Inexpensive equipment to help prevent loss or stolen goods

[NobleMetalWorks]

Hello,

I have been experiencing a problem with the different people who deliver things I have ordered, to my doorstep.

I don't want to have anything go missing, and a lot of the things I order are JIT (Just in Time) I don't want to hassle with insurance, and claims, and re-ordering. So how to catch whoever is delivering, whatever it is I ordered, if it doesn't require a signature, this was my issue and this is how I solved it.

Harbor freight, yet again...

I found a Bunker Hill Security Driveway Alert System. I picked it up during the father's day sale. It can alert up to 400ft away, which is more than what I actually need. I mounted it above my front door, at a slight tilt so it covers the entire area of my front porch. It comes with a remote alarm pager you can either mount, or keep portable. I can take it into my lab with me, or have it on my desk inside, and it will alert me whenever someone breaks the beam.

I received a delivery today and was able to open the door before the Postman had even left the porch, he was surprised so I let him know what I did, and why.

Anyway, it seems to work great and I thought I would share the idea with the forum.

Scott

 

[samuel-a]

Cool solution Scott.

But what makes you think it's the delivery guys who steal from you?

Perhaps you could lure the thief with an empty closed package on your porch.
Beam breaks, you show up with you favorite baseball bat. :twisted:

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Cool solution Scott.

But what makes you think it's the delivery guys who steal from you?

Perhaps you could lure the thief with an empty closed package on your porch.
Beam breaks, you show up with you favorite baseball bat. :twisted:

I didn't mean my post to make it sound like the delivery guys are stealing from me, the problem is that they will run up to the porch, drop whatever it is they are delivering, and leave. I live in a nice neighborhood, middle class, etc but in the court I live in 3 out of the 6 houses have been abandoned due to foreclosures, and another one is going into foreclosure right next door to me. There is a high school and a grade school close by, and kids on their way home make it a regular habit to cut through my court because the end of the court is open, with a park like setting, benches, etc. No house at the end of the court. So they walk right through, and a few times I have caught kids breaking into the house across the street from me. As soon as the bank sticks the big white papers in the window, it's like a blue light special at K-Mart, people drive around looking for houses to break into, so they can steal whatever is left in them.

My problem with the delivery people is that if they do not require a signature, they just dump it and leave. Something could be sitting on my doorstep for hours before I realize it. And because I am at the tail end of the postal service area, there is no telling on any given day who the postal worker will be, or what time they will be there. They just give it to whoever comes back soonest. Talking to them, asking them to ring the doorbell, did not work out at all.

But this device is working awesome. I aimed it so I can catch people coming up the walkway, originally though it was picking up cars, and even people that were looking at the house across the street from me. It has a 400ft range that seems more like a football field.

Anyway, this is the unit

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=Bunker+Hill+Security+Driveway+Alert+System

It works off 3C batteries, for the pager, and one 9volt for the detector. There is also a power adapter connection, so that's what I did. I had an old power adapter that was the right specs, so I just plugged it in. But the batteries work good because I can carry it out to the garage, or the backyard and know if anyone came up my walkway.

The delivery people have been great, it was funny though, I got a delivery of ball bearings today, really heavy box. Soon as I heard the noise I went to the front door, as the UPS guy was dropping it on the porch, so it made a pretty loud noise. I guess because of all the negative press UPS has been getting on UPS drivers throwing goods around on peoples porches, he freaked out a little when I opened the door. He was stuttering and said something about not meaning to throw it down so hard, I just had to laugh. After all, they are steel bearings.

Scott

 

[glorycloud]

We sold (100) pounds of boards through ebay and the ebay person here did not do
the delivery signature required option. Fedex ground says it was delivered
and the ebay buyer said they never received the box. Guess who got screwed! :evil:

I wonder what the thief did with 100 pounds of scrap boards? Or what the ebay buyer
did with them perhaps? :roll:

Who knows. Live and learn! 8)