As the song goes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year—for porch pirates. The online shopping is great, until you discover that your holiday haul has been yoinked from your front porch by a scheming Grinch.
This plague of porch pilfery isn’t only a seasonal problem, sure, but it’s especially intense during the gift-giving season due to the ever-growing number of items people buy online—the gifts matter, of course, but packages can also hold important medications, legal documents, heirlooms, and more (not to mention a savory roast beast).
While there are a number of ways to thwart package theft—a 2022 survey by InsuranceQuotes.com found that more than a quarter of Americans have had a delivery stolen—one novel option we’ve been testing is the Eufy Security SmartDrop S300. This oversize outdoor security chest is one of a new generation of smart delivery boxes (Genie, Loxx Boxx, and Yale make them too) that offer a technological response to the national plague of package theft.
These hefty weatherproof boxes sit outside, so they remain accessible for deliveries. Once a delivery person makes a drop and closes the top—be it FedEx, UPS, USPS, or anyone else you might expect at your door—the box automatically locks and can be opened again only when you enter a PIN code, use a physical key, or use a smartphone app. You also receive a smartphone notification whenever the box is accessed, and in some cases you can watch live or recorded video of the event.
We were eager to try the Eufy SmartDrop S300 out, as this non-petty thievery affects everyone—including those of us at Wirecutter. Nicki Koetting, Wirecutter’s web production manager, posed a question to the smart-home team to ask if anyone had a good solution. “We don’t want delivery folks to throw packages over our fence onto the front lawn. We’re looking for a delivery box that’s easy to set up and hard to steal—and something that delivery drivers will actually use,” she said.
The Eufy SmartDrop S300 checks all those boxes and more, but as we found, a delivery box, no matter how smart, is only as effective as delivery people’s willingness to use it.
This sturdy smart delivery box is constructed of heavy steel and is weatherproof and (hopefully) theft-proof. It delivers fast smartphone notifications when opened or closed, and it records audio and video.
Compatibility: Amazon Alexa, Google Home
