Over 25% of people are staying home from work to receive packages. How employers could fix that.

By Charles Passy

As businesses push for workers to return to their desks, the threat of porch piracy - the theft of packages left at people's homes - looms large. So, a new approach may be merited.

Forget nap rooms and free snacks: Could the new office perk be the ability for employees to receive all their Amazon deliveries and other packages at their desks?

That's the question some are asking in light of a confluence of trends that have emerged in recent years. Namely, the fact that ordering everything to be shipped to your home - clothes, household basics, you name it - has become a reality of American life. At the same time, porch piracy - the theft of packages from people's doorsteps - has also become a reality, and one that is estimated to result in $8 billion of losses a year.

So, as more companies are asking workers to return to the office on a regular basis postpandemic, that has left many employees feeling concerned their packages may go missing. Indeed, a new global survey from Vivint, a home-security and smart-home brand, found that 26% of employees are working from home on package-delivery days - just to avoid the piracy scourge.

Hence the solution of letting those workers have their boxes sent to the office instead, a practice that businesses have often shunned in the past for a host of reasons, including the most obvious one: It clogs up company mailrooms.

But Brandon Bunker, Vivint's vice president of product, believes allowing for personal packages to be delivered at work could be a hallmark of companies that want an edge above the competition when it comes to hiring.

"In the war for talent, that could be the great differentiator," he said.

A new global survey found that 26% of employees are working from home on package-delivery days.

Workplace experts say there's almost no question that companies will have to be flexible about letting employees get their packages at the office if they want to nix or de-emphasize the remote-work option.

That doesn't necessarily mean giving workers carte blanche to have every last box of laundry detergent delivered to their cubicle, said Jesse Meschuk, a career advisor. But a strict no-packages policy probably doesn't make sense either, he added.

"There's a middle ground," Meschuk said.

Still, make no mistake: There's a solid rationale for companies avoiding going this personal-package route at all.

It isn't just that office mailrooms aren't equipped to deal with the added flurry of shipments. It's also the liability concerns that could arise for employers when, say, that Amazon package somehow gets lost between the mailroom and an employee's desk.

"Larger companies don't want to do it for all those reasons," said Dean Maciuba, a postal and parcel expert who was warning about the problem as far back as 2016. Maciuba added that the issue is perhaps of less concern with smaller firms simply because the volume of packages is likely to be more manageable.

Either way, there are some solutions around the problem, workplace experts note. Companies can stipulate to employees that they won't be held liable for any lost or damaged packages. Maciuba said businesses can also look into having some kind of package locker inside or just outside their building, so carriers can drop off shipments without making the company the delivery middleman.

Of course, there are steps employees can take to minimize the risk of porch piracy for shipments coming to their home, and thus reduce the need to rely on the office as the delivery address.

The major carriers, such as UPS (UPS), FedEx (FDX) and the U.S. Postal Service, provide options for customers to help with delivery issues and avoid the possibility of theft. These can range from allowing recipients to track packages to letting them redirect a shipment to another address.

As for Amazon (AMZN), it offers similar options and provides several tips on its website related to protecting yourself from porch piracy.

In the end, the problem of porch piracy doesn't appear to be going away - at least significantly - anytime soon, according to experts. Which also means the pressure will remain on companies to offer employees an at-the-workplace option for receiving packages.

It's also perhaps worth noting that, according to the Vivint survey, the peak day for package theft is Wednesday, with Tuesday and Thursday following closely behind.

And guess what? According to Korn Ferry, a global consulting firm, Tuesday and Wednesday are now the busiest days in terms of workers going in to the office.

In other words, the pirates are most likely to strike when people are at their desks.

-Charles Passy

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08-12-24 2010ET

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