Australian parcel theft rockets to an all-time high with the second largest rise than any other country globally

• First global report on parcel theft
• Over a third of Australians affected by parcel theft or loss in lifetime
• One in ten people globally are now reluctant to shop online because of fear of theft
• Australia second highest on global list of increasing parcel problems
• Sharpest rise and greatest rate of parcel theft and loss in Greater Adelaide

LONDON, Oct. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Doorstep parcel theft is sweeping Australia, according to the first global report on parcel theft. More than 3.6 million parcels were lost or stolen in a 12-month period, with nearly a third of residents having a parcel stolen or lost. This has cost Australian consumers a total of AU$224.3 million in missing goods.¹

The results are part of the world’s first global parcel theft survey which found that close to one in ten people had at least one parcel lost or stolen from May 2021 to April 2022. This amounts to a staggering 1.009 billion packages² globally, at a total cost of AU$57.04 billion.¹

Worldwide, there was an all-time high of stolen or lost parcels with an estimated rise of 155 million² compared to the previous 12 months, despite initiatives to tackle the surge post-covid. This is more than a 2% increase.

The Penn Elcom Global Parcel Theft Report was commissioned by Penn Elcom, a globally recognised British steel manufacturer and producer of the Penn Parcel Box, and sponsored exclusively by Scurri, the world’s leading courier management platform for eCommerce and shipping, and produced by YouGov. It revealed that Australia suffered the second greatest increase (+3%) after the UK (+5%), followed by Canada (+2%), the US and UAE (+1% respectively).

Australian regional hot spots include:

• Sharpest rise in missing parcels: Greater Adelaide, up 15% to 28% – nearly a third of residents had a parcel stolen or lost in the last 12 months
• Parcel problems hotspots – proportion of residents who had a parcel lost or stolen between May 2021 and April 2022:
• Greater Sydney: 17%
• Greater Brisbane: 15%
• Greater Melbourne: 13%
• Highest levels of anxiety around parcel theft: Greater Sydney (23%)

A staggering 36% of people surveyed in Australia have had a package lost or stolen in their lifetime, amounting to over 9.2 million parcels² and expected to rise without preventive measures.

The psychological impact

Almost a quarter of Aussies (23%) feel anxious about parcel theft, with one in five (20%) also in fear of parcels being stolen. These concerns are highest in Greater Sydney, where a quarter of respondents are anxious about posted goods (25%) and a fifth (20%) proactively looking for parcel-theft prevention products.

In Greater Adelaide, only 15% of respondents have looked into preventatives, despite having the sharpest increase in the rate of missing parcels and the highest level of parcels stolen or lost.

Greater Sydney and Greater Melbourne topped the table for people reluctant about making new online orders due to theft (20% respectively).

More Australian women felt anxious about parcel loss or theft (55% women, to 45% men), but 58% of parcel security product searches were by men, compared to 42% women.

Penn Elcom’s chairman, Roger Willems, said: “A surge in online shopping accelerated by Covid, along with seasonal rushes, means couriers are under intense pressure. Professional thieves are known to follow delivery vans, stealing packages minutes after they are dropped off, while opportunistic thieves take advantage of parcels left on doorsteps.”

“We expect parcel piracy to continue to rise as global parcel deliveries increase³ if measures are not taken. We are doing our best to support delivery companies and save online shoppers the headache of missed deliveries – as well as the heartache of lost and stolen parcels,” added Roger.

According to Google Trends, global searches for ‘parcel theft’ have rocketed as shoppers continue to order online, especially for seasonal holidays. The study found that one in ten people worldwide are also now reluctant to shop due to fear of theft, impacting retailers.

Gavin Murphy, CMO of Scurri, said “When parcel delivery fails at the final hurdle, the customer experience fails expectations and customers may be discouraged from buying online again from that retailer. Real-time data is critical. Simply stating that a package has been dispatched or is on board a last mile delivery vehicle is totally inadequate.”

Penn Elcom is campaigning to restore confidence in online shopping and has a solution. The Penn Parcel Box, made from quality British steel and designed using Penn Elcom’s decades of steel engineering expertise, is a secure, stylish, weatherproof solution for parcel deliveries for homes and businesses.

The Penn Parcel Box was developed in response to enquiries from customers who had problems with parcels going missing.

YouGov, the leading British research group, surveyed 2,000 random consumers in the UK, US, the UAE, Canada and Australia in May 2022. 50% were male and 50% female, ranging in age from 18-55 and above.

Images are available at: https://bit.ly/3fOYly2

FOR MORE INFORMATION: including interviews and a copy of the Penn Elcom Global Parcel Theft Report:

Mark Foxwell, mark@sharpminds.agency, +44 (0) 7796 473020
Charlie Jones, charlie@sharpminds.agency, +44 (0) 7710 695794
Siobhan Stirling, siobhan@sharpminds.agency, +44 (0) 7990 543829

NOTES TO EDITORS

Penn Elcom is a UK manufacturing success story, with 50% of sales being overseas.  Established in 1974, the company is a world leader in flight case and speaker cabinet hardware as well as 19-inch racking solutions.

Scurri is a leading software provider that connects and optimises the eCommerce ordering, shipping and delivery process for online retailers. Scurri is an Irish company, which last year announced a €9 million investment to accelerate growth in the European markets. This brings the Wexford-based company’s total funding to €15.3 million to date. Scurri currently derives over 61% of its revenue from the UK, and will power over 100 million parcel deliveries this year by enabling merchants to present the most efficient delivery option via more than 700 carrier services. Scurri’s platform allows retailers to create accurate labels, track shipments from dispatch to delivery and provide analytics and it helps businesses ship their products anywhere in the world through its network of carrier integrations. Customers include eBay, Bulk Powders, Vision Direct, Gousto and many others.

NOTES AND SOURCES

¹ Total price value has been estimated by average parcel cost, based on annual online retail spend versus annual volume of packages shipped
² Survey results extrapolated to global and national populations
³Pitney Bowes, 28.09.21: Global parcel volumes rose to 131 billion in 2020, a 27% year-on-year increase, and are predicted to double again by 2026 to 266 billion.