Parcel theft in the UK has seen a dramatic rise over the past 12 months, new research has revealed.

Retail software company Metapack recorded a 59 per cent increase in consumers reporting packages having been ‘stolen’ from their doorsteps in June compared to the same period of last year.

The company attributes the rise to people returning to their workplaces post-pandemic and retailers switching to alternative parcel delivery firms amid Royal Mail’s recent industrial action.

“I don’t think any of the carriers are bad, but they have very different doorstep policies,” Metapack chief customer officer Tom Forbes told the Guardian. “If you have a front door that opens on to the street, carriers with a single-delivery policy might leave the parcel on your doorstep, in a ‘perceived safe space.’”

The rise in parcel thefts falls in line with an increase of shoplifting incidents during the cost-of-living crisis.

The British Retail Consortium estimated that there were eight million store theft incidents last year at a value of around £950 million.

Share Story: