boxes with GPS tracking devices are being installed by police in order to catch thieves taking the package from outside peoples houses.
Even Amazon (which is providing equipment free for the Jersey City program), as did UPS and FedEx, declined to provide figures on how many packages are reported stolen or missing, so exact figures on thefts are hard to come by- one survey suggested up to 26 million Americans have had a holiday package stolen from their home. That would be the equivalent of one in 12 Americans.
It’s mean that someone came into your privet space and took something you belong just because they could probably get away with it. Usually, even if you go to the police with license plates and high-res face photos, they’ll often respond with an apathetic shrug.
One man decided to do something about the package theft after having one of his own packages nabbed- the engineer/YouTuber Mark Rober. He built a special box and he got his inspiration from Macaulay Culkin- The kid from ‘Home Alone‘. This special package will make any robber think twice before hitting his house again.
It starts with a GPS tracker that lets Mark know when the box has been moved- but when the package is opened a custom-built spinning tub glitter in every direction, covering whoever opened it from head to toe. After a few minutes comes a blast of canned fart spray.
How does it work? Watch this video with Sean explanation:
