BY SAM THOMPSON GLOBAL NEWS
Posted December 2, 2019 1:08 pm
An Amazon packaged pictured on a porch in this undated file photo. . AP Photo/Robert Bumsted
Worried about porch pirates pilfering your Cyber Monday purchases?
With the increase in online shopping comes an increase in parcels stolen from people’s doorsteps, and one community centre in west Winnipeg is stepping into to help.
The Sturgeon Heights Community Centre is opening a “safe drop zone” to ease area shoppers’ minds when making online purchases.
“We have employees there from 8 a.m. to 8 at night, and we do have locked up areas of the club, so we’re hoping our community members take advantage of this service, and hopefully it works for them,” the club’s president, Linda Smiley, told 680 CJOB.
The way the drop zone works is that once your order is placed, you can send an email to Sturgeon Heights to let them know to expect a package.
READ MORE: Winnipeg business offering way to thwart ‘porch pirates’
When your package arrives, the club will email you back and ask for ID when you come to pick it up.
“I was always very hesitant to online shop,” said Smiley.
“You never know when the parcel’s going to come, so I never knew if someone was going to be at home, and I was always very hesitant to send a parcel to work.
“We just kind of brainstormed a bit last week, and thought, let’s get this done for Cyber Monday and Black Friday.”
The community centre isn’t charging for the service, but they are asking for small donations with each parcel, with funds going toward the club’s winter carnival.
Sturgeon Heights isn’t the first organization in Winnipeg making an effort to thwart porch pirates.
Earlier this year, supplement store Main Street supplement retailer Gorilla Jack offered up his business as an alternative shipping location.