We hear about this every Christmas, porch pirates. They follow UPS or FedEx trucks around and steal delivered items off the porches of unsuspecting people. Most of us can’t even imagine what drives these people to be so brazen with no conscience to steal like that in broad daylight.

But what happens when your package isn’t there and there are no porch pirates? That’s the dilemma I have been dealing with this past week. A package we were expecting was “delivered” by FedEx and left on our front porch, at least that’s what FedEx says happened. Their proof of delivery, a picture of our mailbox.

First, let me share that we have cameras on our rural homestead, you can’t be too safe in this day and age, there are “porch pirates” you know. One camera shows activity on our front porch just in case someone might happen to come to the door. Being in rural America, no one uses the front porch door to access the home, not visitors, or salespeople, even my UPS driver knows better. Another camera we have is pointed at our driveway, anyone who knows us waves when they drive onto our property cause they know we are watching. We also have driveway chimes that alert us to driveway traffic, it even dings my phone so I know someone is here.

So like any kid at Christmas, I knew a package was to be delivered on that day and I was anticipating installing the new wifi point in our house. One of us was home all day and would know if someone, anyone, was around.

At some point around noon, I saw on my phone that my package had been delivered at 11:16 am. Immediately I thought “That’s funny, never heard anyone”. So I looked around the back door, checked the garage, and then proceeded to the front porch to find nothing. I asked Suzanne if she had seen the package, a delivery truck, or heard anything and she hadn’t.

My next step was to check the cameras. There I was heading out the driveway earlier; Oh, there I am coming back home; and then I could see myself going out on the front porch to look for the package. There was no other video of anyone delivering a package, and especially, no porch pirate taking the package. Now what?

I proceeded to file a claim with FedEx explaining my evidence and asking them to refund my purchase. Now three days into this drama, my claim was denied as they had their proof that it was delivered, a photo of my mailbox. So the next day I called FedEx to find that my package was out to be delivered that day, but no package arrived. As it turned out FedEx had a duplicate tracking number on another package.

The next morning I called FedEx again. This time, the customer service rep created a case for my lost package, understood that I had pretty good proof that it had not been delivered, and would contact the manager at our local delivery site and see what he could do. Miraculously, my package arrived at 7:30 pm that night.

All in all, this was a very frustrating experience, not any different from the many experiences we all share and can all relate to. As our society continually moves forward more and more toward automated systems, and mistakes are made. To add to the problem, people assume you are trying to scam the system somehow instead of believing what you say. Basically, your word and a handshake just doesn’t mean what it used to.

I’m so happy I live in the middle of nowhere. A place where your first assumption about someone is that they are honest and trustworthy until they prove differently; a place where neighbors help neighbors when tragedy strikes; where kids still walk home from school and where Sunday mornings are quiet as most people are sitting where they should be. Yep, I’m just where I should be.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

1 Timothy 6:18