Carmen Peterson's son Ethan is a big fan of Elmo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. And although Ethan is nonverbal, he loves to sing along in his own way.

"He's a really fun-loving 8-year-old. He doesn't speak, but he gets his point across," Peterson says.

Ethan has a rare genetic disorder — Syngap1 — which, among other things, causes a kind of seizure that can make him drop to the ground without warning.

"Everything just kind of shorts out for a moment," Peterson says. "And the danger of that — and I've seen this — is him falling on hardwood floors, concrete, off of stairs, like all of these things."

She says he's gotten hurt and she's had to rush him to the emergency room.

Ethan takes a medicine called Epidiolex that prevents these seizures. But last holiday season, a thief stole it off the family's front porch in Charlotte, N.C.

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Peterson remembers finding the empty box and then checking her Ring doorbell camera footage. "I see this guy walking off … and I am just livid," she says.

Then, she had to figure out how to get this medicine — worth $1,800 — replaced so her son didn't miss a dose. It turned out to be a challenge.

How many stolen packages?
December is a busy time for package deliveries and for porch pirates who steal them. Sometimes the thieves run off with mail-order medication instead of getting an iPad or a Labubu.

E-commerce took off during the pandemic, and December remains the busiest time of the year for package deliveries, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

Still, it can be tricky to get the whole picture when it comes to package theft.

As easy as it is to buy stuff online, getting it to customers is actually really complicated. That's because so many people and companies interact with a package before it's delivered, according to Ben Stickle, a professor of criminal justice administration at Middle Tennessee University.

"So it's really hard to get, you know, what happens from the point that you click a button to when it gets delivered, all put back together with enough detail to find out when and where these thefts are occurring and then actually do something about it," he says.

Stickle worked on a study with the Postal Service published earlier this year, and says that victims of theft wind up reporting it to different places that don't share information with each other or even necessarily record the missing package as "theft." And sometimes victims don't report it at all.

"There's a lot of packages stolen," he says, explaining that according to security research company SafeWise, it's about 250,000 packages every day. Stickle has worked with SafeWise.

The Postal Service report estimated that at least 58 million packages were stolen in 2024. "So what are the odds that one of those, unbeknownst to the thief, has some type of medication in it?" Nobody really knows for sure, he says.

Ways to lower theft risk
So what can you do? Stickle says scheduling deliveries for when you're home and having a delivery spot that's hidden are good ideas. Even a locker for your porch that doesn't lock is a good deterrent.

"If a thief can see that there's a package, even if it's an envelope on your porch from the roadway, it seems to be far more likely that it's going to be stolen," he says.

According to Express Scripts and Optum Rx, which are two companies that offer mail-order pharmacy services, medication theft is pretty rare.

CVS Caremark, another company that ships prescriptions by mail, said it offers customers package tracking to prevent theft, but didn't answer NPR's question about how common medication theft is.

Pharmacies, including Walgreens, say they offer order tracking and use discreet packaging to help prevent theft. Customers can also opt to require a signature when their medicines are delivered.

Making sure patients don't miss a dose is a top priority, says Stryker Awtry, the director of Loss Prevention and Transformation for Optum Pharmacy, part of Optum Rx.

"Especially during the holiday seasons when deliveries surge, we want to make sure we build in peace of mind for our customers," he says. "So if a theft were to happen, No. 1, contact the pharmacy right away."

He says to also report the theft to your prescribing doctor and local law enforcement.

A lost prescription replaced
As for Carmen Peterson in North Carolina, when she called her insurer's pharmacy to get Ethan's medicine replaced, the answer was no. But Ethan missing a dose and having a seizure that put him in the emergency room again? Not an option for her.

"It's just like it's one of those things that you just don't have a choice," she says.

If forced to, she would have found the money to buy the medicine herself.

"It was just unfortunate that the … company was so ready and kind of willing to just wash their hands of it because they felt like they had done what they were contracted to do, which is deliver the medication."

That company, Liviniti Pharmacy, said it couldn't comment on the Peterson family's experience because of patient privacy laws.

Unwilling to give up, Peterson reported the theft everywhere and made noise about it — including on her local news stations. That worked. Jazz Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes the drug Ethan needs, saw the stories and replaced it for her within a week.

Now, she recommends getting important medicines delivered to a P.O. box, a workplace or just going to the pharmacy to pick it up yourself.

LINK: https://www.npr.org/2025/12/24...theft-medicine-drugs

There should be a totally unregulated, open season, no bag limit on porch pirates.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
There should be a totally unregulated, open season, no bag limit on porch pirates.

With a bounty!

Surely there is a locker type solution for this - delivery person drops the package into some sort of locked / protected locker? Delivery can be protected too - enter a combination to open?

Basically like the PObox solution except on-site.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Surely there is a locker type solution for this - delivery person drops the package into some sort of locked / protected locker? Delivery can be protected too - enter a combination to open?

Basically like the PObox solution except on-site.

Adult signature required. If you miss the delivery they will try again. Usually they leave a sticker on the door where you can check a box to tell them to hold it at the depot, or designate by call/online.

I’m in favor of the no bag limit

The locker is a great idea for high value deliveries.

I just noticed there is a FREE PO Box available to those who do not have carrier delivery.
It involves an application and some additional paperwork.

My neighbor scared off a porch pirate this morning.

I got lucky as while I was at PT the pharmacy delivered a very expensive prescription to my porch. Glad they went to her house first and not my house first.

I'm on a specialty medication that requires self-administered injections twice a month. Each pen costs about $1500 (fortunately fully covered by assistance plans). I have it delivered to a Mailboxes, Etc. (offered through a UPS Store).

I desperately want a mailbox but they generally want your real address which defeats the purpose somewhat for me.

quote:

Real Talk With a Doc
Is telehealth a good idea, or should I see my regular doctor?

^^^^^^^^^
Regular doctor of course. The physical exam is parmount.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
There should be a totally unregulated, open season, no bag limit on porch pirates.

Oklahoma earlier this year passed a law that allows you to point a gun at someone who is on your property and is threatening you or your property.

quote:

In Depth: How do Stand Your Ground laws apply to porch piracy?

How do stand your ground laws apply to porch piracy?

I'm not sure if I'd test it just to save another one of gramma's gift of brussel sprout jelly, but a life critical Rx?

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I desperately want a mailbox but they generally want your real address which defeats the purpose somewhat for me.

Do they verify the "real address?"

yep It is all about the money. My former neighbor a USPS mail carrier was forced to put up a mailbox in addition to his PO box. They constantly count the number of mailboxes on a route in addition to guessing the feet of mail each box receives. The power company also counts the number of poles in the county so they can charge a fee for the cable company and phone company who use them as well.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Surely there is a locker type solution for this

There is, and the thieves should be locked in them for decades.

If you want to get rid of some complete junk, seal it up in an Amazon box and place it on your porch.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

If you want to get rid of some complete junk, seal it up in an Amazon box and place it on your porch.

Many years ago I lived in NYC. The sanitation workers went on strike. One of my neighbors put his garbage in a large box, gift wrapped it, and left it on the seat of his unlocked car.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not advocating for shooting porch pirates, I just want to be able to detain them long enough for the police to arrive.

Think these will work?