Porch Pirate Statistics

This holiday season, Canadians are shopping online more than ever before. And more online shopping means more packages piling up on porches – packages that can be easily snatched by porch pirates.

Global comparison site Finder surveyed Canadians and found that 23% have had a run in with a “porch pirate.” This means an astounding 6.9 million Canadians have been victimized by a porch pirate!

While nearly 1 in 10 Canadians have had a package worth more than $250 taken, the average value of stolen packages is $113. That’s approximately $784 million worth of products that have been “pirated” from porches across Canada.

Who are the victims of porch pirates?

Some factors have an outsized effect on whether you have ever been a victim of package theft. Gender is clearly not one of them. Only slightly fewer women were likely to have had a package stolen at 20% versus 24% for men.

Age on the other hand does play a huge role in whether you have experienced package theft. 31% of millennials have had a package taken, with generation Z a close second at 28%. It seems the over-40 set have been a little luckier, or maybe they just do far less online shopping. Only 16% of those in generation X and just 12% of boomers have experienced this modern-day phenomenon.

With the notable exception of those in the highest income bracket ($120k p.a.), it looks like the more you earn, the more likely you are to have a package stolen.

Those with a personal income of $100k to $120k were the most likely to experience package theft at 31%. While those making $80,000 to $99,000 and $40,000 to $59,000 came in a close second with 25% experiencing package theft. 23% of those making $60,000 to $79,000 said they had experienced package theft. Just under a quarter of Canadians (23%) making $20,000 to $39,999 had a package stolen. Finally, just 16% of Canada’s lowest earners ($20,000 and under) have been the victim of a porch pirate.

Almost a third (32%) of people in Saskatchewan have experienced package theft – 11 percentage points higher than the average of other provinces!

Just over a quarter of Albertans (26%) have had a package stolen followed by people in Ontario and Quebec at 23% each. Your packages are safest in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. Just 19% and 18% of their representative populations have experienced package theft in their lifetimes.

Nervous Nation

It’s no surprise many Canadians are a bundle of nerves when it comes to being targeted by the dreaded porch pirate. In fact, about one in three (34%) Canadians said they were either worried (23%) or very worried (11%) about having their purchases pirated.

Perhaps most Canadians are becoming desensitized to the idea of having a package stolen off their front porch as most were indifferent to the possibility (29% are no more or less worried), while 20% were not very worried and 17% were not at all worried.

Who are Canada’s nervous nellies?

• Gender. Women and men are nearly equally worried or extremely worried about having a package stolen (34% to 35%)
• Age. Millennials lead the nervous nation with nearly half (42%) worried or extremely worried they will have a package stolen with about one-third of those in generation Z (36%) and in generation X (32%) feeling this way. Only 20% of boomers are worried or extremely worried about porch theft.
• Relationship status. Those most worried (24%) or extremely worried (20%) about having a package taken are those who are in a relationship but living separately whereas 17% of singles are not very worried and those separated or divorced are the least likely to be worried – in fact, 26% are not worried at all!
• Income. Interestingly, Canada’s richest and poorest are the least worried about being victims of a porch pirate. 20% of those making a personal income over 120k a year are not at all worried, as are 26% of those making under 20,000 a year. Whereas 17% of middle-income earners like those making $60,000 to $79,000 are extremely worried.
• Region. Alberta (43%), Nova Scotia (41%) and Saskatchewan (40%) are the three provinces with the highest proportion of people either worried or extremely worried about packages being stolen

Neighbourhood Watch – 2020 Style

While many Canadians have friendly neighbours who will pick up and store packages that are exposed while they are away from home, most people can’t rely on neighbours to protect their online purchases in the modern age.

So while we know Canadians are worried, just how many are going to translate that worry into action and invest in insurance or security solutions to prevent package theft?

Investors around the world are wondering how major political and economic events – such as the US election and a reduction in stimulus measures – will impact asset prices. So to investigate what might be in store, financial comparison platform Finder checked in once again with investing experts from around the globe (33 in all) to see what the future holds for investing. Note: The panelists below were surveyed in October 2020.More than two-thirds of Canadians (35%) plan to take action to outsmart the elusive porch pirate. Insurance is the most common way Canadians plan to protect their packages, with 14% planning to purchase package insurance so they can insure the value of their investment. Another 10% are planning to purchase home security solutions as a deterrent or punishment for offenders and 12% of Canadians plan to invest in both.

As online shopping becomes the norm, more Canadians will need to find ways to protect themselves against porch pirates.

Who is most likely to protect their purchases?

• Gender. 40% of men said they would purchase security, package insurance or both as compared to just 30% of women.
• Age. 45% of millennials said they would purchase security, package insurance or both as compared to just 19% of boomers.
• Relationship status. Those in a relationship but living separately are most likely to plan to obtain security (20%), while singles opted for package insurance in the greatest numbers (16%) and married people were most likely to get both security and insurance (14%).
• Income. Unsurprisingly, the people in the income bracket ($100,000 to $119,999) most likely to have been victimized by porch pirates are also the most likely to plan to purchase security solutions (19%) or both security and insurance (20%).
• Region. Manitobans are most likely to purchase security systems to guard against porch pirates at 14%. While those living in Saskatchewan are most likely to purchase package insurance at 21%. Albertans and Saskatchewanians are most likely to purchase both at 16% each.

• Methodology

  This data is from a nationally representative survey of 1,182 Canadian adults (18+). The survey was commissioned by Finder and conducted by Pure Profile in November 2020.

  Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick were not included in the geographic breakdown since they did not have enough responses to be truly representative.