[Screengrab from earlier this month]
Two weeks ago, a resident who lives on East Seventh Street between Avenue A and Avenue B told us that the man in the above photo has entered his or her building several times in the past month… video surveillance cameras show him taking packages from the lobby. (Another resident said that he has struck No. 140, 144 and 150 on East Seventh Street.)
In the comments on that post, several other residents noted that someone had also stolen packages from their doorman-less lobbies in the neighborhood.
Now comes word of another lobby package grab on Monday in a building on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. The suspect — a different man than from East Seventh Street — was caught on the building's security cameras.
Per the resident:
The man entered our building at 4:27 p.m. — about 10 minutes after UPS had dropped off their deliveries — and took all the packages in the mailroom. He appears to have buzzed random doors to gain entry.
Here is the surveillance video...
And last Wednesday night around 8:30, a resident spotted a man pushing a cart with packages from East Seventh Street and Avenue B... then west on Sixth Street to Avenue A. The resident did not see the man take — or deliver — any packages.
"It was just really strange that he didn't have a uniform," said the reader, who alerted the NYPD. "He didn't have a truck anywhere either." [Updated: Multiple readers said that the man works for Amazon]
Previously on EV Grieve:
Watch this man help himself to packages from an East 7th Street lobby
35 comments:
Don't buzz in anyone unless you're expecting someone. Make sure the door is closed behind you and locked after you enter. It's really quite simple if you're not a total moron whose head is up their ass.
This happens in our building on East 10th Street all the time as well! Packages are stolen all the time.
"Who hasn't swiped a few UPS packages? It''s like having Christmas every day." -- Said the EV bike thief who steals CitiBikes every day and has illegally downloaded every single Taylor Swift song onto that Galaxy smartphone he grabbed out of that texting woman's hand while cycling down Avenue A last month.
The last guy pushing that cart of boxes is possibly an Amazon delivery guy. They push those carts, and those boxes all have the black tape on them that Amazon puts on those boxes. Those are the overnight and 2-day deliveries. The guys who deliver on Upper Avenue A never have uniforms.
If you don't live in a doorman building, and you aren't going to be home to accept your package delivery, don't order stuff, or have it sent to work. You are risking it being stolen. This is happening all over the neighborhood now. Everyone knows the lobby or first floor area of every building is going to have packages in it left by UPS and FedEx.
More people shop online and have things delivered and these thieves know this. UPS usually arrives just before working people get home. If I lived in a building like these I would send my packages via USPS and pick up there (I know the dreaded post office) or to another PO box storefront (there are several in the EV). I would not put the responsibility of having a locked door on other residents, it only takes one dummy to let a thief in.
The trolly with all the boxes with black tape ... that's Amazon deliveries. They have their own delivery service and they do not wear uniforms (at least not the Amazon guys who deliver to my building on 2nd ave) ... and the black tape is distinctly Amazon packaging. It is suspicious that this guy walked that far without making deliveries or visiting a truck, though.
The Amazon guys get dropped off at one location then have to walk a route, usually several blocks, to make their deliveries. I feel bad for the guy in the photo posted above. I can't believe someone called on the cops on him. It is obvious he is an Amazon delivery guy. They all have those carts, and the black tape makes it obvious they are Amazon boxes. These guys are out in the neighborhood every day!
The guy in the video already has a pretty full swag (bin)bag when he arrives, perhaps suggesting it wasn't the first building he'd hit.
Re chastising residents for buzzing people in -- it's a hopeless case when 20% of the apts in one's building have become freakin' illegal hotel rooms via airbnb and similar sites. In my building, clueless families (most of them looking like they hark from far-northern Europe, and the apts are not listed on airbnb so it must be a European service) ... as I was saying, clueless families are staying for a few days in apts on the top floor (bumping ginormous suitcases loudly up and down the stairs) and they let ANYONE walk in the building behind them because THEY DO NOT LIVE HERE and therefore THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHO TO LET IN OR NOT. They also prop the front door open when loading out to the sidewalk/taxi and they LEAVE IT OPEN.
Using a neighborhood mailbox storefront is a good idea but pricey, in the realm of $200-$300 for 6 months!
Just another way that those of us who are on the bottom fringes, who have lived here long enough to say "forever", are being priced out not just of ever finding another apartment in the community (such as when you develop a condition that makes climbing stairs painful or impossible), but also of the level of security that can be bought by people with more $$$.
Anon @ 11:11
"Don't buzz in anyone unless you're expecting someone"
Buzzing in anyone without a response is wrong. Don't buzz anyone in unless you ask who it is and they respond with a satisfactory answer.
If they say UPS or FedEx and it is for you, go down and receive your package at the front door. If not a delivery for you and you're unwilling to sign for it and keep it safe in your apartment, don't let them in. They should not be dumping packages without a signature.
A person delivering pacakges who's not wearing a uniform is not "really strange."
I have lived in my building for 20+ years. None of the apartment buzzers work except mine. So, knowing this, many of my neighbors (at least the non Air B+B ones), constantly have their friends buzz my apartment to get in. I rarely let them in. But I totally agree with the problems of high turnover and European "guests" who have a very lax attitude about today's "safe" NYC and leave the front door open or partially ajar. And the landlord refuses to fix the buzzer (it's fried) because "everyone has cell phones." We also frequently get stuff stolen so we now send items to our jobs, but of course that limits what we can buy and how much we can have sent there. There are SO MANY PARCEL SERVICES NOW, perhaps the thieves are targeting this neighborhood to boost those businesses? Nothing would surprise me.
Yeah yeah yeah, but more importantly, are there still homeless people in TSP bothering Jared Kushner's view?
There is also the alternative of actually patronizing local businesses rather than shopping online. However, admittedly, that is getting harder and harder as retail is replaced by bars and restaurants. I am so tired of tripping over Amazon, Blue Apron, Fresh Direct deliveries in my narrow hallway, I almost wish for someone to steal them...at times I have considered that myself.
Nice uniforms Amazon!
The last two delivery people who dropped off packages at my building were wearing Amazon-branded shirts.
@ Giovanni- That's why we call the trucks Chocolate Santas! But seriously people who steal suck.
Ilyse Kazar 12:16: "It is suspicious that this guy walked that far without making deliveries or visiting a truck, though."
No, it's not suspicious at all. Stop making stuff up.
This low-rent approach to delivery with low wage workers without uniforms, schlepping packages around on cheap metal carts in the dark, and dumping the packages off in lobbies, only for them to be available to be stolen by anyone who wants them, is the sign that Amazon has jumped the shark. This company that makes its managers cry at their desks is as soulless and schlocky as the cheap products from China they sell. Now they want to use drones so they can fire all the delivery guys, and put robots in their warehouses so they can fire all those workers too.
Nice job Amazon, you destroyed the book, music and video retail industries and replaced ther jobs with nothing, just so that some fat ass can sit on his couch and push a button so he doesn't have to go down the block to get the exact same products faster.
Can someone elaborate on what to do if you think you see one of these guys stealing packages? Call the police? What if you don't know if they live in the building or not, or if they're just carrying a box on the street? I saw a guy who looked a lot like the original thief come out of my building the other day, but he was just holding some envelopes (probably from the piles of junk mail left by our mailboxes). Should I have followed him or something?
Giovanni - "Jump The Shark" isn't a term that applies to businesses. Amazon grow stronger and stronger everyday, with no end in sight. It's unfortunate. Also, there's no reason to call the carts "cheap". Let's leave the carts out of this - they're innocent.
Someone posted a note in my lobby that a package of theirs was delivered yesterday and is missing. This is on 6th street between A and B. It's weird though, we often have packages sit in the lobby for weeks on end and no one takes them.
Amazon uses more than one company to do deliveries. Some have uniforms, some don't.
Actually using the term "jumped the shark" to refer only to TV shows officially jumped the shark years ago. It now applies to anything that used to be great but now sucks. That would include Amazon and their crappy metal carts that make a loud racket as they rumble on the sidewalk late at night. LaserShip is another company they use that regularly dumps packages anywhere they see fit. LaserShip never had to jump the shark since they always sucked.
UPS never buzzes to find out if you're home, they just leave the package. However it used to be, not that long ago, that they would not buzz and leave the sticky a couple of days in a row until I would call and get the package redirected to my job. Has anyone seen a sticky note from ups lately? Have they abandoned that method for cost savings? Free shipping, not so free.
Just an FYI... If you sign up for My UPS (it's free) you will get an email the day before your delivery is due, and you can opt to have your package sent and held for you at your local UPS store.
I completely agree with Giovanni's comment about Amazon jumping the shark. My package got stolen when I was home all day waiting for it to arrive because the delivery guy simply never buzzed my buzzer. He just left it at the mailboxes where it was stolen within an hour. This is one of the richest companies out there yet they can't employ enough delivery people so they can afford the time to ring a bell and wait for a customer to answer? Also the day they send a real package by drone is the day I stop using Amazon forever.
Boy oh boy, I rarely find myself defending Amazon, but here goes: if the delivery guy doesn't ring your bell, or they ring your bell while you're taking a shower, it doesn't mean the company sucks. In fact, it doesn't mean anything at all. How freaking self-centered we've all become: "I didn't have a good experience once, therefore they suck." This is all of us now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCEhRNgGHY
Saw this guy with the cart last week too. Literally left the cart unattended in the street for a solid five minutes. Thought he lifted it from a UPS delivery. No uniform, no truck, nada. He works for LaserShip. He's supposed be wearing a uniform when delivering.
Amazon may be getting the message from urban customers who call to complain & seek refunds for stolen packages. I have had 3 Amazon deliveries this week (I am on a lot of supplements) and all three were brought up the stairs (4th floor) and left in front of my apt door. I'd prefer they rang the bell or knocked on my door (tho' at least their texting service is instantaneous, which is how I knew to open my door and look) ... but still this is a big improvement over my goods being left visible in the lobby. A thief is much less likely to take the risk of heading upstairs to residential floors, more likely to seek easier and less risky quarry.
There is a new business on Allen Street, City CoPilot, that accepts packages for residents without a doorman. They are safe and secure.
Shameless plug for a startup I work at: pay $5 lousy bucks for a neighbor to hold your packages for you. http://eneighbr.com
That's pretty fucked up that people don't know their neighbors well enough to accept a package without being paid. I hope it never comes to that for me.
Ilyse Kazar, Village Postal Service at 151 1st Avenue (9th-10th) charges $30. a month; I don't know what the USPS charges, but it should be around the same, if not less.
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