In other UPS news: dodging porch pirates

It’s an unhappy ending that’s all too familiar to online shoppers. They diligently track a package and perk up when they see it’s been delivered to their porch or lobby, only to arrive home later to find—oh, the humanity—it’s gone.

But porch piracy is no picnic for retailers, either, who face the choice of replacing the item or possibly losing the customer.

While UPS was in the throes of a possible strike, which was averted Tuesday with a tentative contract, its shipping insurance division, InsureShield, launched what it describes as a “predictive analytics solution” called DeliveryDefense. (UPS apparently is not a fan of putting spaces BetweenWords.)

Using historic loss information, AI, and machine learning algorithms, the tool determines a “delivery confidence score.” If the score is low, senders can opt to deliver it somewhere other than the address, like a nearby UPS Store, for pickup.

“By proactively identifying and addressing potential shipping issues, DeliveryDefense data ensures a smooth customer journey,” Mark Robinson, president of UPS Capital Insurance Agency, Inc., said in a press release.

Ship happens: As e-commerce has exploded, so has package theft:

• Nearly one in four (23%) of Americans had at least one package stolen in the three months leading up to March 2022, according to an annual national package-theft report from Security.org.
• The majority of Americans (54%) have had at least one package stolen at some point, the report found.
• The median value of stolen packages is $50.

In December, a startup backed by the NFL’s Adoreé Jackson introduced PorchPals, a package-theft insurance offering. Customers pay $15 monthly (or $120 per year) to cover packages shipped by any retailer using any major shipper. PorchPals covers up to three claims and/or a collective value of up to $2,000 annually.