Package theft is a growing problem. During the holiday season, even more, shoppers won’t find the package they ordered at their front door.
In New York City alone, porch pirates steal over 90,000 packages a day. Some thieves even follow delivery trucks and snatch packages fresh off the doorstep.
To foil porch pirates, some customers install cameras or replace old mailboxes with larger ones to accommodate packages. Others just sit on the front steps and wait for important packages.
A frustrated engineer takes a more extreme measure. He uses glitter bombs he makes himself.
Glitter Bomb Trap 2
YouTuber and former engineer Mark Rober started rigging packages with glitter bombs last year. Mr. Rober had a package nabbed from his porch. He decided to do something about it, calling upon his engineering know-how.
As the thief springs the trap, it blasts them with glitter and emits a foul smell. The video Rober uploaded about the glitter stink bomb went viral on YouTube, clocking over 77 million views.
The new iteration comes with stronger foul smells and fake police scanner chatter soundtrack. Instead of just one fart spray canister, the latest version of Rober’s glitter bomb has two.
Not only that, but the bait package also uploads a video of the would-be thief via four phone cameras to the cloud in real-time. Another nice touch, the glitter used this time, is biodegradable.
The phones that record the theft also allows tracking the package, through GPS, to recover the device if it was taken then thrown away by the thief.
Rober says he got the original inspiration for his porch pirates’ repeller from the ultimate booby-trap rigging expert: fictional Home Alone’s Kevin! Actor Macaulay Culkin who played the character, was present in the new video Rober has just released.
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Sponsored by a headphone maker, the video already garnered upwards of 19 million views in a couple of days. Though some viewers didn’t like the sponsorship because it made the video a little more than an ad.
“I have literally spent the last 10 months designing, building, and testing a new and improved design for 2019…“And as far as I’m concerned, relatively harmless, karmic justice, has never looked so beautiful,” Rober says in the video.
Here’s the video showing the upgraded glitter bomb in action:
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