Porch piracy in Santa Monica: what actually works.

Package theft in Santa Monica isn't a bad-neighborhood problem — it's a nice-neighborhood problem. Porch pirates follow the delivery trucks, and the trucks come here all day.

Walkable streets, alley access behind most lots, and apartment lobbies that carriers can't get into: it's a landscape built for stolen packages. If you've watched the doorbell footage of someone strolling off with your box, you've probably already tried the standard advice. Here's an honest accounting of it.

Cameras: evidence, not prevention

A doorbell camera feels like protection, but it mostly produces documentation. The average porch theft takes under thirty seconds, faces are down or covered, and even a clear clip rarely brings a package back. Cameras are worth having — they just don't change the math of a box sitting unattended for six hours.

Lockers: good, narrow

Retailer lockers work well for what they cover — which is the catch. They're retailer-specific, they fill up in November and December exactly when you need them, and they still mean a trip. Furniture, groceries, courier envelopes, and anything signature-required never had a locker option to begin with.

Signature delivery: you become the locker

Requiring a signature stops theft by requiring you. Miss the attempt and you're chasing a slip to a depot with weekday counter hours. It trades one problem — the package waits on your porch — for another: you wait on the package.

The structural fix: no porch at all

Every measure above tries to defend the porch. The actual fix is for packages never to touch it. Ship everything to a staffed address instead — a place where a person receives every carrier, logs and photographs every box, and holds it safe indoors until you want it.

That's Postely Household: every package ships to our staffed Santa Monica address, you're notified the moment it arrives, and we deliver to your door in a window you choose — when you're actually home. Returns work the same way in reverse: text us, and it's picked up, packed, and shipped.

Common questions