Amazon driver places customer’s package in a tree to protect from ‘porch pirates’

An Amazon delivery driver placed a customer’s package in a tree to protect it from “porch pirates”.

In a viral TikTok video, the Chicago-based photographer Heather Rowland (@__greensilk) showed viewers a message sent to her from an Amazon delivery driver in charge of delivering a package she ordered. “I apologize for the placement of the package,” the driver wrote. “I was trying to toss it far in haha.”

Rowland then showed viewers that the package was stuck in a tree outside her apartment, and shared that she was able to retrieve it by pulling at the branches and reaching high up. “I spent 20 minutes searching last night and didn’t notice [the package] until my walk this morning,” she revealed while replying to a comment.

Since posting the video on 4 January, Rowland has received more than 110,000 views on the platform. Interested viewers took to Rowland’s comment section to voice their reactions, and opinions on the delivery driver’s unique package protection methods. “No more porch pirate worries,” one person wrote.

“I had a fed ex guy hide a box so it wouldn’t get stolen but he hid it so well it took me 2 days to find it,” someone shared.

Meanwhile, another took issue with the fact that the driver simply left the package in the tree. “They could have at least said where [the package was,]” another person commented. “I wouldn’t even think to look in a tree.”

“So they left it??” someone else wrote, to which Rowland replied that there was a locked gate outside her apartment that the driver didn’t know how to get through. “He was throwing it over the gate.”

Rowland clarified that there was no bad blood, adding: “They were so nice [about] it, package wasn’t damaged, just a funny situation tbh [to be honest].”

According to the American security company ADT, an estimated 36 per cent of Americans have had a package stolen from outside of their house – whether from their doorstep or porch – at least once. They added that “porch pirates”, people who steal packages from outside people’s houses, are typically committing crimes of opportunity out of the hope that whatever’s in the package consists of valuable merchandise like electronics.

They recommend that people use preventative security measures such as a video surveillance system so the “porch pirate” or suspect can be identified and tracked down by the authorities. Customers can also get a “porch pirate bag”, a large bag made of a durable material where you can instruct delivery drivers to lock the packages in. Ordinarily, these bags are attached to a fixed object on your porch or doorstep, along with an attached combination lock.

ADT also said the customers can either pay for a package receiving service or require a signature for the package to be dropped off, with the latter ensuring that you must be present to receive the package.