NYC’s plan to reduce ‘porch pirates’ from stealing 90K packages daily: public lockers
The Big Apple is launching a plan to prevent “porch pirates” from stealing an estimated 90,000 packages a day.
The strategy: installing centralized lockers across all five boroughs to provide a safe alternative for New Yorkers who don’t have a secure area for package delivery.
The city Department of Transportation says it will initially place 15 lockers across the five boroughs that will operate 24 hours a day with anti-theft measures: security cameras, LED lighting, and most importantly, secure codes.
“New Yorkers deserve convenient deliveries without rampant theft and unhealthy pollution,” said Mayor Eric Adams in a statement. “Shared lockers are a proven model that will serve our economy, our health, and our quality of life — and this is just the beginning.”
Nearly 33 million packages annually are swiped or lost in transit, according to the DOT, with many of the losses coming from apartment buildings that don’t have doormen or secure areas for drop-offs.
The average household across the five boroughs gets at least one delivery a week, while 20% get at least four deliveries.
The announcement on Friday said the DOT is still working on the locations and only committed to the program being underway by “the summer” — a price tag was not immediately available.
Officials also hope that centralizing deliveries for a block into one location will also help slash the amount of time trucks spend parked — often illegally — to drop off packages at each individual building.
A similar program in Seattle cut the amount of time package delivery trucks spend parked on the curb by one-third and allowed drivers to make their deliveries up to 78 percent more quickly.
“As the number of at-home deliveries have surged in recent years, so have the number of large delivery trucks on our city streets,” added Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “The LockerNYC initiative will help reduce the number of trips delivery trucks make each day while also providing a secure place for New Yorkers to receive packages.”
