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Hi! I know this is off topic.....

I've had three packages on three different days stolen off my front porch this last week. They were delivered by different companies (United Parcel Service-UPS, Federal Express). I'm worried as a lot more packages coming as I do 90% of my shopping on line now!! I've contacted the police and they are helping.

Does anyone know of a wireles camera that I can set up? I'm a FULLY single mom so I need something that won't take much to hook up and which will record during the day. I saw some that require hook up to a DVD/VCR recording device. I think I need something a little bit easier / more sophisticated. I don't want to have hook up to a VCR/DVD to record. Something that sends the recordings to my PC for example.

Let me know and so sorry for the off topic post.

You can get wireless cameras that will stream to your phone, but it depends on what you want to spend. A crapoy resolution camera is going to give you great video of someone stealing your stuff and not much else. The better the resolution, the better the chance of maybe identifying the person.

I would suggest contacting your neighbors and tell them to be on watch. You might also consider a lock box of some sort. I have seen people install lock boxes specifically for ups and FedEx packages.

They make these wildlife cameras that are motion activated. Then you plug the disk in to your computer to see the images. Might want to google one of those.

My guess it is one of your neighbors, who else would be there consistently to get your packages. FedEx and USPS you can ask them to hold them and you pick them up at their location. Be a pain, but you would get them.

Thanks everyone. My neighbors are great and I even have a sheriff who lives 2 doors down. I contacted both police and neighbors. One of my neighbors saw the vehicle on Thursday who we think took my stuff. He didn't know who it was and didn't realize there was wrongdoing. I'm checking into the wildlife cameras now. Thanks for the tips. THe police are planning to set up a fake tracking package next week. Wish us luck......

I second the hunting motion camera. They can be pricy, but might be better then getting your stuff stolen.

Another thought is to buy a web cam and set it up in your window and just record it. Webcams are much more affordable and there is free stuff online that will save the recording right to your computer.

Any way you can request it be shipped to your neighbor? If they are home, I'm sure they love to help you out.

Holy catz....three separate packages stolen!?!

Is your porch visible? Meaning can anyone driving by see a package sitting there? If not, then I would think it was someone watching your house. I guess it is possible that there are criminal that just follow delivery trucks too? I mean, they would see them attempt to deliver and know that no one is home.

That sucks.

When ex was messing around my house, the state police recommended the hunting cam as well.

Do you have the capability to have your stuff delivered to work? I have been doing that this season.

PS - that is impressive that the cops can do a "track-package".....let us know what happens!

Just happen to see this on tv just now!

Dropcam.com

You can pay extra for recorded storage for up to a year too.

We are going on vacation this spring and I was considering having someone come into my home to take care of the dogs. I was nervous about this, but now I am thinking this might work for me!

ETA: You can also receive alerts when there is motion. I just read that you can drop in live and talk to people...imagine someone walking up to the package and you say "Drop it scum bag"... I think I need one just for the fun of it!

[This message edited by LisaP at 3:58 PM, December 9th (Monday)]

Both UPS and Fedex allow you to reroute the deliveries to another address (ex: at work). You can do this on their websites.

I've heard stories of people that follow around the delivery vans and steal.

I've had outgoing mail stolen from my mailbox at Christmas-time. They got a bunch of Christmas cards with gift cards in them. I didn't save the receipts, so could not cancel the cards. Live and learn.

Have your packages delivered to your workplace.

Thanks everyone! I'm checking out the camera as we speak. I work for a huge company (largest employer in my State) who has multiple buildings and ~x0,000 employees. Getting interoffice mail is hugely slow and troublesome. So no way to ship packages to my workplace. My neighbors are ALL over it. One watched my house all day today and picked up one package for me. Another called me with the description of suspicious car that he saw parked in my driveway last week. So things are OK for the time being. The local police are supposed to call me within the week once they approval to bring a decoy package. I am supposed to save a couple of boxes so they can use them for the decoy.

Gosh it would be fun to put a big fat stinking turd in that teaser box.

http://www.poopsenders.com/

I'd get the dropcam, and send that. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they open it! You can even put a cute msg in there for them! Serves you right for stealing my stuff, loser(s)!

Another suggestion. I pay a nominal yearly fee to UPS to be a My Choice member. UPS tells me every time a package is headed my way, even if it is from someone else. I can reschedule delivery to when I will be home, or leave instructions (leave with neighbor if I am not home, leave at back porch , etc.) for specific deliveries. FedEx probably has something similar. Might be more useful and/or cost effective than a security camera.

[This message edited by hathnofury at 10:09 PM, December 9th (Monday)]

I have a trendnet wireless cloud camera that I ordered off Amazon. It is wonderful and records in high definition. You can also swivel and tilt the camera remotely and it has controls that you can operate it from your smart phone using a free app and monitor it on your phone from anywhere. You can also log into your camera using any web browser from any computer. It records directly to your PC on your network if you need the feed recorded and it can also send alerts when it detects motion.

I bought it and I was going on vacation this summer and needed to monitor my animals who I had someone coming to care for. It was easy to set up and works beautifully. I still have it set up to keep tabs on things when I'm gone and the kids are here.

Getting interoffice mail is hugely slow and troublesome. So no way to ship packages to my workplace.

That was just an example. You could just have the packages redirected to your neighbors house instead of them being on the lookout at your place.

They make these wildlife cameras that are motion activated. Then you plug the disk in to your computer to see the images. Might want to google one of those.

I third this recommendation! They run on batteries. They are pretty small and you can get one for under $100 easily. I actually was able to catch someone stealing from my home when I was on vacation from one of these. It was not intentional, but a very lucky coincidence!! I had a camera set up because I live in the country and had a lot of wildlife in my front yard. I put up a cam because I liked to see what came to eat/drink when I wasn't looking.

When I got home from a vacation a few years ago and realized I had been robbed. I thought to go check the cam which had been mounted by my front porch. Well sure enough I had pics of four people going in and out of my house! I had the date, time and pretty much exactly who did it. Sadly, it was related to an old nanny/house sitter who fell into crime and knew I was out of town but that's another story.

I have since installed a much more expensive cam/security system but I'll tell you those wildlife cams are AWESOME and do just as good a job if you don't want to have something accessible via internet or hooked up to a monitoring system.

[This message edited by Spirit13 at 8:55 AM, December 10th (Tuesday)]

I've had packages stolen before, so I feel your pain; it's really terrible that people can be so low, especially around Christmastime.

I'm lucky in that I have a fenced backyard; I just leave instructions for the delivery driver to "toss the package over the fence". (Unless, of course, it's a box of very expensive glassware or something!)

I've recently found out the hard way, though, that Amazon has hired CONTRACTORS to deliver packages this year - I ordered a pair of exercise pants and they arrived through some third-party carrier that I'd NEVER heard of before. Even worse - they came at 9:15pm last night and were delivered by some guy in a white passenger car. They'd tried to deliver them last week, but I never got ANY kind of notice that they'd attempted it.

I DEFINITELY don't like THAT trend. I'm just putting it out here on this thread because when I called Amazon about it, that's what they told me. So... be careful, there's NO guarantee that UPS or FedEx is going to be the one delivering to you this year. With third-party carriers, you often don't have a way of leaving those instructions like you can with the big carriers.

Definitely NOT happy about it, and I let Amazon know it.

[This message edited by Fireball72 at 9:49 AM, December 10th (Tuesday)]