Everyone knows the feeling of ordering packages and having them delivered only to come to find someone else swiped it. Package Piracy is not a new phenomenon but first, let’s understand what package piracy actually is. Package Piracy can be defined as taking possession of a package or its contents, outside of a residence or business where it has been delivered by a commercial carrier for pick up or drop off with the intent to deprive the actual owner of the contents. Lately, this seems to have become more of a problem than usual in Portland, Oregon. So much so the neighborhood has had to take notice. One of those neighborhood “package pirate” watchers, is Matt Coats. After being a victim a few times of package theft, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Matt Coats, a resident of Portland, Oregon who has had his packages repetitively taken off his front porch was so irritated by the act, especially where it wasn’t just his packages that were going missing. His neighbors were suffering the same fate. In a comment, he said the worst part of porch piracy was feeling so violated, the thought of knowing that someone could brazenly walk up to your doorstep and take something that wasn’t theirs. Matt Coats decided he wasn’t going to be a victim anymore and decided the best way to go about things was to have a little fun whilst leaving a valuable message in return. He decided to play them at their own game.
Matt, a dog owner devised a crafty way to get his own back. He filled a box full of dog poop and pine needles, the pine needles were to help with masking the smell so when the perpetrator came to grab his loot, he would be none the wiser. Just as expected, the package was swiped off Matt’s front porch the next day, and the most important part, he got it all on camera. His CCTV picked up images as the person moved from Matt’s neighbors stealing a package there and then make his way over to swipe Matt’s surprise ‘revenge’ package. Safe to say it would’ve been all the sweeter if he had been able to actually see the reaction the thief had as he opened his ‘doggy surprise’. Nonetheless, it was enough to know that he got his comeuppance. The package was seen lying on the ground a few blocks away by Coats wife. This clearly is the first to come in the revenge packages as Matt plans to continue taking revenge on these package pirates who are insistent on terrorizing his neighborhood. He reckons as long as they keep coming, he will keep trying to teach them a lesson because if they are going to get upset about the package thieves doing what they do, then they might as well have a little fun whilst doing it. For now, at least Matt is preparing his next package this time with dish soap and pine needles. Should be a ‘sticky find’. Here’s hoping the next time package pirates decide to go sniffing around Coats neighborhood, they’ll think twice about swiping one.
