A Democratic representative from New Jersey is planning to introduce legislation that will make porch piracy from private shipping companies like UPS and FedEx a federal crime.
Currently, it’s only a federal crime if it’s a package from the United States Postal Service.
I see no reason why this shouldn’t fly through Congress at light speed.
Sounds like a sensible idea, which means it’s dead on arrival in this Congress.
I’ve never experienced porch piracy (because of where I live) but I can certainly see why it is so frustrating.
But what does making it a federal crime get us? I mean, the piracy is still theft which (without looking) I am reasonably certain is already illegal everywhere.
What does making it a federal crime get us? Will the FBI start investigating such thefts?
Again, I am ALL for better enforcement and stopping the people who do this but I am not seeing how this improves anything. Seems nothing more than more performative laws congress likes to pass that look good on paper and to tout to constituents but I’d rather they work on something else.
This seems something for the state and local governments to deal with.
No, they are too busy investigating Dreamers who were arrested for shoplifting once, ten years ago, at age fifteen.
If I understand correctly, the proposed law will do nothing.
The USPS has postal inspectors, right? Who would enforce and investigate UPS and FedEx thefts?
If this was made law, it would cost the Federal government a fortune to investigate, try, and jail offenders. That’s why USPS infractions are rarely prosecuted unless they are a way for prosecutors to get at people suspected of more serious crimes.
Usually the leg work is done by local law enforcement and then handed off to the feds when it’s warranted.
The problem with porch pirates stealing an Amazon package is unless the item is valued over $2500 it’s a misdemeanor and many times gets pled down to a municipal ordinance violation (non-criminal offense, fine but no jail time). Having a possible federal prosecution may get more pleas to state criminal charges. Or it may not. I’m in a large metro area and it’s better to be a criminal here than in more conservative rural counties where the courts aren’t so packed with cases
Damifino - once lived in a place where postal theft was rampant, shady characters would follow the mail truck down the block to riffle through everyone’s mailbox. Lock the box? They’d just break it or steal the whole thing to break into later at their leisure. Forget anything left on the porch. No one did a goddamned thing about it. Complain to the postmaster? She’d tell you to get a PO box. For all we knew she was in on it.
That’s how we wound up with a PO Box in my household. A PO box in the next town over where they actually gave a damn about postal theft.
Irritates the hell out of me when a business/agency/whatever tells me they have to mail me something with sensitive information and “we can’t send this to a PO Box”. WTF? But apparently that’s a thing…
Agree that’s annoying.
If the item to be sent is a package, genuine USPS boxes cannot be delivered to by private outfits like FedEx, UPS, etc. Only USPS can receive stuff into a USPS box.
Now you can get a box, technically not a “PO Box”, at, say, a UPS store or similar commercial mailing retailer. Which has no problems receiving packages from anyone, USPS included.
The USPS insists that boxes there cannot be addressed as
Joe / Jane Blow
PO Box 1234
123 N Main St.
MyTown US 12345
But must be
Joe / Jane Blow
PMB 1234
123 N Main St.
MyTown US 12345
With “PMB” (= Private Mail Box), not “PO” and the street address of the storefront. They lost that fight with the public and will still deliver if something is mailed to “PO box” or just “box” at that street address. But their address correction database will try to force PMB in there if the sender is referring to the database.
As to somebody being unwilling to send a first class letter to you at a PO box, that’s obviously their attempt at verifying a physical address for you. Particularly for government, that’s often important. And obviously it’s a pretty weak attempt. But in their thinking it knocks off all the low hanging fruit of lazy fraudsters, leaving just the far fewer more dedicated folks. So a win in their book.
But yeah, annoying as hell for the rest of us.
I think the Republicans will back this if they have footage of James Comey or Letitia James carrying an Amazon package for a handicapped neighbour.