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Utah couples invent ‘porch locker’ to keep packages from thieves

Posted at 9:48 PM, Jan 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-11 23:48:32-05

FARR WEST, Utah -- A new Utah business aims to protect packages from thieves, by offering a unique way to keep it out of the wrong hands once it ends up on your porch.

Farr West couple Aaron Munn and Angie Manning, along with their neighbors Ben and Heidi Sines, came up with The Porch Locker after seeing so many reports of so-called "porch pirates," without any real solution to stop them.

On Thursday, Munn welded away on a large metal box. For each fiery crackle from the welding gun, it’s easy to name off an example of the measures people take to keep their deliveries safe.

“You see a lot of video cameras, you see a lot of doorbell things, you see a lot of people trying to scare people away,” listed Munn.

People have gone as far as setting out decoy packages that explode or are  filled with nothing but dog poop. Some homeowners have even chased suspects down, risking their own safety to recover their stolen goods.

But those tactics don’t always work.

Security cameras often catch the culprits as they walk up the porch and swiftly disappear with the cardboard box.

“We don’t want them to steal our crap,” Munn said.

The point is simple, and he thinks The Porch Locker is the solution.

“If we can make it to where it’s hard for them to get it, they simply wouldn’t get it,” he said.

The Porch Locker is large enough to hold pretty much any size package—and several of them.

“It is one-inch square tubing designed, and then it has 18-gauge steel that wraps it,” Munn explained.

Four anchor points on the bottom of the locker secure to concrete with lag bolts.

Aside from being durable to keep porch prowlers at bay, Munn said The Porch Locker is customizable.

“We can finish them in any exterior color, any finish, anything that might match your house that the client’s looking for,” he said.

When ordering a package, he said the homeowner can write the keypad code in the special instructions line, allowing the driver to open the door from the keypad to put the package inside.

He said The Porch Locker is capable of being opened and locked several times in a day for multiple deliveries.

So far, Munn said they’ve seen a lot of interest, as people look for ways to keep their packages safe.

“Lock our stuff up, keep it secure,” he said. “That’s how you’re going to beat them.”